New-2-us 19550's GE electric range

[jenronPA]

Hello all, new to this site though I've been researching and trolling for a few weeks now. My name is Ron, wife is Jen and we are located in PA. We just bought a stove off of classifieds site, I and my neighbor went and loaded it into the truck yesterday afternoon, brought it home and got it into the garage. From what I can gather, this is a 1955 GE Strotoliner stove. If it is not, please let me know...
Once we got it into the garage, I began a closer inspection. There will be A LOT of cleaning today. Wow! I mean a lot... From the outside it appears pretty nice - the finish is really nice. I haven't seen any noticeable nicks in it. All the burners work (I don't know about the "Automatic" front left - but I do know that it heats), all the lights work (even the push buttons light up). All in all, I think it was a pretty decent buy at $125. The only thing missing is the dual oven... sigh.
Oh well, at least we'll get use out of it for a while and if we decide to sell it we shouldn't have any issue getting the $125 out of it.
Please pass me any info you may have regarding this stove. Thanks and I look forward to jibba-jabba with you all in the future.

 

[rp2813]

You should be hearing from the GE experts here with information and advice on your new range.  Even with only a single oven, it appears to be well outfitted.  I think you did quite well at $125.

 

You can also use the Super Searchalator link at the top of the forum index page to pull up archival posts relating to GE (Stratoliner) ranges from this period.

 

[petek]

Nice, I wished our kitchen had the wide cut out in the cabinets to fit one. Certainly going to be a conversation piece compared to the same old same old new stuff

 

[danemodsandy]

Getting Down to Business!

Okay - here goes, from a diehard GE fan.

First, you did just fine on the price and the condition. Dirt is temporary, as you already realize. To find one of these in White is a bit unusual - we seem to unearth more Yellow and Turquoise examples around here, and occasionally, a Pink one. White, of course, will be much easier to match to other appliances.

It's a good sign that the automatic burner heats. This may be due to one of two things: 1) It's still working just fine after all these years, or 2) It may have stopped working and been converted to a conventional burner. If it responds to the temperature settings on the controls, then it's working. That would be a huge plus, because these are not easy units to get parts for and it takes a bit of expertise to repair one. We do have some resources for parts and service info here, in the form of member John, whose handle is combo52. He knows stuff about vintage GEs that GE forgot years ago.

You need to check the oven for proper operation. I would first set it to a high baking temperature, say 400 or 450 F. After letting it heat for about one minute, look inside and see if the bake element (at the bottom of the oven cavity) is glowing red. That lets you know that the element is okay. Next, turn the oven selector to "Broil," let it heat for one minute, and observe to see if that element is glowing red. If it is, great.

Next, get an oven thermometer (I strongly suggest the Taylor Oven Guide - cheap, accurate and mercury-free) and assess the oven's ability to hold a set temperature. I would suggest checking at 250 F, 350 F, and 450 F. Again, there are resources here to help if something is off - and fixing an oven calibration error is simpler than most people realize.

You should then test each burner for proper function. When you push a button for a higher setting, does the burner get hotter? When you push ones for lower settings, does it cool down? Using a pan of water for this check is helpful.

If all of this checks out, you've got a real buy for $125. Many vintage ranges that are bought cheaply turn out to have problems. Not all problems are expensive to fix, but finding a range without any is a good thing.

Happy cleaning - I had to do a lot of it on my 1972 GE J 370 range. It's worth the effort to remove the grime - vintage ranges were extremely handsome when new, and getting the grunge off brings back their good looks.

Last, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. This group has a collective experience and knowledge that isn't duplicated anywhere else!

And here's a photo of the Taylor Oven Guide thermometer. If none of your local hardware or kitchenware stores have it, Amazon does. About $10.95.

 

[jenronPA]

I am sooo done for today...

Wow! Dirty, dirty dirty...
You can see from the first picture I posted this morning, the ring around the timer was not black paint - yeah, that was grease and grime. Same with the lettering on all of the plastic (that lights up from behind by the way) - it's red. About half a bottle of Windex, vigorous scrubbing with a brush - tah-dah!
This thing really shines, especially in the sunlight. Word to the wise though, a dremel tool with a buffing disk WILL melt the platic push-buttons. Eeesh, thought I'd gotten a brilliant idea of getting between them quick and easy like...
I even bought LED candle lights to replace the bulbs behind the push-buttons and plastic indicators above the dials.

Thanks to all for the advice and compliments on our new addition. I'm sure we'll be checking in with John for any parts or help. I will definitly get one of those thermometers to check the oven.

More to come as the time goes by...

 

[pulltostart]

Very Nice!

Photo 4 shows her off very well. Congratulations on your acquisition!

lawrence

 

[mom11]

Wowzers,

beautiful! That Stove is the awesome and a good buy at $125. You'll have fun with it. Congratulations. ANd welcome.

