General Electric P*7 Electric Range Help?

[terrispots]

I have just bought a home that came with this Fabulous range! It's a monster and I love it. However, there are all kinds of timers, timed cooking thing-a-ma-jigs and plugs on it that I dont know how to use. I would like to find a user's manual for it, but have had no luck so far, even here...

I ran the model/serial number in the decoder and I think it may be an 1971 since it is self cleaning. My options were 1950-something, 1971 or 1980-something.

I also need to get a new seal for the oven.

Can anyone help?

 

[danemodsandy]

1971 Looks Right

The Harvest Gold color and the styling point to '71 as the right year. Unfortunately, the 1971 GE full-line brochure does not picture any 40-inch ranges, since they had become a niche item for GE by that time.

Using the range is pretty simple. The timer allows you to set a start time and a stop time for any timed operation. You also need to set the operation to be timed. Here's an example:

SELF-CLEANING

1) Set start time
2) Set stop time
3) Set oven controls to Clean
4) Close oven door latch

Assuming the timer is working properly, the self-clean cycle will come on at the start time, cleaning will take place until the stop time, and the door latch will not be capable of being unlatched until the oven has cooled from the self-cleaning. This is a safety feature.

To use the timer for oven cooking, just set start and stop times, and then set the oven temp you want.

For use of the timed outlet, set start and stop times, then plug whatever appliance you like into the timed outlet. This is great for electric perks.

Hope this helps a bit. P.S.: If the timer does not work, please know that it is a common timer, easy to have rebuilt to work like new. It is not anything hard-to-find or exotic.

 

[danemodsandy]

Two More Thoughts

Hi Again:

Two more things occur to me.

One is that a GE instruction book for any P*7 range with the analog (non-digital) timer would give you adequate instructions. Finding the exact manual for your range will be quite a hunt. If you get a manual for another model now, that will give you the info you need, and you can always keep looking for the exact one.

The other is that replacing the oven door seal is a bit tricky. Unless there's a very good reason for doing so, such as fraying, you might be better off leaving it alone. When you're installing the new gasket, it has to be put in very evenly, so that there are no air gaps when it's in use. That gasket has to protect you and your kitchen from 900 degrees of heat during the self-clean cycle.

 

[terrispots]

Fraying

Yes, the seal is fraying and is pretty worse for the wear. Any ideas on where it can be gotten? Any great vintage appliance parts sites?

 

[danemodsandy]

I See!

Yes, fraying is a reason to replace the oven seal.

You're probably in luck; GE made millions of ranges using this same basic oven door, so putting your range's model number into the Search function of a parts Website should turn the seal up pretty easily. If you had a pre-WCI Westinghouse, it would be a whole different ball game. So, you're lucky that this is a GE.

RepairClinic is a good place to start; a link is below. Once you find the part on RepairClinic, you will usually find the part number on the part's page.

Once you have the part number, you can also search for the part on eBay, to see if anyone has it cheaper.

http://www.repairclinic.com/

 

[whirlcool]

We had a 1969 P7 built in wall oven in our last house. One of the best ovens we ever owned! It would hold temps really steady and the cleaning cycle was the best we ever used. Two hours would clean everything so all you needed in the morning to use was a damp paper towel to wipe the "dust" up.

Remember to remove the racks from the oven when cleaning it.

 

[sudsmaster]

I also have a P-7 wall oven, and yes, it is a great one. Its only drawback is that it's only about 24 inches wide, so it can't handle mass quantities. But for most family baking, it's fine. And built to last.

I've never used the timer on it for oven cooking. Just for self-cleaning. I'll have to give the timer a try on oven baking some time. The oven also has a temp probe outlet and a rotisserie motor, but the accessories for these are long gone and probably unobtainable.

 

[terrispots]

thanks for the help all! I will let you know how the replacement of the seal goes!