Explosive Caloric Wall Oven

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My two cents------

Contemporary gas ovens have electrically controlled valves, so you (one) is/are SOL for baking/roasting/ broiling in a power failure. That said, any gas cooktop burner I know, can be lit with a match or a butane candle lighter.

I reluctantly agree about converting to an electric wall oven, mostly because of the greater choice. Allen, I urge you to urge your friends to keep their gas cooktop, especially in the case of prolonged power outages, after hurricanes and other disasters.

As for the baking/roasting ability? I have used both, quite successfully.

I repeat from: The Fannie Farmer Baking Book, by Marion Cunningham: "I've found no important differences between gas and electricity in baking- either can produce fine results as long as the oven is performing well."

Emphasis added by me.

Again, this is only my experience/opinion, those who have had poor results with gas baking either have had poor or poorly maintained ovens (rental much?) or perhaps don't know their elbows from a can of Crisco.

Incidentally, I have had lovely results from my 2011 gas Whirlpool, and better than adequate oven cleaning.

Lawrence/Maytagbear
 
The 120 wiring that is in place won't supply the current necessary to operate an electric oven.  While technically it could be wired to supply 220, the current rating on a 14-2 wire is not such that you could power up the wall oven.  If the owner can't rewire then you are looking at gas. 

 

Regarding the 22" width, most wall ovens will overlap the sides a bit, if the dimensions of the opening match he should be OK.
 
Remember that the advertised width of a wall oven is nominal, not actual, so you have to check installation guides to see what size hole is required. I'd be very surprised if that old Caloric is anything other than a standard 24" size. Actual appliance sizes do vary slightly by manufacturer but it's not much, and most likely the hole can be enlarged a tad if needed, though there is no way to tell how much enlargement can be done without removing the oven and looking at cabinet construction. The market for 24" wall ovens has been ossified for years and years as this is an old size that nobody uses in new construction today, but there are millions of old ones across the nation; it is not in the best interest of any manufacturer to make a 24" oven that won't fit old cabinets.

 

If this replacement were a part of a kitchen remodel with new cabinets it would be foolish to not convert to a 27" or 30" electric oven as there is a much better selection, but I can't imagine justifying the expense of electric conversion to keep a 24" oven when several manufacturers still make gas models that work just fine. Running wire for an electric conversion is just the tip of the iceberg, more than likely there will be drywall patching, paint matching and lots of other PITA considerations. You cannot convert a 120 v outlet to a 240 v outlet because the former needs only a hot, a neutral and a ground, while the latter requires all these plus an additional hot.
 
Money is not an issue with these friends of ours. Just the willingness to spend any is.

Their house is a typical mid century house and the wall the oven is in is a wood cabinet that sticks out slightly from the middle of the counter top. Plus it has electrical switches on one side of it. So any widening would be difficult at best.

I am afraid that once they see the price of new ovens they'll go back to trying to fix the Caloric again. They did say that tomorrow they are going to visit the independent dealer from whom they purchased the Caloric back in the mid 80's and see what they can do for him.

To tell you the truth if they buy a new oven, I think it would be best for the dealer to install it. The job is a little more than I wanted to handle.
 
You have to make a distinction between widening the cabinet and enlarging the hole already in that cabinet. The front bezel of the oven is approximately 24" wide and covers the the hole behind it, while the cabinet itself must be wider than the bezel, thus there is always some room there. Usually if any hole widening is needed it is on the order of a quarter-inch or so and can be done with a jigsaw. The switches could complicate things, but shallow switchboxes are available. Basically, the old oven will have to come out to determine how much room there is for a new oven and what needs to be done to install it.
 
I was talking to this friend today and told him it may just be better to run a 240V line to the area where it will be needed for a new oven. He very firmly told me that he will not run an electrical line in there because it's an old house (1956) and there is no sense putting money into it. He said his wife doesn't use the oven enough to justify buying a new one.

