Westinghouse Electric Range D64-47

[bluecaret]

Can anyone help me locate any information on the Westinghouse D64-47 electric range? I'm hoping to come across a manual for it. We bought this range from a salvage place and don't know much about it. Looking for information for any repairs that may be needed in the future as well as just general information for curiosity's sake.

The plate in it lists it as type D64-47, style 1443177. I do not know what year it is from.

Any information or tips on how to find information greatly appreciated! Google didn't come up with anything for me.

 

[ea56]

Its a 1947 model.  I have a 1949 manual and recipe book and here is a picture of the model that most closely resembles yours, is a E64-49, and the only difference from yours is the light and clock above the right hand side of the control panel.  

 

I lived in a rental that had a 1940 model of this range, left by the previous tenant who purchased it new.  I moved into this rental in 1983 and that stove was the best I’ve ever used.  Sadly in 1985, when the oven stopped working, I called the landlord, thinking he’d just repair it,  He was a great landlord and really like us as tenants, so thinking he was doing us a solid, he bought a new Magic Chef as a replacement.  It didn’t hold a candle to that lovely old Westinghouse.

 

Eddie

 

[tomturbomatic]

Congratulations! Beautiful Range! So Much Style

1947 & 1948 are the model years, very common in the post war years for a model to extend over two years and the model was named the Champion. Does it have the little blue porcelain numbers by each surface unit to match it to the numbered control?

 

[rp2813]

Hi BC

The E64-49 was the only range my mom ever owned.  She used it up until she was no longer able to cook for herself around 2007 or so.

 

Eddie, I had no idea you had the owner's manual for that stove!  My mom's didn't have the light, clock or timer, but was otherwise identical.

 

I don't see the 1947 model being much different, other than appearing to lack an indicator light for when the oven element is heating.  My main concern would be that all burners work properly.  If any of them don't, check their wires for any that may have broken off.  This was an occasional thing that would happen to my mom's stove and is easy to fix.  The wires are easily accessed by removing the bowl from under the burner and then removing the trim ring around the opening.  If wiring is OK and burner still has issues, then it could be the burner control, but that's highly doubtful.  All burner controls worked fine on my mom's stove over the nearly 60 years she had it.  Burners themselves are tough to come by, but they can pop up on ebay.

 

If oven or broiler elements are bad, they can be replaced with a modern radiant tube element.  The independent appliance parts retailer near me could still send out for a replacement when my mom's bake element failed in the early 2000s. 

 

The tricky repair could be the deep well cooker element.  It's a coiled element (like the broiler and bake elements in the oven are, if they're original) that's not easy to service. 

 

You found yourself a very nice stove.  I can still hear the clicking sounds of the burners on my mom's stove heating up and cooling down.  Happy cooking, and feel free to ask questions.  Needless to say, I'm very familiar with the workings of these things.

 

BTW, my mom's stove ended up with another member here who installed it in his historic home's kitchen (insurance company wouldn't let him have a gas stove).

 

 

 

 

 

[ea56]

Its interesting how Westinghouse switched the model names back and forth.  I still have the showroom tag from the 1940 Westinghouse range that was in that rental.  The model name was Champion and the model number was KC-64 and it was very similar to the 47’ Westy in the OP.  Conversely, in the  1949 manual, the BOL model that is identical to the OP range ( the OP range is equipped with the accessory light, clock and timer) is named Commodore, while the next step up is the Champion.

 

I’ve attached photos of the 49’ Champion and the 40’ Champion showroom tag.  I’m so glad that the tenant before us left these items in one of the kitchen drawers when she left.

 

These are such great stoves!  You really made a score with this find.

 

Eddie

 

[kevin313]

That's a beautiful old Westinghouse range! It has the Tel-A-Glance switches for the burners.

It looks like the front right burner was replaced somewhere along the line with a Radiantube element, which was used on Frigidaire ranges and a few other brands.

Enjoy!

 

[bluecaret]

Wow this forum is a lot more active than I assumed, thanks for the quick replies everyone!!

Question, you are saying my oven has a light, timer, and clock. Unfortunately there is no timer or clock on this one. It does a light on it that sticks above but we took it off for transport. The knobs are just the oven and 4 burners. Was there supposed to be a timer/clock on mine? That's the one thing I'm disappointed I did not get. ACTUALLY! After typing that it just clicked that the timer/clock was probably supposed to fit between the supports for the overhead lamp. That was not on our oven when we bought it... Any chance there are replacement timers for these things?

