My 1936 GE Range!

Automatic Washer - The world's coolest Washing Machines, Dryers and Dishwashers

Help Support :

F

fridgenut

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 19, 2017
Messages
125
Location
St. Louis, MO
Hello everyone. I know I haven't been active on here lately. I've been way too busy moving. Part of the moving process was getting used to having a worn out kitchen which was made in the 50s and never touched since. Unfortunately the oven was not from that period. It was a hideous 80s Kenmore gas stove with nothing electrical at all. That ugly hulking piece of metal had to go. In its place is now sitting a 1936 GE stove that I've had for some time. I love the way it looks and it fits perfectly in the hole. I can finally use it! All of the burners work as you can see. Unfortunately the oven isn't so lucky. It seems like the most complex part on this whole stove, the thermostat, has gone south. I came to this conclusion after I realized that neither the broiler or baking element were working. The selector switch seems fine and gives a loud and positive clunk like the burner switches.

I tried to get the thermostat out last night. What a fiasco. Everything is tied to each other and none of the knobs would budge. I stopped for fear of breaking the delicate Bakelite.

I did confirm however that the sticky thermostat knob was due to some out of whack internals to the thermostat. It seems to be kaput.

Does anyone have any idea how I could find a replacement or even someone who rebuilds them? I know of antique appliances.com but I was wondering if any of you bright brains had any suggestions.

In the mean time I'll just make do without an oven. The deep well cooker is quite versatile. Tonight I'm going to use the deep well cooker to make a chuck roast, potatoes, and a blackberry pudding. All in one easy to clean container! It has a rack and little bowl that I will set the pudding in above the meat and potatoes. So cool. The recipe is coming from the instruction manual that I have for it. So many good recipes to try!

fridgenut-2017071108443906074_1.jpg

fridgenut-2017071108443906074_2.jpg

fridgenut-2017071108443906074_3.jpg
 
What a nice looking range. Don't think I've ever seen a GE of that vintage. It seems to have been made for the space. Could we expect any range made today still looking that nice and functioning 81 years from now? Don't think so.

Even though this site is dedicated to gas ranges maybe they could provide some info as to rebuilding services?

https://www.antiquegasstoves.com/index.html

Here's a site that states they rebuild electric range thermostats.

http://www.antiquestoves.com/toac/electricoven.htm
 
Thanks for the warm response

Thank you all for the kind words. To answer some questions...
Yes, the cabinets are Steel. They must have 15 layers of crappy white paint. So many layers in fact that I almost couldn't make out the Youngstown Kitchen badge.

I do agree that it fits in nicely with the kitchen. It makes a worn out place like this look tons better.

Ken, thank you for posting those links. I will check them out.

Apparently the previous owner never used this range. Sure, there are signs of use but overall it is very clean.

The kicker is that I also have a matching GE flat top fridge from 1936 that has the same badge! It is also in the kitchen serving as a liquor fridge.
 
So wait -- are you saying those stove top elements are original?   If so, they seem like an advanced design for 1936, but they would also serve as a testament to the low use of this range.   I thought they were later retrofits.  It would really be something if today's Calrod elements would snap right in or be easily adapted if you ever needed to replace one.
 
I think this stove is an older design...

To answer Ralph's question...
I do believe that the burners are original. I have no way to back that statement up but they do all match. They have an emblem in the middle that says "hi-speed calrod". Strangely enough the cheaper stoves at the time according to the manual that I have had the open coil ni-chrome wire elements. The deep well cooker that this stove has in fact has one of those elements.

However, I don't think a modern unit would slip into place. For starters I have never seen burners quite like this. They don't plug into sockets. They have a "brick" underneath of them that has the wires going to it. From what I can tell, you can't separate the connection brick or block from the element itself. It looks to be riveted together. I also noticed that there are two separate elements within each unit. I think one is a lower wattage and one is a higher wattage. Only half of the element turns on on low or medium, the low and high wattage elements respectively. Then on high they both come on. At least this is how I understand it to work. It makes sense as that type of construction would simplify everything. I think that is why Panthera mentioned something about them being 110 / 220 units. Maybe you could explain that a bit more in detail?

Speaking of Panthera, thank you so much for sending a link to a universal thermostat. I think that will work wonderfully. I think I can get the old one out but only if I can get all of the knobs off. Unfortunately they are stuck good and tight. I really don't want to break one of them because I think they are very neat looking. Does anyone have a method to remove a stuck old bakelite knob? There don't seem to be any set screws as I had hoped for.
 
Beautiful 30's example!

The elements are likely original, GE bought out Hotpoint/Edison Electric to get these Calrods in the 30's.