 

[hooverwheelaway]

Yay GE Range!!

Congratulations on your beautiful range!  There is NOTHING like cooking on a pushbutton GE range.  We had a yellow '56 Liberator, and last year about this time found one in pink.  The thread linked to below illustrates the struggle we went through in trying to decide pink or yellow.  Pink is still in the kitchen, and the yellow is still out in the garage...   

We probably took 2 lbs of grease out of the stove when we were cleaning it -- lots of Simple Green, HOT water, dish soap, and elbow grease to get the thing clean.  Finding a third range for some spare parts was also nice.  

Hope your Automatic Left front burner still works, I still see the original sensor in the pictures. Ours works on the pink (it had been replaced on the yellow with a regular burner) and it really works quite well for cooking milk/oatmeal without scorching.  And while having a dual oven is nice, we really very rarely use the smaller oven.   

The owners manual and service manuals are posted on automatice.org - while not exactly your year, I would imagine that they are pretty similar overall.  

Here's the thread when we were trying to decide between pink and yellow:
http://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?48952  

Here's a link to the Owner's Manual for the 1956 range:
http://www.automatice.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi?showdoc~810~General Electric~RA  

Here's a link to the GE Product Man that covers the range:
http://www.automatice.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi?showdoc~1083~General Electric~  

You'll have to share more pictures once you have it installed!  Congratulations again!  Here's a picture of ours from tonight - dinner's in the oven, it's all lit up!

 

[northwesty]

a note about checking oven temp

You have to take multiple checks, even if the oven has been on awhile, as it turns on and off as it goes. Sometimes it is a little low, and sometimes it is a little high. then you average them. I learned this the hard way, but I have a repair manual for my 48 liberator and it actually says this is the way it is done.

 

[firedome]

Very nice find...

you'll really enjoy cooking on this baby! We had a '55 Liberator (2 oven version) in white and loved it, only parted with it because we wanted a 40" in color. The liquid-type Automatic Calrod thermostatic front burner on these '55s is actually quite dependable in comparison to the type that came later on and is a wonderful feature. And you'll find the work space that these have to the R of the burners is a real convenience, rarely did I find the closer spacing of the burners to be a problem, only when using a huge canner. Enjoy!

 

[jenronPA]

First dinner cooked...

Well, we got it in and set up. Works great. Jen made baked chicken in the oven.
Prior to this, I turned it on, set to 350, let it settle for about 10 minutes and had a temperature probe laid on the middle rack in the center of the oven. At first it was about 15 degrees over the temp. I pulled the temp knob and set the adjustment at the lowest notch. It now holds at 355 - close enough for us.
I dunno... either it was the GE or the Raspberry Heat and Sweet sauce... that chicken was awesome!

 

[rp2813]

It's all good

A sweet ending to a great story . . . or . . . just the beginning of a long term love affair.

 

[retro-man]

Are those bacon cookers on the surface units. Never have seen those before and they look interesting. Could you maybe include a close up of them and were did you purchase them. Are they from a gone bye era or something new. Thanks.
Jon

 

[jetcone]

I know from grease!

I'm restoring my first Flair Range, I don't know how people can keep cooking on a range so grunged up.

 

Nice looking range looks like you have copper trim? My fave GE accent.

 

Yes I too am curious about that "baconator" Northwesty! Fess up about that !

 

[polkanut]

Attn. Northwesty

<span style="font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 12pt;">I've been looking for a bacon cooker like yours forever!  Where did you find them?</span>

 

[northwesty]

Bacon cookers

Hi, I found one of those at a thrift store, and then looked on ebay for the other. They work great to get the bacon fat out of the bacon, maybe too good. But when I make waffles or pancakes they taste better with this as the ingredient so I need every drop.

Again a note about setting the oven temp as I stated above. I did exactly as you did but not with successful results. My temp gauge told me the oven was too hot, so I pulled the dial and set it to the very lowest setting, but then it seemed not to be heating up enough, so I re-set it. I think I did this a few times before I read that you have to take multiple readings and average them. It turned out I ended up putting the dial right back in the middle -- the oven runs just maybe a little hot but not enough to reset even one notch.

Just to be on the safe side I would like to point out that on my stove, that chrome backsplash isn't all chrome. You would think that that frosted -- not so shiny part was just a rough finish in the plating process but actually it is painted silver. If you rub too hard you can knock that finish off and expose the chrome underneath - it is basically ruined. My friend did this to her Hotpoint stove. Getting baked grease off of that paint in a real challenge and I am fortunate to have noticed before I did damage to my own stove. Yours looks great but if anyone else is planning on cleaning anything vintage I would just figure it will take hours and to move slowly at first.