The First Self Cleaning Oven?

[captainmoody]

I picked this up off Craigslist last week for $25. From what I can see on the internet, it looks like a 1964 model, and from what GE's website said, it is supposed to be one of the first self cleaning models.
While it does'nt matter to me if it is or not, (i'm just going to use it as a second oven) I would like to know if what they claim is true? Any GE experts out there?
The serial# CZ25032 Model# J 757D1WH

 

[captainmoody]

I also am looking for the racks for it (the dum-dum that sold me the range used them for his campfire!)Sheesh!
When I try to look them up on the appliance parts website, I get an "incorrect model# error" Most likely because the thing is so darn old I suppose..
Will ones work off a newer P7?

 

[toggleswitch2]

Size matters.

.
It is interesting to note the slide-up window shield in the earier pyrolytic self-cleaning ovens such as this one. If you look carrefully there are two handles on either side of the window the help raise the window.

If you can get the orginal racks from the seller, it may not hurt to do so. You see, the high temperatures (850*F to 1,000*F) used to incinerate the grease and dirt also removes the chrome-plating from the racks.

To even-out the plating/finish just run the racks through a self-cleaning cycle. You will then need to lubricate them with salad oil to get'em in and out of the oven easlity. They' be blue-gray but their structural integrity and functionality is not reduced.

Bottom line is this: any racks that will fit will do. Problem is the insulation required in self-cleaners makes for a narrower oven cavity, so earlier (non-self-clean) ovens even by the same manny will differ in size.

 

[toggleswitch2]

Tell us yoru story, baby!

.
oh and BE CAREFUL.

Didn't some nice guy here lose a house to a fire when his cat stepped on the buttons activating a top-burner?

 

[gyrafoam]

Great old GE. Yes, I think the P-7 was the first.

E-Mail Combo52. He will likely have the racks you need.

Congratulations!

 

[danemodsandy]

Age of Unit:

This is not from the first generation of P*7 ranges, which debuted in '63. At that point, they didn't feel comfortable putting a window in the door, so if you bought self-cleaning, you gave up the option of having a window. This situation applied through about 1966-67 or so. After that, GE began putting in windows, but they invented that sliding metal guard to protect them during the cleaning cycle. I'm not sure when GE decided that the world was not going to come to an end if the window was unprotected, but I do remember friends building a house in '77 that had a new double GE wall oven (in the latest fashion colour, Almond), and it still had the guards.

 

[circlew]

Very nice GE

Something makes me think 1965 was the year GE started putting windows in the P*7 ovens. I know I've seen self-cleaning models in turquoise (not the later shaded Aqua they had),so would have been prior to '66. Will have to do some investigating to find out for sure. As is obvious from the picture, Toggleswitch is right about the oven cavity being smaller than the non self-cleaning ones. This appears to be a TOL unit, with the recessed cooktop, and switches at sides. This was also used as the bottom part of the Americana range that had 2nd oven on top.

 

[danemodsandy]

Someone...

...Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think GE's last year for Turquoise was '66.

 

[circlew]

Discontinued upon intro of Avocado?

Was thinking Avocado came out in '66, but maybe it was late in the year. I'm thinking that as soon it arrived, Turquoise was gone. Maybe there was a short overlap. I know Pink was already gone by then, and Yellow continued on until Harvest came about. Sometime I'll have time to visit the library, and look thru old magazines for the ads.

 

[appliguy]

GE introduced avacodo in 1966

and introduced harvest, as they called the color, in 1967

 

[whirlcool]

We had a 69' model GE P7 double oven in the last house we lived in. We really liked it. The self clean feature really worked well.
One thing to remember, the glass shield must be in place (over the glass) in order for the self-clean cycle to begin. If the shield is lowered, it won't start.

 

[norgeway]

p 7

P-7 oven cleaning was one of the best...mainly because it got hotter than the self cleaning ovens of today..and it is MUCH better insulated than anything on the market now.

 

[appnut]

lose a house to a fire when his cat stepped on the buttons a

I believe it was Chuck (laundromat)

 

[captainmoody]

Still trying to figure out the CZ code in the serial#. Does anyone have an older GE date code list? I have the newer one, but it does'nt seem to work with what I have.

 

[tomturbomatic]

The other reason that the early GE self-cleaning ovens cleaned so well was that they had a "mullion" element that ran around the opening of the oven liner, maybe an inch or two back, that kept the edge of the liner and the inner door liner hot enough to really clean those surfaces, unlike today's self-cleaners where the inner door and the front corners of the ovens don't clean as well. Something interesting about the GE self-cleaning system was that all of the elements ran on 115 volts for the self cleaning operation.

 

[toggleswitch2]

What was the reason/logic for 115v operation?

 

[magic clean]

The window

shields went by the wayside when(in the early 80')heat reflective coatings were applied to the window panes. Effectively reducing self-clean surface temperatures to a safe level and simplifying the construction of the oven door. The coatings account for the rainbow or irridescent appearance of oven windows in certain lighting situations.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Toggle, the lower wattage was to protect the porcelain especially on the oven floor from the intense radiant heat of the bake element operating on 230V to reach and maintain such a high temperature. To speed up cleaning, we used to heat the oven to about 500F on the bake setting, then lock the door and put it into the clean cycle. In addition to the bake, broil and mullion elements, GE also had the heater going for the smoke eliminator. Those metal tabs at the front of the rack guides on the GE oven were pieces of silver to help the racks glide smoothly after the self-cleaning process roughened the chrome finish. Westinghouse used the broiler for the whole process and above the broiler was a shallow metal box with perforations in it following the pattern of the loops in the broiler element. Inside it was the smoke eliminating catalytic material.