Not seeing the connection block on this range, I would venture to guess that they are similar to the blocks that GE used through the 50's & 60's until they changed to the plug-in socket type you're familiar with. You might be able to do a direct replacement with a GE element like (link) this one. They changed from the ceramic block to glass in later years, but the only thing you may have to do is swap the chrome ring around the edge to keep yours original looking, fit in the opening may depend on the wider ring as well. This ring replacement may be an interesting challenge depending on how your Calrods are mounted in the rings vs. the new replacements. If all of your elements are working now, you'll have some time to work this out :-)

Congrats on a really stunning range.

 
As an eBay Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Knobs and set screws

Oh, never fear - there will be something holding them on tight. Manufacturers delighted in hiding the dratted things. Sometimes they even put a drop of carefully matched colour over the hole in which the set screw/pin was placed and smoothed it down. Sunbeam, for example, did that on some of their wonderful 1940-50's waffle irons.

It's most likely to be on the flat bottom or slightly recessed on the shaft - possibly inside of the range, even. Sometimes you can find where they are by locating a flat surface on the control shaft - the set screw will be perpendicular to that.

 

Somebody here is bound to know, though.

 

Using two elements run together, such as your range uses and playing with the voltage is a very easy way to get lots of heat settings from simple controls. Back before the infinite heat regulators, it was common. This is possible because when you halve the voltage*, you cut the heat output to one-fourth.* Let's look at what I can get out of two nominally 220/240 volt coils in such a configuration* (your range may not have done it this way, of course). Let's place one element at 1000 watts and the other at 1250. No idea what your's draw, of course.

So, both together at 220V gives us a whopping 2250Watts or a really hot 'high'.

Both run in serial at 220V gives us a respectable 563Watts or a pretty nice medium-low.

In between, of course, we could have one element at 1000W at 220 or one at 1250W at 220. Pretty good for medium, no? Medium high could be

1250W at 220V + 250W at 110V= 1500.

And so on.

With just a simple switch, you could have:

High..............2250

Med. High....1500

Med...............1200

Med. Low......1000 (not ideal, but not bad)

Low................512

Extra low.......300

Simmer...........250

 

In fact, many pre-infinite units did have either 5 or 7 settings and this is how they did it.

If your range only has 3 settings, I'm guessing they may have done it all on 220V.

 

What a neat stove! Keep posting pics, please. Love to see the innards behind the control panel!

 

*At this point, I'd like to speak to the ladies here who are clutching their pearls and foaming at the mouth about how AC is not DC and thus we must consider PF, etc: Darlinks, it's a purely resistance load. Seriously. 

 
 
Heat helps to loosen bakelite.  Try putting a blow dryer to a knob and seeing if you can coax it off.  My mom's stove, which was 1) A Westinghouse, and 2) Made in 1949, did not use set screws on the burner control knobs.  Yours may not either.

 

I had a stubborn situation with an old Western Electric E-1 handset that had a transmitter cap that wouldn't unscrew.  A blow dryer and a strap wrench did the trick.
 
Panthera...good explanation

You explained that very well. Now it makes sense to me how simple switching can make a dual element burner have so many settings. Very clever. I will try to get some more pictures of it soon. I've been crazy busy. I will also order that replacement thermostat. Now that I'll have a service manual heading my way I should have no issues with getting the oven in tip top shape. I told a family friend about this range the other day, she is in her 70s. She couldn't understand why I would cook with something so old and simple. I told her it still looks great and it cooks just fine! She couldn't argue with how nice it looked. I suspect there aren't too many of these beauties still around even though they are simple.
 
Hey! I'm back!

Wow, I can't believe it's been this long since I even thought about working on this stove. That's what a crappy job will do to you. It drains you mentally and physically. Anyways...
I'm ready to finally get this thermostat fixed. I am missing having an oven. I did finally figure out how the knobs come off the other night. You pull them out and twist counter clockwise. You do that until they come off. Weird. With that done I pulled the control panel off and took a closer look at the thermostat. After fiddling with it for 3 hours I finally got it back together. It still didn't work. After looking at the innards of it I can confidently say that I don't think it is worth rebuilding. It sucks hard. It's like trying to put together a precarious rube Goldberg machine that will go SPROING at any time.

Looking back at this thread I decided to give the generic thermostat a try. Before I buy this part I'm curious if there is any way to be able to keep that funky original knob and somehow retrofit it to the replacement thermostat. I bet I would have to JB weld the old rod onto the stub of the new unit. At least I now can get to the damn thing to replace it. I want to bake some holiday goodies!
 

Similar threads

V
Looking at this stove to add to my kitchen
Replies
11
Views
13
vrusp1
V
D
1956 GE Liberator IJ408
Replies
7
Views
8
combo52
combo52
bajaespuma
Beautiful 40" GE Double Oven Range needs help
Replies
7
Views
12
combo52
combo52
F
Frigidaire Gallery Convection Range
Replies
2
Views
3
fan-of-fans
F
P
Making a Frigidaire RS-35 range knob
Replies
7
Views
13
piglet
P

Latest posts

Back
Top