Vintage GE Oven / Range / Refrigerator parts (living with vintage appliances)

[moderncleveland]

Where do you guys get spare parts for your vintage ovens, ranges and refrigerators?

I need a new clock / timer unit for my wall oven, and I'd like to get the original manual and some knobs (for backups!), and of course heat elements for the range.

The model numbers on these things are kind of confusing. They're written on the side, and I should have written them down before I had them installed. But I can see on eBay that there's several similar numbers used on these ovens and ranges: GE 1J501N/1J502N/1J503N J501P/J502P. I believe the PN for the clock/timer is WT53X37.

I also have a 1957 GE Combination refrigerator / freezer (not pictured) and I'm looking for backup parts for it, too. It's working fine, but I always wonder what would happen if something goes wrong. Who do you call?

 

[norgeway]

In a word!!

FABULOUS! Modern parts in Parma Ohio has been recommended to me, although I have not used them, I find most of what I need at old appliance dealers and old furniture stores that once sold appliances.

 

[moderncleveland]

Thank you! Will check it out and report back!

 

[turquoisedude]

OOOH! I love that oven!!
NOS complete timers are pretty rare birds, however there are places who can rebuild them. I am trying to pin down a repair person I know on the exact address of a place in Toronto (Canada) where they do range timer rebuilds.
One US-based place I have had good luck with was Affordable Appliance Parts in Pennsylvania.
Hope this helps!!

 

[customline]

What you need to do..........

You have to find a whole other unit that you can use for parts. New GE burners are still available though. You can even get them through Ebay.

 

[112561]

Speaking of Ebay

Beautiful Petal Pink playthings somewhere in Georgia, pickup only! I love those cabinets too!

Pardon Our Interruption...

 

[hunter]

The turquoise appliances are awesome

They are great!  I am intrigued at the panel to control the burners is on the wall behind the cooktop.

 

[112561]

Stainless anyone?

My oven interpreted in stainless. Cooktop and separate control panel offered on another sale:

Pardon Our Interruption...

 

[henry200]

My go-to source for years has been The Old Appliance Club: antiquestoves.com/toac
I've found help and parts for thermostats, electric elements, gas valves, and even found someone to re-porcelain some pieces, matching the old color perfectly.

 

[rp2813]

I have a '57 GE Combination fridge too and was able to get parts from Larry at Modern.  He's not cheap, but he may very well have what you need.  He'll definitely want a model number though.

 

However, if you're just looking for spares to have around, I'd scrounge for parts appliances if you have the room to store them, or harvest the parts from them and then call the junk man to haul the rest away.

 

BTW that kitchen with the Petal Pink set looks exactly like many hundreds of kitchens in housing developments in the south part of town here.  I'd say GE kitchen appliances of this vintage are good ones to collect since there are so many of them out there that are in the process of changing hands -- and getting ripped out.

 

[112561]

So true, and my job next is to find a pushbutton cooktop, any color.

 

[rp2813]

Those push-button cooktops show up on CL around here frequently.  It shouldn't take you long to find one.

 

[112561]

I hope it won't take long. I did see a harvest gold cooktop in our Fort Pierce Salvation Army, but the controls weren't present. I'm not sure either if Craigslisters are willing to sell to out of state buyers. I know the vintage pieces are in this county, there were two kitchens worth on my street that I know of, and one two blocks away, maybe still there.

Here's a neat setup, either GE had an option for knobs in leiu of buttons, or they got a different cooktop from somewhere else.

 

[rp2813]

either GE had an option for knobs in leiu of buttons

It appears they did.  Check it out:

 

 

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/app/2300750849.html

 

[112561]

I like that!

I love stainless in vintage, today's stainless can stay in the new houses. That top doesn't have the GE "meatball" logo on it, but it's classy looking. I hope I can find my GE stove manual, maybe it has some pics of the cooktops in it.

 

[circlew]

A GE cooktop should be one of the easier to find vintage appliances. This style was made in every color GE has ever offered - from Cadet Blue and Woodtone Brown to Harvest Gold and Almond. They were introduced around '54 - '55, and ran until GE came out with a new style around '90. I'm sure millions of these were manufactured in that 35 or so years. Some have direct wired elements, some plug-in.

General Electric built-ins were very popular here in the Cincinnati area, due to GE Aircraft Engine Div. being a major employer. Most of the home builders from the 50's to the 80's used GE; it's actually rare to see another brand.

Various models had either integral controls, a control panel for remote mounting, or had them located on the vent hood.

To the best of my knowledge, all the earlier models had pushbutton switches. I think the knob switches were introduced during the Avocado and Harvest era, as I've seen those colors with either knob or pushbutton integral controls. I think the remote controls were discontinued when the change was made to knobs, as I've never seen a remote panel or hood with the knobs.

As for the Pink cooktop shown above, I'm quite sure the controls have been replaced. I remember my GE range service book showing an integral style control panel kit to change out the pushbuttons to knobs. That book is from the late 70's.

GE started using the marking "A Quality Product of General Electric Company" on the built-in products sometime later, so they could be sold at either GE or Hotpoint dealers. I remember Swallen's in Cincinnati (Hotpoint dealer at the time) having these on display.

 

[112561]

@circlew

Thanks for all of the information in your post. I sort of thought the pink cooktop was retrofitted with knobs, I of course will be looking for pushbuttons for mine, in whatever of the three formats they show up in. I did find a Harvest cooktop with no controls included, they were either wall/cabinet front mount, or exhaust hood, but no controls turned up in the store. Around here, I've found a late '50s Frigidaire range, a 1960 Flair, or at least a lead on one, and an early '50s pushbutton GE range, and a flip down Frigidaire cooktop. There is a dearth of vintage appliances around here, I will try some of the used dealers, one man here had a 1939 Hotpoint fridge, in a shop I didn't expect to see that in. I was amazed Craigslist in Martin County had my wall oven, the people who sold it to me had gotten it from a neighbors house, they weren't even collectors.

 

[combo52]

GE BUILT IN COOK-TOPS

All GE Electric cook-tops had pushbutton controls until the early 1970s at which they all changed to rotary push to turn knobs. This was partly because UL Labs added a standard that all surface burners-elements must take two distinct movements to turn them on for safety purposes. The push button controls did not past this test. And yes GE did make range hoods with rotary controls, I have a 36" white vented one that I would like to get rid of.

 

[112561]

Pushing my luck

I'm going to hold out for the pushbuttons, although it is easy to see why there is a safety issue involving them. Really pushing my luck with the cats, due to the horror stories printed here involving them. I'm reasonably sure they won't be able to turn on a range hood or a wall mount. If I get them on the cooktop, I'll stick a cover of some sort on them. It'll be a while anyway, got to find suitable cabinetry.