More Radarange Magic

[danemodsandy]

Wow! Talk about luck....

If you'll recall, I bought a very nice Amana Radarange RRL-9TB at the thrift for next to nothing. As with most thrift merchandise, only the Radarange itself was there, no manual or probe. Searches for the probe turned up nothing, nada, zip - it has been discontinued by Amana. Google, Craigslist and eBay searches all came up empty, until today....

I was just about to post to this list with a pic of the correct probe, hoping one of you might have one, or would be willing to keep an eye out in thrifts. But since there is a candymaker probe that is different, I wanted to post a pic of that, too, so that I could 'splain the difference - I didn't want anyone wasting time over the wrong candymaker probe when it does not work for meats, casseroles, etc. Sooooo, I hied myself thither to eBay, to search for a nice pic of the wrong candymaker probe to go along with the pic I already had of the correct temp probe.

SHEZAM! I found a photo, all right - for a candymaker auction that INCLUDED THE TEMP PROBE TOO! It appears from the auction pic (below), that Suzy Homemaker decided that her Amana candymaker's box was the perfect place to squirrel away the temp probe for her Radarange. You can see the temp probe I was looking for (black cord) beside the candymaker probe (white cord).

Yes, I bought it, yes, it's on its way, and yes, I'm happy.

Another appliance miracle brought to you by AW.org, home of the Silver Flute Factor, a.k.a. Seger's Law.

 

[danemodsandy]

P.S.: Thanks, Lawrence!

Just an acknowledgment here:

Had it not been for Lawrence/Maytagbear's comments to a previous post of mine in another thread, I would never have known what I was looking at in the pic in my previous post - and I would have missed a great opportunity and a great bargain. Another perfect example of AW listpower in action.

Thanks, Lawrence!

 

[swestoyz]

Yay Sandy! I am glad that you shopped around and found the probe along with the candy maker. I have seen TONS of probes stashed in the candy maker box. I suspect that the sales guys were great at adding this 39.99 dollar accessory (just guessing at the price), then the housewife probably found out that it was just too much hassle, and stashed both away for safe keeping. Her loss, your score!

Ben

 

[danemodsandy]

Ben:

We need to remember this if anyone's looking for a Radarange probe in future. It would never have occurred to me to scout candymakers for a tucked-away temp probe; I stumbled across it accidentally.

Now that I know, and with your confirmation that this happens from time to time, we can tell others looking for probes to check out every candymaker they can find.

Another part-hunting tip brought to you by AW.org - the place where "NLA" means "Nobody Looked Actively."

 

[maytagbear]

When I got my RR-700

in 1986, there was no mention whatsoever of the candymaking probe. It is possible, though I do not know for certain, that it might have been discontinued by that time.

I use my standard probe frequently. It is great for bringing refrigerated leftovers up to temperature, and I use it in breadmaking, to heat the milk or the water without overheating. I have tested it against an instant-reading thermometer, and it has always been right.

To me, a probe for a microwave is a great feature, and I am sad that it has been discontinued.

Sandy--you are quite welcome. I am a big fan of the real Amana Radarange, and am glad to share what I know, and what I believe about them.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[danemodsandy]

Lawrence:

"When I got my RR-700 in 1986, there was no mention whatsoever of the candymaking probe. It is possible, though I do not know for certain, that it might have been discontinued by that time."

I was in the housewares biz at that time, and I well remember what was going on. In the mid-to-late '70s and early '80s, there was a lot of accessorising going on. If you had a microwave, there were companies shoving browning skillets, slow cookers, turntables and even special microwave cleaning sprays at you. It was as if every new invention spawned a host of unforeseen "problems" that Corporate America was just dying to help you with. Food processors, the same thing - there were racks for the blades, wide feed tubes, extra-narrow feed tubes, special pushers with prongs to hold the food steady - you name it.