According to the salvage yard, this was taken out of a house that a lady had as potentially the only owner of it. It was removed when the house sold and flippers decided to "upgrade". The lady took very good care of it, what you see in the picture is as it was, we have done no cleaning on it yet. This will be our first vintage stove and everything I have read on them so far has us very excited to use it!

Eddie, thanks for the year of it and the photos! I'm jealous you got the manual and cookbook for yours! That is way too bad about your past landlord giving you the "upgrade"

Tomturbomatic, it does have the numbers, though they are very faint near the burners.

RP2813, thanks for all the tips on fixing things! I haven't had a chance to test this out yet, we still need to rip out all of the kitchen to prep for a 1940ish remodel for an unfitted kitchen. Hopefully there are no issues when we finally plug it in!

Kevin, thanks for commenting on that burner, I wasn't sure if that was a special feature element or a replacement.

Another question for you all, what do you do for cookie sheets? I know standard ones will fit but I would like to get one that makes the most of the size of the oven without wasted space and am having a hard time finding one that fits nicely.

I will probably have a lot more questions later once we start using it! Thanks again everyone for the quick info! Here are some more photos of it (including an image of what we plan on the kitchen looking like after the remodel)!

 

[rp2813]

If memory serves me, the burner numbering sequence goes clockwise starting at left front.  I'm pretty sure that was the arrangement on my mom's stove.

 

And now I do see that yours does have the oven indicator light above the outlet, and the bake element has been replaced at least once.   I think it would be tough to make anything other than an original timer and clock assembly fit right or look right and you wouldn't be happy with it.  Just to be clear, an original minute timer would operate separately from the clock and would not have any bearing on when the oven operates or for how long.  My mom kept a Presto timer of the same vintage by her stove.   Now it's in my kitchen.  It dings loud and it's portable.  Just enjoy your lamp assembly as it is.  Every stove should have a dedicated source of light.  Maybe a clock/timer assembly will show up one of these days.

 

It sounds like your stove's story is much like my mom's.  It will probably not have any major issues but if it's been parked in the same place since 1947, the cord is going to be stiff and you should consider replacing it.  I think you can still find 240v cords that are black and round instead of the ugly flat ribbed gray kind, if that matters to you.

 

BTW, Eddie wasn't there one more BOL super economy model that only had an oven (with drawer below) and no storage side?  It had tube steel legs holding up that end of the stove top instead. 

 

PS

 

I got nothing for you on cookie sheets, sorry.  Kevin should know what will fit.

 

Ralph

 

 

[circlew]

Beautiful Westinghouse!

Per the "Information for Consumers" sheet that Eddie posted above, the clock timer control was optional equipment. I believe this was an accessory that was dealer installed.

It appears that the oven element has been replaced with a modern type unit at some time.

 

[ea56]

The 1940 model in my rental did have the optional clock and timer installed. And it worked too!  Since I had the original owners manual I was able to set it for timed oven cooking.  The former tenant had manuals for both the 1940 and 1949 models, why for the 49’ model I don’t know, but she left both behind.  Maybe she misplaced the 49’ manual in 49’, wrote to Westinghouse ( a Long Distance telephone call in 49’ would have cost a least $5.00 min wage was probably $0.80 per hr.) and they sent her the current edition.  The recipes in each copy are the same.

 

The 40’ edition doesn’t list the entire model line up like in the 49’ edition.  But Ralph, I believe you are correct about the BOL model having tubular legs and no storage drawer..

 

These vintage Westinghouse electric ranges were very advanced for their day.  The TOL line models even had a timer for at least on of the burners, you set the burner to the setting you wanted you dish to cook at, set the burner timer switch and the burner would start on High, then after 5 mins would switch to the desired setting as the burner control was set. 

 

Eddie

 

[circlew]

The range Ralph mentions with one oven and tubular steel legs was called the Rancho. It is pictured in the instruction book for my '53 Westinghouse.

Round black cords are readily available, and are required for all new installations, as they contain four conductors, and have a four prong plug. By new installation, I mean new wiring has been installed with a four wire receptacle meeting code requirements. If using a four wire cord, make sure the GREEN grounding wire is connected to the range cabinet (usually a screw is provided), the WHITE neutral wire to the neutral on the terminal block, and that any strap or other connection between the neutral and cabinet or ground is removed. This is because the neutral and grounding conductors are to be connected to each other at the service entrance only - not at ANY other point. If using a three wire cord for an existing installation, the range cabinet is grounded through the neutral, and any grounding strap is left connected to the neutral.

