I have a friend who snagged a cool old kitchen range, oven and 4 burner cook top..all porcelin and cast iron, 36″ wide.
She says that the seller told her it was re-jetted for propane from Nat Gas. It has a 3/8th copper feed, with the proper flare fitted end, attached to the CI manifold/feed tube.
She wants this in the kitchen if possible, ( it has some funky vent in the rear, an oven steam vent I assume, not a flue) and I am going to test it (outdoors) with a BarBque tank to see if it actually works…if so, I will be thinking of adding a 40 or larger tank out doors and running the CU line into the crawlspace, and up to where the ele. stove now sits.
My question is , how does one determine if and what type of regulater is needed?
There is zip for any spec plate or info on this thing..40’s is my guess. Yeah, I have all the fitting fiddly bits and gas line pipedope..gonna have to yank a cabinet next to the stove to fit this sucker in, if it fires up properly and I can get a heatshield behind it, where that 4” round vent is..and please, tell me it really ain’t a flue.
Sorry, no pics, I didn’t have a camera with me, when I went to scope it out. Oh, she’s cool with leaving it in the garage if it won’t fly in the kitchen ( she knows about the CO hazards and would have fresh air) she just doesn’t want to be with out any way to cook , when the next Icestorm knocks out the power for 3 days like this last one ( and camps out at my house).
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
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What's the diff between an oven steam vent and a flue? Don't they both, for practical purpioses, do the same thing?
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While it vents the oven box, it's not tied in any way to the burner. Nor does it have any kind of pipe hook up, its a square box about 5"x5" with a round hole that just opens into the upper rear of the oven.
I'm sure that exhaust gas does vent out it, it would have to or the flame would get O2 deprived in a closed box, and the mositure from the exhaust has to go somewhere.
But for the life of me, the only range I ever saw with an actual flue, was woodfired.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
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My question is , how does one determine if and what type of regulater is needed?
I have a similar setup, albeit with a newer range. We had commercial propane service, but we couldn't use enough to meet their minimum annual requirement. After several years of buying the same propane again and again in the form of tank rental fees, I told them to take their tanks and go away (note that the tanks were out of date, and they couldn't legally refill them, anyway, without re-certifying them).
I picked up a 40 lb portable (barbecue) tank, and an appliance regulator (got it at the big box, although I've seen them in the local hardware store). The regulator was about $20.00, IIRC. I used the existing copper gas line from outside, and it has been working just fine for about the last year.
I've only had to refill the tank once with average use, although my range is a 4 year old KitchenAid, and doesn't have standing pilots. Worst case, you might want a pair of 40 lb. tanks with a switchover device, because I don't think that you would want to haul around tanks much larger than 40 lbs. for refill.
I can't speak to the vent issue definitively, but, as a kid, I remember a neighbor having a gas range (natural gas), with a flue pipe into the chimney. The range was only for cooking, as they had an old oil-fired heater just a few feet away.
Bob
Thanks, I did the same w/my propane supplier. We use so little, and had 2 huge tanks ( the house had 3 gas heaters and range) and swapped them ( sold one actually, I owned it) ane have the two 40's now. Saves $$$$.
I have quite a few hose/regs from various turkey cookers, canning kettles, and the like. I think I'll try just right from the tank first and see what color flame I get, I'd think if I had TOO much flame, then a Reg. is called for. I'm guessing this thing is gonna eat about as much as an outdoor gas grill or less if one top burner is lit. It may want full throttle when the oven is fired up.
I wish now I had looked more closely at the vent, but I can do that next trip when I test fire it and hopefully figure it out better. Worse comes to worse she gets a flue in the kitchen..LOLSpheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
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Gotta have a regulator on that set up
I think I'll try just right from the tank first
With the hose/regulator. Without one, the pressure will be way to high, in the 100 psi range. All LP is regulated.
Oaky-doaky , but the soldering iron oven we use for heatng the irons, is a straight hose from the barbelyque tank, no reg at all..and it ain't no 100lbs of pressure that I could tell.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
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Can you get to the valves and pin the main orifice? If so, post up the diameter and we can work backwards to determine the gas pressure. Check if they are all the same size too.
I assume you don't have pin gages but do you have a set of small drill bits? Like a small number set? You don't have to get the exact size but a bigger than/smaller than should be close enough.
Generally, LP orifices and much smaller than NG.
Are all the stove burners the same size?
Yeah, can do that. measure the orifices that is..I have all sorts of gaged strings, and itty bitty drills. tend t believe the seller's claim that it is set up, but thats just a hunch, I wasn't a part of that transaction..just a gut feeling.
The four top burners are the same size, one center feed that diagonals to the 4 corners , no igniter or anything fancy. I was kinda not inyterested at first of even messing with it, but she's really wanting it done, so I'm caving in and gonna take a stab at something.