 

[toggleswitch2]

.
Interesting, thanks!

To self-clean, my gas Calric brand cooker of 1991 would fire-up the broiler burner tube (upper) and then after reaching about 550*F the bake/roast burner tube(lower) would light. Problem was, in the two minutes it took for the gas-ignitor to heat up, and ultimately open the gas valve, the oven would cool down a bit and the thermnostat would again call for the broiler ("grille"=> UK))to go back on. It took several attempts to "jump" from one burner to the other to finish tye pyrolytic (self-clean) process.

BTW, gas self-cleaners have the bake and broiler burners in the same oven cavity. Older gas cookers have one burner that generates heat for both an oven cavity above, and a broiler compartment below the burner tube.

My sister has modern a double electric wall-oven by GE with electronic controls. One of the ovens is self-cleaning. That oven cycles the heating elementst on and off during the sef-clean cycle, but cycles then on and off way BEFORE the target temeperature is reached. I'm not sure if this is what that oven does to avoid over-shooting the intial set temp during preheats, or if that is designed to limit sudden and intense heat input (during self-clean only) to avoid hairline cracks in the porcelain.

 

[toggleswitch2]

Actually the constant clicking I hear may be the elements being switched back and forth from 220v to 110v. Of course being on 110v, their wattage is reduced to a quarter and they no longer glow red.

 

[laundromat]

Lost house to accidental fire

Yes,it is me who had a cute one bedroom bungalow home in Hollywood,Fl.I had a gorgious GE double oven range that was free. I had to go to my workplace(Incredible Universe)to get my paycheck. I had no counter space so,my Mr Coffee was on the top of my GE. Kenmore, my one of seven cats,more than likely,jumped up onto my range,pressing down on the left ftont burner.It came on ignited the coffe maker and melted the controls,plastic nick nacks,and utensils I had on the top of the upper oven.As I returned home from the bank,I saw the firemen giving my cats oxygen and the blaze being extinguished. Two of my cats,Frik and Frak,Mancoons,had to be hospitalised due to smoke inhalation and three others,Whirlpool,Kenmore and Speed Queen,had run away but returned weeks later.I was moved into a much smaller unit but went back afetr the original one was renovated.Due to my horrific experience,I don't recomend this type of range with pushbuttons flat on the cooktop area.Especialy if you have pets or children that have to jump up on everything.

 

[frigilux]

Chuck, what a horrible experience. The first thing I thought of when I saw that stylish range was how easy it would be to accidentally engage one of those burner's pushbuttons. This is also a reason I never, ever set anything on or near my ranges.

I like your cats' names! My last cat, The Swede, used to turn my Toshiba television on and off as a game. I'd come home from work and she'd be watching TV.

 

[toggleswitch2]

There a great deal to be said for a "hard-power-down" switch on the unit itself killing both poles(hots) and therefore all power execept to the clock.

Especially in this day of electronics and those latest stoves where the to-burners turn themselvs on or dont shut-off.

 

[laundromat]

Teddy

When I lived in Baltimore's downtown district,I had a manx cat,all black,named Teddy. He looked just like a bear when he stood up on his hind legs. Teddy was very sensitive to noise so,whenever my phone rang,he would swat the receiver off the back and either meow or purr as the caller would ask if I was there.He drank out of my toilet. I had no idea he was doing that and came home one day seeing he was completely drenched. I looked feverishly for a leak somewhere finding only dry spots. I forgot all about this until one friday night as I was prepping to go show off my body and dance nonstop at the Hippo,I received a call from a Washington state friend. As we were talking,I saw Teddy go into the bathroom. I followed him as he jumped up on my toilet,positioned himself on the seat and put his head into the bowl to get a drink. He slipped and fell in,jumped out soaking wringing wet as he ran out into the living room. I had to hang up because I was laughing so hard,I couldn't speak.Teddy also would demand I go to bed.as I responded to his "demands"and got in bed,sleeping on my back,He'd kneed my hairy chest and sleep on my stomach. I'd have to sleep still or get my chest torn up. Every morning,to avoid my alarm,Teddy would wake my ass up at 5:29AM.He had this desire to not hear my alarm set at 5:30 not to go off. I worked monday thru friday.Not saturday or Sunday.I'd have been out till the wee hours of the morning like 4AM. He didn't care,He assumed that noise was going to go off and insisted I get up.I miss him because he was original and loved to fetch and play wrestling.

 

[panthera]

Much as I love Frigidaire Flairs,

My grandparents' did not always cut the power to the burners when you closed the drawer.

Now, I know the design of that range makes this impossible, but there it is...

I, too, keep a plastic-based water cooker on the back element of my ceramic field. That knob is off so that nothing can happen.

One of my cats used to get lonesome by herself in the middle of the night (another female wouldn't let her sleep in bed with us) so she'd turn on the house lights and the TV.

My roommate wanted to see if she knew what she was doing or if it was just accidental from playing with the control. He took the remote every evening and locked it away. After three evenings, the TV was on again...she had learned to go up to the TV, hit the master standby button off then slap it again to turn it on. She saw him do it once in the morning on the way into the kitchen where he'd locked the remote control away.

New TV, same behavior. She knew what she was doing. In those days, German TV had only a few channels and one broadcast the picture out of the front of a locomotive on it's tracks going through beautiful countryside all night. She really did watch that.

 

[toggleswitch2]

I had to hide my telephone answering machine "behind glass" in the entertainment center. One day my naughty cat stepped on a button and heard my voice announcing the outgoing message. It became her day's mission to hear my voice endlessly, so she'd keep stepping on the button once she figured out what triggerd "me". Of cousre this did not allow the machine to answer any calls...........