 

[bluecaret]

You all are just a wealth of information! This forum is awesome! Looks like I'll be looking for a vintage style timer then

Since my oven element has been replaced, do you think it is less effective than the original one would have been?

Found this manual on Ebay and bought it, not sure if it will mention my range or not, but getting it more for the cookbook part anyway: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-1947-Westinghouse-Electric-Range-Cookbook-Manual-/174226968752

Thanks for the tips about the cord! This oven doesn't have any plug right now as if they just hard wired it or something so I was going to have to fix that problem anyway so that info was super helpful!

 

[rp2813]

I guess I could have been wrong about the clock.  It may have offered a set-and-forget option for the oven after all.

 

The modern bake element works as well as the original.  My mom's oven was on its third one when she stopped baking, but she was an avid baker and results never varied.  Also, the original bake element was coiled and wound through a framework of steel with clay insulators.  That framework is long gone, so a modern element is your only option.  If you can find an original element assembly, you could have a new nichrome coil woven through it.  I think that cross piece under the front of the element could be what's left from the original assembly and has been repurposed as a support to keep the replacement radiant tube element off the oven floor.

 

I also didn't notice the Frigidaire element at right front.  That was a well-used burner on my mom's stove too, and the only one that failed.  I had harvested two 6" Corox elements from a junk '50s Westinghouse and replaced the failed burner with one of them.  The other one I left as a spare with the stove for its new owner.  If you want to put an original Corox burner in there again, maybe one of the stove experts here can advise if any of the wiring had to be changed or other alterations were necessary for the Frigidaire burner, or if it's an easy switch.

 

Tom, thanks for confirming the Rancho model. 

 

Ralph

 

[combo52]

1947 WH Electric Range

Welcome To Westinghouse Cooking, your new range has probably seen a lot of good cooking, all three top elements have been replaced with non-original WH elements so heat settings might vary from what the instruction book states.

 

As soon as possible you might want to try out the oven for proper temperature operation etc. If everything is OK these were great baking ovens but if there are problems the oven thermostat can be a bear to fix.

 

As to baking sheets you can use anything that fits as long as you leave at least 1" space on all sides, in your picture of the oven it looks like the shelves are in backwards and maybe up-side down.

 

Good luck and we all hope it works.

 

John L.

 

[combo52]

1947 WH Electric Range

Welcome To Westinghouse Cooking, your new range has probably seen a lot of good cooking, all three top elements have been replaced with non-original WH elements so heat settings might vary from what the instruction book states.

 

As soon as possible you might want to try out the oven for proper temperature operation etc. If everything is OK these were great baking ovens but if there are problems the oven thermostat can be a bear to fix.

 

As to baking sheets you can use anything that fits as long as you leave at least 1" space on all sides, in your picture of the oven it looks like the shelves are in backwards and maybe up-side down.

 

Good luck and we all hope it works.

 

John L.

 

[kevin313]

Your oven should be able to use a standard cookie sheet/baking sheet. Measure the depth to be sure, but as John mentioned you don't want the sheet to extend all the way to the walls of the oven as it will prevent proper heat circulation. There should be an inch or two at minimum on all sides.

John is also right about your oven racks. They are in backwards, and it's hard to tell from the photos but they may also be upside down. If you can find the manual for the stove, there will be photos showing the racks properly inserted into the oven. These Westinghouse stoves had a great rack system that allowed so many different rack positions.

Good luck with the range!

 

[bluecaret]

Thanks again for all the tips and information guys! Nice to hear what is original and what has been replaced. So excited to start cooking on this and I'm not even the cook of the house!

- John

 

[eronie]

Your racks are upside down and backwards. That bump on the racks is to keep bakeware from sliding off the back of the rack!

 

[rp2813]

I didn't notice that the two left burners had also been replaced.  The key to electric burner survival is not to bang pots and pans on top of them like some crazed chefy person.  My mom always stirred everything and taught us kids to do the same, with pot remaining in place and undisturbed on the burner.  If you can find original Corox burners to replace the foreign ones, they'll fit better, won't rattle, and won't look all wonky like the one at left rear.

 

The cable that operates the oven thermostat broke on my mom's stove sometime around 1970 or so.  I remember helping my dad to repair it with plain old picture hanging wire.  We had to be careful to mark the two pulleys' positions with the oven control set to OFF.  That repair was still working flawlessly when the stove went to its new home a dozen years ago.