There is a lot of interest in restoring the Telechron clocks found on some Tappan Deluxe stoves. With the help of one of the folks on twitter @clockhistory, I was able to track down an excellent video on reviving a Telechron clock rotor
@clockhistory says NOT to turn the gear with a pliers like they do in the video....and the NOS H and S rotors are still available - if coil hums but gears doesn't turn, the rotor is the problem. For rotors go to timesavers.com, search for "rotor", you'll see S (the smaller type) and H rotors.
I have not tried the steps in the video, so try it at your own risk (although I can't see much that could go wrong) I am very interested to hear from anyone that does get a non-working clock going again. The video is actually quite good to watch, even if your Telechron clock is currently working.
I know you said that you don't often have time to answer questions in regard to these stoves, however, I'm in a bit of a pickle. We are getting ready to purchase an old house in the country and it's in need of a stove. The problem is that the kitchen stove area is plumbed for propane. Is it possible to turn this stove into a propane stove? Costs? Ease? I love the look of this stove and found what appears to be a nice one for $100. Says they have to light the gas burners with a match, but that they have been using it for the past 5 years. Any words of advice? Thanks for any input. - Charlene
ReplyDeleteCharlene - No problem...I love to respond on the blog, just had trouble keeping up with individual emails :)
ReplyDeleteHow cute would an vintage stove be in a country house! Here's what I know about propane - some Tappans originally came as propane stoves (some of these will say "Philgas-Tappan" on them. There is also a conversion kit that you can buy to convert a regular gas stove over to propane - it reduces the size of the flame down for propane using a fixed orafice. I suspect that most appliance people would know what needed to be done to convert. From what I understand it's pretty straight forward and inexpensive.
I think the reason the stove you are looking at needs to be lit is that is does not have a standing pilot (that's only the oven - the top burners always have a standing pilot).
There is something called a "safety" that was added to later stoves that gives the stove a standing pilot and then cuts off the supply of gas to the oven if the flame goes out. Generally, you can tell if the stove has this feature because it will say "CP" on the backsplash or on the main control panel in the right storage area.
In non-CP ovens, you turn on the gas and light the pilot before each use and turn the gas off when you are done. It's all done from the main control panel.
There is a post on this blog about how to light both types of stoves.
A "safety" can be added - but it can be pricey.
My personal opinion is that the name "safety" is a misnomer. In both cases, you want to watch the gas. You will also want to check to see what appliance codes are in your city.
The price of vintage stoves really varies from city to city. I paid $100 for my stove and $150 for the movers to get it to my house. Tappan parts can be somewhat tricky to find (although Katy sells some from this site), but it sounds like the stove you are considering is already in working order. We've started to collect a lot of information & experience here, so getting your stove in tip-top shape should be pretty easy if you are willing to put in some work. I think $100 probably sounds like a good deal especially if you know it's working now.
Please post back and let me know what you decided. I'm curious to know!
We're in the process of converting a 1951 Tappan Deluxe from natural gas to LP. This is for a cabin - so the process is long distance for me and our plumber there is running the line and installing the smaller LP-sized orifices I found locally. My question is about the pilot for the burners on top of the stove. Do you know if all models have some some valve or mechanism that can adjust/diminish the flow of gas to the pilots? The plumber mentioned this as a potential concern. I heard from another stove repairman that he'd not seen a gas stove that didn't have a flat head screw somewhere along the supply to the pilots that governs flow- but the plumber must not have seen this in his initial inspection. Thanks so much for passing along anything that might help us with this, Nina
ReplyDeleteI'll post the info. I have on adjusting the top burners in a new post. Watch for it shortly.
ReplyDeleteI see it! Thanks so much for posting :)
ReplyDeleteHi I'm not sure if i am asking in the right place,but I'm curious if anyone makes replacement/reproduction parts for clocks and timers?
ReplyDelete