Weird twin-sealed radiantubes in mid-’50s Frigidaire ovens.

[mikael3]

One of my favorite Frigidaire looks is the last Loewy-inspired design, the 1954 RT-70 in Stratford yellow.  But I’m really wondering about those “twin-sealed radiantubes” in the oven floor, used in this model and other TOLs in 1953 and ’54.  The plan for my kitchen remodel is to include a 40″—one day!!—so I want to know the unvarnished truth about these weird tubes. 

 

Do they heat the oven evenly?  Can they be replaced?!?!?

One thing I really love about my new-to-me RT-38 is the very even heat in the oven.  I suppose the open-coils are part of the successful design, and that makes me nervous about moving away from them.

 

[rp2813]

I'm not familiar with the "twin sealed" elements, however I can tell you that when the open coil bake element on my mom's '49 Westinghouse Commodore failed after about 20 years, the replacement was a far less complex radiant tube (sort of W-shaped, actually) with a couple of simple integrated props up front to keep it from making contact with the oven bottom. 

 

My mom was an avid baker and found little difference in performance with the replacement element.  I think the credit for ovens with even heat lies with circuitry that activates a portion of the broil element at a low wattage in tandem with the main bake element.

 

[tomturbomatic]

2 U-shaped sealed rod elements, right?

My RT70 has these in both ovens. They bake beautifully. A friend's WP from the early 60s had these in the oven also. The worst thing about them is what they did to the removable bottom oven liner pans. The intense heat under the metal shield severely damaged the porcelain and, in one pan, actually warped up part of the side. I cleaned the ovens and the liners and then covered them with the heavy duty oven foil that WP sold for the bottom of their continuous cleaning ovens. It has endured years of baking and has prevented further deterioration of the porcelain.

As to replacements, I can't answer that. They seem to be very durable, but if one goes, it would have to be custom fabricated, UNLESS John Combo52 saved any from one of these ranges. There was a place in North Carolina, I think it was Fox Electric, that did work like this. I am not sure if they are still in business, but I think Combo52 knows of a place that does this work because he got some replacement elements for our Filtrators made.

 

[mikael3]

That damage to the oven floor doesn’t sound good.  That’s the problem I read about somewhere, but I couldn’t remember the details. 

 

I’m glad to hear the oven bakes evenly.  That’s a high priority for me.

 

If I ever see an RT-70 at a decent price, I’ll probably buy and learn for myself.  But I always like to know what I’m getting into first.

 

[norgeway]

It Bakes!

Wonderfully, I had a 54, the problem was the oven liners tended to warp and then you could not plug the bottom pan with the elements on it all the way in, but if its in good shape, you will be hard pressed to find anything that bakes any better.