Thrifting Finds, and a couple of questions

[ovrphil]

Ralph, this unit I have seems to have a short in the thermostat. I tried boiling water w/o the ceramic insert and lid. It boiled right away. Dry and clean surface and insert the ceramic pot and lid, turn to maximum heat and
it won't get hotter than 150F ...measured with a candy thermometer, held away from the surfaces in the water only. Once or twice the light came on in its maximum position and I tried tapping it or moving it to see if I could coax it into being connected in that higher temperature thermostat setting. No luck. I've never seen or used an infrared instant read thermometer gun, but it sounds like a winner to me!

There are so many crock pots at Goodwill and the thrifts; most are newer types. I gravitated to the look of this one , so yeah, I'd be very interested in your unit! Email me when its convenient...we can work something out.

Thanks Ralph!

 

[rp2813]

Phil, I'll see what I can determine about mine.  The guide on the front advises to set the temp control pointer on the red center band (probably around 250 degrees) when using the ceramic insert, so I'll run my tests without it.  I'll post my findings here.

 

Your liner and insert look to be different colors than those on mine, but I'm sure the inserts fit the same.   Additionally, the exterior on mine is solid orange and yours looks shaded, so the two cookers aren't quite identical in appearance. 

 

If it turns out that mine heats properly, you can shoot me an e-mail to establish contact since your e-mail address doesn't appear in your profile.

 

[ovrphil]

Ralph -

The finish is the same as yours. The flash created a sunburst finish look (which would be cooler looking).

The bottom identifications show:

" COOKER & DEEP FRYER"
Cat.No 1309-10 Serv.No 4559-A
J.C.Penney Co.
New York, N.Y.
FOR AC ONLY AAD

and then the Caution/Do not Immerse message
and it has a black hand stamp of C604or C804 (not distinct)

I'm sorry, my email was there, but I had to check the right box - duh!
I'll shoot you an email.

Thanks a lot.

 

[rp2813]

Test Complete!

I think it's fine, Phil. 

 

First I cranked it up without any water in it and decided to shut it off when the thermo-gun registered close to 500 degrees -- and counting -- while aimed at the inner liner.

 

Then I dumped in 8 Corningware Electromatic cups worth of very cold water and set the control at 300.  It was boiling in just a few minutes.  I had to turn it well into the Simmer zone to get it to cycle off and stop boiling. 

 

Set at about 1/3 of the way into the Simmer zone, it held the water just below boiling, cycling off at 175 and back on at 165.  Just inside the top 1/3 of the Simmer zone, it kept the water at a medium boil, around 190.  It didn't want to cycle off at that setting, and although I'm no physicist, I think that had something to do with just having plain water in it as opposed to a food mixture containing a considerable amount of solid mass.

 

I'm also impressed with how the outer surface remains relatively cool to the touch, unlike any of the slow cookers I own.

 

The way this thing heats -- much faster than a standard slow cooker -- I'm betting that the crock on mine got cracked because the previous owner exceeded the red zone setting with the crock in place.

 

I'm going to call it good.  Now all we need to do is arrange to unite it with your crock and you can give it a whirl using real food with and without the crock in place.

 

[ovrphil]

Thanks for the way over the top test, Ralph. I'm replying to your email - sorry for the short delay here in reply.

Phil