By about '84, all of this began to die away, because consumers had wised up and just weren't buying accessories, having shelves and drawers full of stuff that had seemed like a good idea during the giddy process of purchasing, but which had proved unnecessary. I would imagine that candymakers were a casualty of this sobering-up period. I remember that people became very disenchanted with browning skillets; while they worked fine, the spattering they generated was a horrid PITA to clean out of the oven cavity - much worse than cleaning up a stovetop.

P.S.: When this comes, you're quite welcome to the candymaker; all I wanted was the temp probe.

 

[maytagbear]

Guilty as charged!

I never fell for one of those wind-up accessory turntables, but.....I do have a Corning browning skillet (use it more as a casserole), two microwave plastic bacon trays, a plastic muffin/cupcake mold, all the Pyrex measures (from the 1 cup to the 8 cup..--highly useful)....

I still DO cook in my Radarange, though not everything. I love it for vegetables, grains--may not save much time, but to cook the rice in a dish in which it can be served is really nice. Casseroles, too....

I melt and soften...chocolate, butter, cream cheese....

I like a microwave for sauces. Less stirring than on the cooktop. Still have to stir a lot, but more like every other minute than every minute.

One lovely thing about the "Accu-dial" models is that the power level can be changed instantly, just like on a good gas cooktop.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[danemodsandy]

DINGDINGDINGDINGDING!

Well, as the Ginsu knife people say, that's not all....

I was able to find the Use and Care Guide for this Radarange at user-manuals.com. Once the probe and candymaker come, I'll have this baby complete. The download of the manual was $9.99, but well worth it to know more about the use of the programming and temp probe features. Also, it was way cheaper than the $24.99 plus shipping being asked for the same manual by an eBay seller who has one available right now.

So, far, this Radarange has cost me a whopping $35 total. Interestingly, it cooks faster and more evenly than the Daewoo I retired, which had more wattage and also had a turntable.

Life is good.

 

[toggleswitch2]

HA! don't bring "LG" into this!

I love stories that have a happy ending!

 

[oldhouseman]

Yes,

It's always good to find the probe you want.....

Never used one myself. How are these machines different from a plain ol' microwave? Or are they the same?

 

[danemodsandy]

Greg:

Early Radaranges (1966 through about 1986) are old tech, or maybe you could term them early new tech. They're much more solidly built than any microwave you can buy today; my RRL-9TB (dating from around 1984) weighs 91 pounds.

Materials are first-class. The door is glass and metal with a metal microwave shield between the glass, not plastique. The interior of the oven cavity is highly polished stainless. There is a glass tray in the bottom of the oven cavity that weighs as much as some small microwaves do nowadays. Even the Touchmatic keypad control panel (which was the beginning of today's keypad controls for appliances) is glass, not plastic. Instead of today's failure-prone membranes behind the keypad, the Touchmatic has highly sensitive metal "fingers" behind each key. Radaranges were so highly thought-of in their day that there were only two other brands that were considered to be anything like the same class - Litton made a very nice machine, and Thermador was every bit as good as Amana (but cost even more than the Radarange, already $500-600 in 1970s dollars, depending on model).

Amana Radaranges had a more even microwave distribution than other brands. I could not afford a Radarange back then when they were new; I settled for a Tappan. It was a decent machine, but it was nothing like a Radarange for even cooking. Radaranges also tended to have more power than most other brands; this RRL-9TB has 700 watts of cooking power. My old Tappan had 600, and cheap machines of that era had only 400 or so. What is odd is that this Radarange is outperforming a Daewoo that had 1250 watts of cooking power.

The temp probe is a feature that allows you to cook to a specified internal temperature; once the temp is reached, the machine shuts off. The probe plugs into a jack located inside the oven cavity; you set the temp you want on the keypad. The probe is inserted into the roast or bird or casserole or whatever. This setup can not only cook to temperature, it can hold food at a specified temperature.

