Westy range update...

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norgeway

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Well, I got it inside, Ive got to go to work but I wanted it warmed up so I could give it the once over cleaning,...So far it looks like a lite cleaning is all it will need..It is different from the 30 in that it has wire in Corox Units, I was thinking all 58s had plug out units,Its a BLS-40. Does anyone know if it is indeed a 58..

norgeway++2-13-2015-16-04-40.jpg
 
Well Hans, believe it or not, I think your Norge is a much nicer looking stove.

 

I'll be interested in hearing how you like cooking on the new Westy.  Basically it has the same wired-in Corox burners as my mom's '49 Commodore model, which was the stove I cooked on from the beginning and would use at Mom's house over the decades until she had to be transferred to a skilled nursing facility in 2007.

 

I learned a few tricks from my dad, like positioning a pot off center to get water boiling faster, and re-connected many a wire that had detached from various burners -- usually the 8-incher since it was one of the two up front that saw the most use.
 
YAY HANS! Yes, it is a 58 and surprisingly enough, there was both a 30" BL model and a 40". Plug out units were widely used in the 58 line; this one seems to be singular with the wire-ins. It is just below the AL, the top of the line, double oven model. I guess it was maybe due to the redesign of the range line that there were not as many models as the year before, but then both 1954 and 1956 had fewer models than 1955 and 1957. Go figure.

Westinghouse used the second letter for the year designation, i.e. 1950-1953 were designated by A,B,C&D, then 1954 was G on through 1959 models which were "M"s.

If you want to see the AL TOL model watch the movie To Dance With The White Dog, a 1993 movie with Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy. It was filmed in Americus, GA, which probably helps explain why the range is a Westinghouse since that was the brand that Georgia Power sold. Even the Carters had Westinghouse appliances in their kitchen. The TOL control panel was more decorative with colors for the cooking speeds.
 
Nice 40" Westinghouse Range

Cool Range Hans, I took the complete clock-timer-pod from one of these ranges when I was about 10 years old, I wired up the clock to turn on my tombstone style 1936 Zenith radio so I could wake up to the sound of the radio slowly warming up in the morning. I still have the radio and the clock, [ I guess if I took that clock off a WH range around 1962 the range certainly did not last long, and people get upset when things fail so early today, LOL ]

 

WH Ranges often just used wired in top elements on their more basic models, they did this throughout

the 50s and 60s. The wired in elements were cheaper to build and more reliable.

 

Hi Ralph, if setting the pot off center made the water boil faster either the pot or element was badly warped, the first rule of cooking on a conventional element electric range is the element should NEVER get RED HOT when it is used on the hi setting, if it does either the element or pan [ or both ] is warped and not well suited or safe for use on an electric range..

 

John L.
 
Hans, congratulations on a beautiful new range, I hope you enjoy baking with it! Does that bar above the controls light, or is that a trim panel?
 
John, that's interesting.  The coils on the '49 all got red hot without a pot or pan on them.  Otherwise they had a very dark red glow at best.  Neither the burner elements nor the pots/pans were not warped.

 

If a pot or pan was moved off center so the portion of the coil closest to the connector block (which is a cool spot in the scheme of things) was exposed, the hotter areas of the coil would be closer to the center of the pot or pan and concentrate the heat there.
 
Update!!!

Its hooked up in the kitchen...A little tweaknig and I think I will be good to go, The left front unit is bad, so I am converting it to a original WH plug out unit, I have plenty of them but none of the wire in units, the clock doesent work, but that's no big deal, all the lights work, the oven is too hot, but that's normal for 57 years old, I bought a new screwdriver just to calibrate it with, it has a tiny hole down the middle of the shaft of the control that you insert a screwdriver into to adjust it, just like some Frigidaires from the 60s, Tedious but no big deal, I have never had a old stove yet I didn't have to do this to...More later,oh yeah, while it was very clean, it was owned by a scrubbing fanatic,the top has been scrubbed until dull, I have a book on how to bring back the shine from JES Enterprises." The Old Appliance Club", so when I have time im going to work on that, all in all though, it looks pretty good, and it weighs a TON!..I guarantee this one doesent rattle when you walk across the floor!!
 
Well...An hour later...

I got the left front unit changed to a plug out, it works great, it turns out that all the infinite switches were changed, so that's good, they all work great...now for the not so great news...the oven was 125.degrees too hot, when I tried to calibrate it, evidently someone else had tried and broke the screw....so, now im going to switch thermostats with the other 58 I have and hope it will be ok...we will know after while..its 20 degrees here and snowing like mad!
 
Thermostat changed...

Its heating up now, whoever changed the infinite heat switches did a great job, he did not cut any wires or use any tape!!! beautiful work, best of all he did not alter any of the original wiring lay out, so if I did find original Westinghouse switches, I could change back to them easily, the clock isn't getting power and one wire coming to it is taped up, and I cant find where it goes, so if I can find a service manual somewhere with a wiring diagram I can figure it out...I will let it heat for a hour or so and see what the temperature levels out to.
 
MUCH better

This thermostat is still too hot...but not 125 degrees too hot, about 45 to 50, that I can adjust out, I will take the old thermostat with me and see if I can find a new old stock one somewhere, anyone have any suggestions????
 
Well...

I have gotten the oven within about 25 degrees of being perfect, a little more tweaking and it will be dead on,it bakes great,Im going to replace the right front surface unit switch, it has two heats hot and red hot..but all the others are fine, I had forgotten just how good and flat the Corox units were,I am wondering if this range when new was one that the fluorescent light went on when you turned on any of the units, as it does not have a pilot light for them,Ithink it might be and the original owner had it disconnected, because I found a wire cut off and taped up leading to the light switch...anyone know for sure???
 
The odd thing is...

The instruction book I have shows 3 models al,bl, and cl,...The BL range in the book is slightly different from mine, mine is a BLS, not listed in the book, mine has wire in burners, white knobs and no color backlit knobs, also mine has 4 infinite heat units, the BL has 2 infinite and 1 Super Corox and 1 automatic Corox..also the book I have says plainly ALL Westinghouse ranges have Plug Out units..I wonder if mine was a model introduced mid year as a price leader????
 
Now...

I have replaced the right front switch with a genuine WH switch, the replacement switches were Robertshaws Assembled in Mexico, The wire to the clock had been cut for some odd reason, I hooked it back up and it keeps perfect time!! The minute timer does not buzz, so I need to figure that out, I need a wiring diagram as the one on the back was gone,I cant figure out how to wire up the fluorescent light so it will come on with the units..Anyone have a WH Service manual???I could use a copy of the page for the BLS 40 range.
 
58 Westinghouse Range Issues

Hi Hans, the clock buzzer is usually just a mechanical adjustment on the clock assembly, no wiring label needed. To wire the console light to come any time a surface element is turned on all you have to do is take a wire and jump from the extra  terminal marked P on each Inf SW and this will be the hot feed to the florescent light, the other feed to the FL just goes to the white neutral on the range [ This is where it is already connected ] . The tricky part is being sure the pilot terminal is being feed from the same L1 or L2 side on each Inf Sw and because you have one orignal WH Inf Sw this is where you could run into problems and a range wiring diagram will not help you with this potential problem.

 

Call me or refer to the instructions that came with the Mexican RS Inf Sws, the instructions explain how to wire these two different switches up to avoid a direct short that will blow out at least two Inf Sws if not wired correctly.

 

John L.
 

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