If it gets outta my comfort zone, I'll turn it over to the gas supplier, but it doesn't seem that complicated. And my gas guys ain't the smartest Brady in the bunch, but they do know thier propane work.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
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To follow up from my previous post, the regulator that I'm using is the Desa International LPA6100 2-Stage LP Regulator w/Covers. The manufacturer's web site only shows this item as an accessory to other heating products, but I found this current auction at Ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220363543220
The specifications indicate that this is for 100 lb. tanks, minimum, but I'm not sure why. I've been using 40 lbs. I would think that a partially empty 100 lb. tank would act like a full 40 lb. tank, at some point.
Bob
I have one of them, from a heater..2 actually. I'll rig it and tester out, thanks much.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
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Any old BBQ regulator will work. Had a stove out in the "Temple of Q" for years that I ran off of a tank and a regulator that I bought at HD.
I'll go with that, I got a few different ones laying around, from odds an ends and jury rigs gone past (G).Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
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It worked.
I used a line and reg. from a propane job site heater. Test went well, I used a flare union and the hose had the end already, and so did the range.
It's a 20's Magic Chef. Pretty neat actually, porcelin and heavy.
Now she does want it in the kitchen, small remodeling work for me to get it in. I had to fix the oven door hinge, but other than that it's in pretty good shape..we boiled water and heated up the broiler and oven..didn't do a temp test, but it seems fine.
That vent was just that, a steam exhaust..no way tied to any combustion flue or anything.
She'll do the crawlspace gopher with the copper line out to the yard where we'll put a 40 gal tank. I'll goop the unions with gas line goop, do a soapy water test, add a back splash, and figure what to about the floor that don't go under the existing range..this one has legs.
Thanks all.
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Glad to hear it works.
out to the yard where we'll put a 40 gal tank
What are your plans for the regulators?
Another thing to keep in mind is older appliances are not insulated like modern ones. Watch your distance to cabinets and other combustibles.
Thanks,
No kidding about the insulation. Luckily, the small 18" cab to the right of the existing needs to go away , the new (old) range is 36" or so wide..so to fit it, that cab needs to go, it's at the doorway to the Dining Room so no can scootch it over.
The oven is on the right side of the old range and drawers on the left ( warming oven?) so the cab on the left should be OK. I'm putting a copper backstove panel on the drywall under the vent hood existing..for that steam vent and just easier to clean ( she's kind of a neat freak). This range is not as deep as a new one either, need a shelf in the back to keep things from falling behind.
Gonna set the tanks ( 2 at 40, one hooked up , one to switch to when No.1 runs out) out away from the house, underground 3/8th copper to the reg. mounted on the house wall, 3/8 copper thru a crawl vent and up thru the kit floor...almost exactly like my house, but I have a basement not a crawl.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
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Those 40 gal tanks can get heavy when they're full, especially if she's gotta get in the crawl space. She got somebody to pizzant those in and out?
No ya call the gas company, they come and fill the empty.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
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Damn, livin' in the big city must be nice. They only do that for 250's here...
Big city..LOL.
I got rid of 2 of my 250's, One I owned ( came/whouse) one rental..They bought the one, and took the rental away, and I bought the 2 40's I have now..I save $ that way. Rental was 75.00 a yr. and we cut out the gas heaters, and use gas only for cooking, so the big tanks were a waste of space and money.
They only charge extra for gas if you don't fill up, and 500 gals would last me the rest of the century at the rate I use it.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
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Bought my 1956 250 for $50 in '83. It's so old the inspection plate is illegible. Had a friend with a BH bring it over and set it down on some blocks for me. No rental...
Sphere .. no labels to speak of .. keep in mind that if this goes bad your insurance co will walk away (not that they wouldn't do that anyway) but w/o a UL listing of some sort you SOL .. see if you can get someone to certify it .
Ain't my stove, my house or my Ins. She is willing to do all the hookups herself, two threaded fittings with gas goop,,not much worse than a gas barbecue grill, which don't have goop on the connections.
The stove predates UL by quite a few yrs, and works flawlessly, we had it cooking for close to 2 hours in the garage to be sure.
Thanks for H.U. anyway.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
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I always liked the stove that Rachael Ray has on 30 Min Meals, the yellow one with the big ole griddle to the left of the burners.
My Grandma had a similar one in white. Memories.
This one is close, white and blue porcelin..real pretty. I had to dink with the oven door spring hinge, there is a bar between the inner and outer skins..it is threaded for the return arm to attach to..it is broke right at the hole, and I luckily had a longer screw in the van that works for now,I may have to tear into it, and weld the bar and rethread it.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
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