OTOH, his wife is bitching pretty much about not having a oven that turns on and operates correctly each and every time it's used.

To even make matters more confusing they live in this house in Houston 3.5 days out of each week and live in their other house (a restored victorian) on Galveston Island the rest of the week.

So the equation here is how long will his wife have to bitch at him before he buys a new oven?

I told him that it's his decision to make and that's the end of my involvement in this mess.
 
Eh Bien!

It always amazes me how often people with real money will get very tight over repairing their expensive toys.

Which is fine by me - how else would I have TOL appliances for next to nothing?
 
If you could still...

Buy a gas oven with a modulating control like all gas ovens used to be, I would go gas, nothing bakes as good, but these newer off and on things dont cut it!
 
This friend does have some money spending issues. A few years ago he accidentally sat on his cell phone breaking the LCD screen. He continued to use it for three more years afterwards.

Once we were in a restaurant and when he flipped the phone open a few little bits of the screen fell on the table. I mentioned that he may consider buying a new phone.
His response "Hell, it rings when someone calls and I can make calls from it. Why would I need to buy a new phone?"

It always amazes me how often people with real money will get very tight over repairing their expensive toys.

You got that right! Sometimes they don't even bother with a repair and just use the broken toy until they can't squeeze any of the last little bit out of it.
 
Allen:

"Sometimes they don't even bother with a repair and just use the broken toy until they can't squeeze any of the last little bit out of it."

And sometimes they just get bored with stuff - must be nice to have so much you don't have to maintain any interest in it after you've had the thrill of buying it.

My personal favorite is my Singer Touch-Tronic 2010 sewing machine in the solid oak TOL No. 166 Flip 'n Sew cabinet. New? $1000 for the machine, $400 for the cabinet. Used? $130 for everything. She "just didn't care about it any more."
 
I have found that it's a waste of time helping people repair something if they have money spending issues. They should just replace their broken oven or just not have an oven.
 
Well, I recommended the conversion to electric oven to this guy and he said he can't justify the cost based on how little his wife uses it. So he knows what his options are and now it depends on how long he can stand his wife bitching at him about this.
It may be years......

Like I said, money is not an issue for these people but the willingness to spend it is. Now it's up to them to take care of this.
 
Wow, so cool to finally find something online about my very problem! My Caloric lp wall oven did the EXACT same thing, doors would blow out when ignitor finally caught. Doors are on nice strong springs, though, and they would spring shut again. Eventually, I would just leave one door open a little, turn the knob up to about 350, then when it lit up (after anywhere from 2 to 10 minutes,) I would close the door for preheating. I just figured it was old, original to the house built in the fifties, so something to live with and not too inconvenient. Certainly not a worry for someone like me, who grew up with gas ovens and stovetops.
Now recently, and just in time for Thanksgiving, mind you, the oven has stopped lighting altogether. After following this thread, I am going to disassemble it and try cleaning it thoroughly, to see if that makes a difference. I have the same problem as listed above, the space it occupies now is 24" x 38", not your average size for today's models, and as it sits in a cabinet at the end of the countertop and a doorway, not easily modified.
 
Allen, for your own welfare, refuse to get drawn further into this situation. You have given your best advice. Scrooge refuses to spend the money. If you go back to do any work and there is any sort of bad effect, you will be blamed and, if there is any monetary loss, he will come after you for damages. Listen to them bitch about it if you have to, but do not do anything more on this oven for these people.
 
Possible solution for modern gas ovens' (and/or gas cooktops) need for electrical power:

Get a small battery backup system, such as used for personal computers. My gas cooktop has a standard 110 volt line cord and plug, which easily could plug into a battery backup system. I'm assuming a wall oven could have the same sort of connection, or easily be adapted to one.

The battery backup system need not be very large, since the power demand of the system computer control and ignitors is small. And it would only be needed in times when there is a power outage. Probably a good idea not to use the oven light during a power outage, though.
 
