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  #1  
Old 10-31-2012, 08:42 AM
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Kamakiri Kamakiri is offline
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Vintage appliances, which ones stunk?

Inspired by the "Stop Appliance Genocide" thread, let's discuss for a moment, the ones that really weren't made well back in the day, or didn't last, bad designs, etc.

This is the side of the equation that we don't often see when discussing these. Share your thoughts and memories
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Old 10-31-2012, 08:48 AM
consoleguy67 consoleguy67 is offline
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My parents had a 1968 Zenith 22" black and white console. In 1971, the picture tube was replaced. By 1974, the filter caps started acting up, and it developed a wave through the picture.
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Old 10-31-2012, 09:07 AM
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Here's what inspired this thread.....

I just rescued this 1946-47 Kelvinator electric range from the metal scrappers. I thought it seemed like a pretty well made piece:



My wife saw it, and said, yes, it's very well made, but look at the design of it. There are only 3 burners, and they are VERY close together. There's a ton of wasted space too.....it's got no broiler, and the oven is on the right hand side instead of under the burners, the rest is just storage. And, with the oven on the RIGHT, whatever you sit on the big space to the right of the burners is going to be subjected to the heat of the oven. Why wouldn't they have put the oven UNDER the burners, and made that whole space one large cabinet if they wanted to, or put two burners on each side as to make more cooking space? That would leave room for a broiler, too.

She's pretty smart, that one . But I'm still keeping the stove
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Old 10-31-2012, 10:14 AM
dieseljeep dieseljeep is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kamakiri View Post
Here's what inspired this thread.....

I just rescued this 1946-47 Kelvinator electric range from the metal scrappers. I thought it seemed like a pretty well made piece:



My wife saw it, and said, yes, it's very well made, but look at the design of it. There are only 3 burners, and they are VERY close together. There's a ton of wasted space too.....it's got no broiler, and the oven is on the right hand side instead of under the burners, the rest is just storage. And, with the oven on the RIGHT, whatever you sit on the big space to the right of the burners is going to be subjected to the heat of the oven. Why wouldn't they have put the oven UNDER the burners, and made that whole space one large cabinet if they wanted to, or put two burners on each side as to make more cooking space? That would leave room for a broiler, too.

She's pretty smart, that one . But I'm still keeping the stove
That range reminds me of the Roper gas range my parents bought, when they first married. That surface above the oven, didn't get that hot, as those old ranges were very well insulated.
I see it has that removeable pot, for cooking soups, etc. That was a big selling point, at the time. Feature not available on a gas range.
Whoever owned the range, took really good care of it.
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Old 10-31-2012, 10:20 AM
dieseljeep dieseljeep is offline
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Originally Posted by consoleguy67 View Post
My parents had a 1968 Zenith 22" black and white console. In 1971, the picture tube was replaced. By 1974, the filter caps started acting up, and it developed a wave through the picture.
Those things were super-reliable.
Probably 95% of those sets were flawless performers.
Too bad, yours was one of the 5%.
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Old 10-31-2012, 06:05 PM
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There are only 3 burners, and they are VERY close together.

Years ago, my parents had a range that looked like that. On the model that they had there was a fourth burner in the bottom of the "crockpot" well. The position of the burner was adjustable so that it could be positioned on the top of the range if more "surface cooking" area was desired. Most of the time it was left in the lowest position, as Mom usually made a big pot of soup once a week...YUM!

jr
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Old 10-31-2012, 07:38 PM
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Those are super reliable and rarely fail. Some parts are still available. The clocks usually have quit long ago though. Don't try putting an extra large pizza from Costco in it, you will have to shave the sides off.
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Old 10-31-2012, 07:54 PM
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If the clocks have Telechron movements in them, they are easily repaired and replacement parts are plentiful.
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Old 11-01-2012, 06:43 AM
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Actually, that's a timer. The stove is currently sitting half apart, waiting some help to get it into my basement. I took off all the trim and doors to get it in and down safely.

As one would expect, it's going to need a REALLY good cleaning inside, as 60 years of kitchen grease are on the areas that aren't cleanable unless the whole thing is apart. No matter

Incidentally, I discovered this AWESOME cleaner for working on old stoves, or anything that's coated in grease.

http://www.nucalgon.com/products/coi...s_calbrite.htm

I got a gallon of it from a friend, and I have a 20% solution in a spray bottle. It just melts the grease, rinse, and done......
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Old 11-01-2012, 10:03 AM
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DavGoodlin DavGoodlin is offline
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I had a Hotpoint portable dishwasher from 1960. It belonged to my grandparents at the summer cabin on the Chesapeake bay. I inherited it in 1981 and moved it to my
3rd floor apartment. For three dudes that did no dishes, it worked great.

One day we started it and left for class. Came back and the 2nd floor tenant had called the super beacuse he thought a plumbing leak was resposible for the waterfall in thier kitchen.

Found a gasket at the motor shaft, (bottom of the unit) had let go. No problem for a couple of motorheads to rig a new shaft seal but it fried the motor and it was totally unobtanium.

We tossed it out the window into the yard, leaving a huge trianglar dent and walked it to the dumpster
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  #11  
Old 11-01-2012, 10:17 AM
dieseljeep dieseljeep is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kamakiri View Post
Actually, that's a timer. The stove is currently sitting half apart, waiting some help to get it into my basement. I took off all the trim and doors to get it in and down safely.
Are you going to hook it up in the basement?
A lot of people used to have a range in the basement, besides one in the kitchen.
Before air conditioning became popular, folks would do their cooking and baking in the basement, as not to heat up the house, during the extreme hot weather.

Last edited by Celt; 11-01-2012 at 12:04 PM.
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Old 11-01-2012, 11:43 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kamakiri View Post
Actually, that's a timer. The stove is currently sitting half apart, waiting some help to get it into my basement. I took off all the trim and doors to get it in and down safely.

Are you going to hook it up in the basement?
A lot of people used to have a range in the basement, besides one in the kitchen.
Before air conditioning became popular, folks would do their cooking and baking in the basement, as not to heat up the house, during the extreme hot weather.
Good point! My former neighbor has an old Caloric Gas Range in their city-house basement, I want it when they move but I have propane and that requires some advanced tinkering...

Last edited by Celt; 11-01-2012 at 12:04 PM.
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  #13  
Old 11-01-2012, 12:08 PM
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We had an old second-hand 50's Admiral all tube colour TV from the early 60's thru about 1972, when it gave its last gasp. My parents replaced it with a new RCA XL-100 or some such. Man, did that thing suck! Picture was only so-so, audio was horrendous and it sensitivity was in the weeds compared to the old Admiral. It died within five years and I was happy to see it go.
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Old 11-01-2012, 01:54 PM
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To figure out the bad appliances, find old copies of Consumer Reports magazine. I have read those since I was a kid (in the late 1960s), and products in general were much more varied in quality then compared to now, and even more so in earlier decades from REALLY old issues I have seen. Basic things such as power cords that could easily pull out and short to the metal cabinet.
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  #15  
Old 11-01-2012, 06:47 PM
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Kamakiri Kamakiri is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dieseljeep View Post
Are you going to hook it up in the basement?
A lot of people used to have a range in the basement, besides one in the kitchen.
Before air conditioning became popular, folks would do their cooking and baking in the basement, as not to heat up the house, during the extreme hot weather.
Dunno yet, to be honest. I'm just going to get it down there and make the decision at some point after I go through the whole thing, cleaned spotlessly, and working.

Like I said, it's gonna be a winter project, and we have looooong winters here
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