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lo_lo19

Vintage 40" 6 burner in good condition, should I keep it?

lo-lo
10 years ago

Hi,

I am debating if I should change my vintage wedgewood stove to a Thermidor? My wife has been complaining about the smell of leaking gas from the stove since I move in. We have a technician out to fix the stove, and it is leak free now. However my wife still smell gas and she wants to buy a Thermidor stove. Personally, I really like the wedgewood and would want to change it.

When the technician was maintaining the wedgewood, he was praising about how well wedgewood was built and how the new stove is not comparable to the older ones. Can you please let me know the pros and cons of the wedgewood and Thermidor? Also, what can I do to eliminate any gas smell? I think the smell is due to pilot and the gas is constantly lighting up. So what can I do to fix this issue? Thanks

Comment (1)

  • deeageaux
    10 years ago

    Vintage ovens in good state of repair with insulation in good condition will preheat faster in part because they are generally smaller and because of the pilot light they have a head start being preheated. Modern gas ovens are more energy efficient but natural gas is so cheap you will not really notice a difference in your gas bill.

    "They don't make them like they used to" is a common refrain from reactionaries looking at the past through rose colored glasses. I read an article about "they don't make appliances like they used to." The article was written in 1962. Slate.com had an article a few years ago comparing vintage stoves to 50s Pontiacs rolling around Havana implying there are more reliable because they are still being used. A modern Lexus LS 460 is far superior to anything ever made by Pontiac.

    People don't lovingly maintain and restore old low end stoves. They do so with old premium ranges. I would rather have a fully restored Chambers C stove with open Daisy burners to a new Frigidaire with sealed burners from Lowes too. But I would rather have one of the premium ranges of today than a premium vintage range.

    If looking at ranges in the Thermador class I would look at Bluestar RNB/Platinum, American Range Performer Series, and Capital Culinarian. Wedgewood has residential type open burners usually 12k btu up front and 9k btu in the rear. Thermador has sealed burners in the 18-22k btu range. These don't have as even a heat pattern. The ranges I recommend have open commercial style burners in the 8-25k btu range with much better heat pattern. The top end power is good for searing steaks, woking, sautéing, boiling water for pasta quickly, recovering temperature from dropping cold food into pan/pot.There are several threads discussing them all you need to do is google gardenweb plus the name of the range.

    * Your gas smell issue can be due to any number of things. Gas pressure from the gas company to your house may be off, the thermocouple or gas regulator in your Wedgewood my be broken or dirty with debris. These items may need to be cleaned, reconditioned or replaced. Only a competent tech would know.

    BTW Your wife my just want the peace of mind of getting rid of the pilot light oven. Maybe she does want to think about sniffing for gas when she walks in the door. Even though the chances of your house exploding due to a faulty pilot light is extremely rare some people just can't handle certain type of risk they are not used to.