Same occurrence with grill

We have a really cheap gas grill and the Igniter doesn't work so you have to turn it on and stick a match up the hole where the burner is. I turned it on high with the lid shut and I stuck the match up there a few secs later there was a big FOOM! Luckily my hand didn't get burned but when that happend I shut the gas off IMMEADETLY. That would have been a bad one...
 
It's ironic that this thread popped up again now.

The guy went ahead and replaced the oven two days before Thanksgiving with a new BOL GE oven. It turns out that the wife's bitching exceeded his ability to withstand any more of it. Just as I figured it would happen.

But interestingly he removed the Caloric oven from it's mounting location before the new oven arrived. I asked him why he did that, usually the installers will do that. His response "I didn't want to have to pay for them to remove the oven". Another thing he found when he took the Caloric oven out was that it used only a 1/4" line as a gas feed. So the installers had to replace part of his old gas line.
 
Coloric Gas Wall Oven Ignation Problems

Faye your Coloric likely needs a new igniter and Coloric also had problems with oven burner ignition if your oven is one with the infrared Ultraray broiler, if your has this burner you need a good techichion who can install the new igniter so it will work properly. Your Coloric wall oven would be from the 70s-80s if it uses a hot surface igniter. Also your experience with a gas grill may not have much to do with your ovens problem if your grill is using LP Propane gas, Natural and LP gas behave very differently.

Rich, a battery backup for gas ovens like we are discussing would need to be VERY ROBUST, these oven igniters consume almost 400 watts of power continuously when these ovens are in full use.
 
Two questions.....

Allen: Why was the gas line an issue if the oven was replaced with electric? Was there a gas cooktop nearby?

John: Why does electricity continue to feed once the gas oven is ignited?
 
Electrically Ignited Gas Ovens

Electricity is constantly required to keep the gas valve open, and in addition gas ovens that use hot surface igniters use the cheapest way of doing so. The system uses no sensor to detect when the flame actually lights so they just keep the igniter on full speed ahead consuming electricity at the rate of 300-400 watts the entire time the burner is burning.

Among US range brands ONLY WHIRLPOOL [ used on most WP, MT and Kitchenaid ranges ] has pioneered a system used on their 30" SC gas ranges that uses a spark to instantly light the oven or broiler burner. For this reason alone I sell a lot of WP built gas ranges [ these ranges are built in their Tulsa Oklahoma factory ] I think you will see this type of ignition required at some point in the future because of the electricity savings. I like it not only for the power savings and durability, but I also love pushing the bake button and then start and it lights within 2 seconds, no 30 second ---- two minute wait for the oven or broiler to start heating.

I think that you will soon see oven vents on gas ovens that will close when the burner shuts off, this will not only save gas , but should also improve baking results and keep the kitchen cooler.
 
I love my gas Whirlpool range.....

for many reasons, this nearly instant oven ignition is just one of them. The only time I have had a baking failure was due to OPERATOR (moi) ERROR. It has been Just That Good, and I would get it again. It has one of the best ovens I have ever owned. I am locally famous for my baking, and people are disappointed when I don't bring cookies or cake to a gathering.

Lawrence/Maytagbear
 
Retromania:

They replaced the gas oven with another gas oven. The owner didn't want the expense of running a 240V line to the oven location. So to do this they had to upgrade the gas service plumbing.

The link shows the oven then installed. I'm just hoping they keep the new oven cleaner than they did the old oven. There must have been 2 inches of food debris on the bottom of the old one.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-24-in...i_kw=&ci_gpa=pla&ci_src=17588969#.UqC-eSckIYI
 
My Whirlpool also uses an electric spark to light both oven and top burners. Oven has the spark lit pilot that lights the burner and relights it as thermostat calls for more heat. Pilot is off when oven control is off. Best part of this system is you can use top burners and oven during a power outage. Another property I once owned had a brand new Brown gas countertop and wall oven. First time it was tested, it blew the broiler across the kitchen because a connection at the oven burner had not been sealed properly at the factory.
 

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