"William R. Walsh" m>
wrote:
> I gave up on the thing after 25 minutes. It heated the water to a point,
> and
> just plateaued (sp?) after that according to my infrared thermometer. At
> best, the water got to be around 190 degrees (F).
That probably wasn't long enough, depending how much water was in the pot
and what the starting temperature of the water was. Take a look at the
following article I referenced in another post about how long it takes even
on a high powered gas stove:
http://www.departures.com/ad/ad_1103_cookranges.html
I'm not sure the accuracy of an infrared thermometer for measuring that. I
use a cheap $10-15 digital meat thermometer to measure the temperatures of
things, like simmering stock or deep frying oil. This thermometer is
inserted directly in the liquid, as opposed to doing it remotely via
infrared.
> My parents electric Hotpoint range (http://greyghost.dyndns.org/stove.jpg,
> 640x480, 46KB) has no problem getting things up to a very good and rapidly
> rolling boil in about 12~16 minutes. I'd love to find one of those stoves
> somewhere, but I'll bet they are hard to come by.
That stove probably isn't particularly high powered, but it is electric. It
appears to have standard coil burners of the era. Stoves of that width (40
inches) were common enough from the 1940s through 1960s. That particular one
looks to be from around the mid 1960s. Hotpoint tends to be GE's low priced
and/or builders brand. In general, they were not high end. My father used to
buy hundreds of Hotpoint stoves when he was in the apartment building
business back in the 1960s.
GE and other manufacturers still make 40 inch stoves that are a lot like
that one. Here's a pointer to one of GE's current electric models in that
size:
http://products.geappliances.com/App...W&SITEID=GE A
(Model JCP67FWW, if that link doesn't work... start at
www.ge.com and work
from there)
> Interestingly enough, the burner controls are not completely independent
> of
> one another. If another burner is turned on, the flame drops in intensity
> with the other burners.
That doesn't sound right, as other posters have mentioned. Perhaps a gas
pressure problem. There might be a very slight decrease in flame size when
another burner is started, but it should hardly be detectable.
> Is there any kind of standardized procedure for adjusting burners?
Normally under the cooktop, behind the burner knobs are the gas valves.
There is a gas "jet" right behind that, spewing as into a larger tube
leading to the burner. Around that larger tube is normally an adjustable
"shutter" that allows one to change the amount of air that is mixed with the
gas. Good adjustment is a mostly blue flame, with the occassional yellow or
orange tip. That sounds like what you've got already.
> Thanks for the information. The more I think about this, the more I think
> of
> selling this stove to someone who can use it. Since I'm going to be
> gutting
> and rewiring the house, I think I'll just take the gas line out and put a
> stove plug in its place.
That might be a whole lot more involved that you think. A house set up for
gas (stove, water heater, dryer) often has smaller electrical service coming
in than one set up for electric. You might have to have the main service
panel and incoming service line upgraded depending on what's there. In my
current house, I have 100 amp service and a fuse box. I have gas heat, gas
water heater, gas stove, and gas dryer. My A/C is provided by a district
chilled water system, so it is not using electricity either (except for the
blower). With the service I have, I could only do either an electric dryer
or an electric stove, but not both without a major upgrade to the electric
service.
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