Please help with my Stratoliner!

[dmaury]

Hello everyone,

I am new here, and I haven't properly introduced my beautiful stove, but I have a question that I'm hoping some of you vintage appliance veterans may be able to help with.

I have a 1954 GE Stratoliner that came in an old estate home that we recently purchased. Once we cleaned it up, we were in love and kept cooking with it. There is one problem with it though- whenever it is plugged in, the timer constantly buzzes. I don't think it is the "your food is done" buzz because it is sort of quiet. We didn't have time to mess with it at first, so we just disconnected it temporarily.

I recently saw the catalog for this machine (thanks to a forum member), and now that I know all that this timer is capable of, I'd really like to get it running properly again.

Does anyone know what could be causing the constant buzzing, or where to get parts if something specific needs replaced?

Thanks so much for your help!

 

[dmaury]

oops, slight misinformation

I was originally thinking that the buzzer was linked with the clock. Now that I'm looking at it, it seems easy to replace the buzzer if I can find the part. My main concern is that the clock (and therefore timers) are not working. I thought maybe it was down the chain from the buzzer and was disconnected with it, but I reconnected the buzzer and the clock is still not working. This seems more difficult to diagnose, and I am thoroughly intimidated

 

[supremewhirlpol]

Debbi, could you please provide some pictures? We just got to see this awesome stove of yours!!!

 

[dmaury]

pictures

I haven't properly introduced it because I haven't taken any pictures since it has been cleaned up. I will have to do that. Right now, it is opened up and in the middle of the kitchen.
Here is the picture we took before it was cleaned up, but I really need to take some with the lights on!

 

[dmaury]

And here she is right now (taking a break from futzing with her to make some dinner)

 

[redcarpetdrew]

Nice range!

The first step is to take a volt meter and see if you are even getting power to the clock motor. If not, it's in the wiring which is actually a good thing. If there is power to the clock motor and it's moving but the clock isn't or the motor is powered but not moving, then it gets a whole lot more fun...

RCD

 

[qsd-dan]

Most old electric clocks (whether in appliances or vintage cars) usually just need to be cleaned and lubed. Sometimes you can get away with just lubing the workings.

 

[dmaury]

clock power

Thanks for the advice! I didn't get anything fixed today, but here are my discoveries:

The buzzer-
The constant noise from the buzzer is actually from the gears, not the buzzer itself. I lubed them a little but it didn't take care of the problem. Seems that one might be a little wobbly or something, but some careful tweaking would probably fix it. I just didn't get it tweaked quite right and ended up disconnecting it again before giving up for the night.

The clock-
I didn't mess with the clock much. I'm actually quite intimidated. I did, however, discover two things. It is wired correctly and the solenoid is getting power. I'm not sure that the motor is getting power though. I'll have to check that with a volt meter. I have the impression though that it is going to be internal and a lot more complicated.

Does anyone happen to have a manual for this, or a similar GE range? To be honest, I'm not entirely sure how the whole clock/timer unit works. There are 3 knobs, and 2 of them appear to do the exact same thing (set the time). The third sets the time bake. I don't know if this is another problem, or I just don't understand what the knobs do. The stoves I grew up with didn't have all these bells and whistles!

Here is a picture of the buzzer and clock, if it helps to know what kind I am dealing with.

Thanks again!

 

[westingman123]

timed outlet

I suspect one of your knobs sets the timed outlet. Which, unfortunately, I'm unsure. GE ranges are different, but my Westy has the time feature as well. That is one beautiful range, Debbie. I'm glad it's getting the love it deserves.

 

[sensi-temp]

You turn one of the knobs to set the stop time, the other for the start time, the third knob has several clicks, this puts it into timed bake. Your minuite timer & clock are seperate, timer has it's own electric motor, it will buzz continually till you turn it off. One outlet is timed & the other is manual, should be marked. There is a company in Iowa that rebuilds the clocks, they used to be a part of GE. I have used them, cost is about $85. They have their services on e-bay. I have the info if you need it. Your stove also has an outlet for a deep fryer element that fits INSIDE the deep well pan, plugs into the back & has it's own temp control.

 

[sensi-temp]

Outlets

Went back & looked at your picure, your outlets are marked timed & normal.

 

[dmaury]

Thanks, that helps a lot!!
Yes, one knob controls the timed outlet, I'm just not sure how. My problem at first was that two knobs seemed to just set the clock. I realized though that if I hold the middle while I turn the left, I can get the "stop" time to change. The right dial is for timed bake which is easy enough to understand. I just really have no idea how to set the "on" time for the outlet. I'm still missing something.

In reality, I'm never going to use this feature anyway, even if I did have a functioning clock. I just want to get to know my stove and all the fancy things it is supposed to do

But yes, please give me the information for that company. That is something we will likely do at some point.

The problem with the minute timer is that it makes noise even when it is off. A gear was actually misaligned and it was off by about 3 minutes. I aligned it so that the off position was correct, but it still made noise. I have no idea why.

Also, I believe I have all the elements for the deep fryer. They are still in one of the drawers where we found them. I plan on giving them a very thorough cleaning and giving the deep fryer a whirl sometime soon!

Here is a better picture of the clock dials.

 

[dmaury]

Deep fryer

Just for fun, here are the (very greasy!) deep fry well parts

 

[sensi-temp]

OHHH you do have the fryer element!! when you set the clock, it times both the oven & timed outlet. Will have to check my manuals for sure.

 

[dmaury]

Yep, I have it! No idea if it works though. I really want to try it out soon.

If you (or anyone else) could scan or take a picture of a manual, that would be fantastic. I would assume this would operate similarly to other ranges from the era. I mostly get it, just not how to set the "on" time. The catalog ad I saw mentioned something about using the timed outlet to set coffee makers and such (about the only use I can think of for it before programmable coffee makers anyway). But this just doesn't make sense to me without a second dial with hours like the "off" one.

I'm sure there is some common sense thing I am missing here, but I'm too young to have ever seen anything like this before!

 

[northwesty]

I had the timer rebuilt on my 48 GE stove for $75, they would do the clock too but I have a kitchen clock hanging right over the stove. Perhaps an appliance repair shop in your area would know who does these out there