While not all Radaranges have the probe or the Touchmatic controls (these features appeared fairly late in the game), they're all rock-solid machines. The doors open and close like those on a vintage Buick; there is no hint of today's tinny, plasticky, flimsy feel to any part of the unit.

If you want to learn more about older Radaranges, you can't do better than Cory Heisterkamp's site; a linkie is below. Knowing what I know about you, I would bet that you're a born Radarange aficionado - they have the heft and the quality you like in things.

http://www.radar58.com/radarange/radar.html

 

[panthera]

As in so many things,

It is not how big it is, it's what you do with it that counts. Because the microwave radiation can not penetrate further than 1cm into the product being cooked, the superior distribution pattern of the Amana made far more of the available energy than units with less efficient patterns but far more wattage.
Probes also fell out of favor because many brands suffered enormous failure rates. Sears, for instance, replaced my probes under warranty at a rate of one every few months for years (I had the extended service contract).
Amanas show up at the local Salvation Army all the time. Unfortunately, the guy running the appliance section knows their value. The junk from China goes for 15 to 20 dollars. Amanas start at $50 and go up from there.

 

[danemodsandy]

Alien Probes:

Keven:

Well, yeah, Sears - I mean, these were the years that the company sort of ran off the rails. In the early '70s, I had Sears everything. By the early '80s, I had almost nothing from them, because I'd been put through so many problems. They supposedly got quality back up (the late '70s were a pretty horrid time for product quality with everything), but by that time, I'd broken the training I'd gotten while growing up - "We need a so-and-so - let's go see what Sears has." That was automatic when I was a kid; it was almost as if no one else made anything worth having. Once that mind-set got short-circuited, I never did go back; I found many products were better than what I'd grown up with, even the Sears Best and Lady Kenmore stuff.

 

[danemodsandy]

Probe Is Here:

After receiving the probe and putting it through its paces, I find that it's working perfectly after all these years! Since I got the manual a few days ago, all is well in Radarangeland. You can't do better than that for $35 total.

Now, to find the correct edition of the Radarange cookbook....

 

[j2400]

A Stupid Question

I'm wondering about the safety of an old microwave. Am I correct in thinking that it should be safe to use if it appears visually sound (door isn't hanging off one hinge, opens and closes, no big hole in the wall, etc) and the thing seems to operate properly? I assume yes, but I remember one repair service years back making a big fuss over "safety checks" to make sure microwaves weren't escaping. (The cynic in me thinks this may have been a service more valued by the repair person for the income it would produce than any valid reason.)

 

[panthera]

The dangers of non-ionizing radiation

are undervalued.
If the door and the window seal are tight, probably you are ok. A quick and dirty test - certainly not a guarantee, but at least a guideline is to hold a neon bulb (the kind you find in cheap nightlights) at the gaps around the door and in front of the window. If it glows at all, then you have considerable leakage and something has to be done about it.
Personally, I would expect a forty year old Amana in clean condition to be safer than the newest plastic junk out of China...but, yes, I'd test it.

 

[danemodsandy]

John:

A microwave leak detector kit is available for $9.99 at the link below, if you need a definitive answer on the safety of a particular microwave. I've used these before, and never found a clean microwave to be problematic, but it's always nice to know for sure, right?

As Panthera says, a big factor is the cleanliness of the door opening, door seals, etc. The latch should be clean and functioning properly, and there should be no crud on the door hinges.

Now, if I can only figure out why I've sprouted feathers....;-)

http://www.hardwareandtools.com/invt/u799744?ref=gbase

 

[j2400]

Thanks for the answers. I'll look into that test kit. Although, I have no doubt that older microwaves are safer--not after some of the new microwave horror stories I've heard.

Sandy--those feathers might have gotten started with your LAST microwave. Was it Chinese, by any chance? In any case, they sould be handy when winter comes--feathers are good insulation against the winter cold!

 

[petek]

I got a microwave detector a number of years ago at Radio Shack, didn't cost much, looks like a battery checker with a little needle gauge on it. They may still them.