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Thread Number: 75643
/ Tag: Recipes, Cooking Accessories
Will a new range with self clean oven last? Or just get a cheapy? |
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Post# 994568 5/18/2018 at 19:08 (2,169 days old) by neptunebob  (Pittsburgh, PA) |
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My sister has a Caloric range from 1990 and asked me about a new range. The self clean mode has been gone for awhile, but the oven still heats up, although inaccurately, it burns cookies and no matter which temperature it's set to, it is about 500 degrees. She asked me if she should have the thermostat replaced, but the range is ugly, hard to clean with many seams and sharp edges, and her repairman may not be able to get parts.
I have been looking for a bisque range for her (very few) and I also hear about how the self clean feature now causes an entire oven to crap out, so that you cannot even cook at all anymore. She is willing to clean an oven with Easy Off but while that is no fun, is this something people are just going to have put up with in the 21st century? I also wonder if the chemicals we use are really much more unsafe than the SC ovens, as I have burned myself on a SC wall oven (the outside door). The only problem with a non-self-clean range is that while they are cheaper, they look rather cheap. But I have read of people who buy a self clean oven and use Easy off because they are afraid of frying the electronic controls that make self cleaning happen. Below is a video about a GE engineer who invented the self clean oven and he said that "they could not use a hydraulic thermostat, they had to invent an electric thermostat". Could this electric thermostat failing be what happened to the Caloric, and would a hydraulic thermostat (non-self-clean) be more accurate? He made it out that a "self cleaning oven was equal to the moon landing" and that GE went to great lengths to keep "Project 7" a secret, even though there were over 100 patents to make this possible (so why couldn't they come up with one to prevent the heat from frying the electronic package?). Unfortunately, to get nice things like a timer and a door window one often has to get the self clean oven and pay for a feature you may never use. I have noticed often ranges that get set on the curb have filthy ovens, even if they did self clean so there must be a lot of those failures out there and maybe the owners let it get dirty until they could stand it no more and then bought new ovens. What ovens do you all have (I know most vintage ovens) and do you find cleaning ovens a pain? or can you put up with Easy off, which I think will still be on the market 50 years from now. CLICK HERE TO GO TO neptunebob's LINK | ||
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Post# 994573 , Reply# 1 5/18/2018 at 19:30 (2,169 days old) by DADoES (TX, U.S. of A.) |
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| Post# 994574 , Reply# 2 5/18/2018 at 19:31 (2,169 days old) by norgeway (mocksville n c ) | ||
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I think A self cleaning oven and a Frost Free refrigerator are two of the most trouble prone things ever invented, I don't want either one.The MOST trouble prone thing ever made is a thermostatic surface unit, you will find one out of a thousand that will still work. | ||
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Post# 994575 , Reply# 3 5/18/2018 at 19:32 (2,169 days old) by ea56 (Cotati, Calif.) |
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Bob
I have personal experience with an oven no longer working due to use of the self clean feature. It was a Maytag smooth top that we got in 2000, a slide in model with the controls on the front, over the oven. Anyway, after about 20 mo.s of use I tried to turn to oven on, but just got error codes. It was going to cost $300 to 400 to repair. So I got another range, sans self clean, oven. I didn’t like the fumes from the self cleaning process anyway, and if you clean up spills right way and keep the oven floor covered with foil you don’t have to do a major cleaning very often. The racks are the worst part of the process, and I confess I’m not real anal about keeping the racks pristine, but I do clean them.
Our current range is a BOL GE in white, old fashioned dial control for the oven, no clock or timer. I love it! The burners are fast and also cool down fairly quick too. I just got a digital timer with big numbers and a magnet and stick it to the control panel when I’m timing. And best of all, I can broil with the oven door closed, hence no smoke in the house when broiling!! A real plus! It would be nice to have a delay start and stop oven, but I manage fine without it. See the link below they do sell it in Bisque. HTH, Eddie CLICK HERE TO GO TO ea56's LINK This post was last edited 05/18/2018 at 20:36 | ||
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Post# 994580 , Reply# 4 5/18/2018 at 21:18 (2,169 days old) by americana4 (Warwick, RI) |
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My current GE americana range is about 30 years old, I've had it for nearly 20. I've used the self clean feature- including panels from the upper oven and drip pans- once or twice per year with no trouble ever. Deja vu all over again- GE once got it right. Wish it was still true. | ||
| Post# 994586 , Reply# 7 5/18/2018 at 22:50 (2,169 days old) by PassatDoc (Orange County, California) | ||
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2002 Frigidaire Gallery self-cleaning convection gas range self-clean used once or twice a year. No issues whatsoever, had to calibrate oven temp once in 16 years. | ||
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Post# 994610 , Reply# 9 5/19/2018 at 09:00 (2,168 days old) by Joeekaitis (Rialto, California, USA) |
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No woes with our Hotpoint gas self-cleaner | ||
| Post# 994622 , Reply# 10 5/19/2018 at 11:16 (2,168 days old) by Awooff (Peoria, Illinois) | ||
Mid 90s dual fuel jennair slide in
I have tortured this stove over the years. Convected many turkeys and chickens which blows grease all over the oven cavity. Have never used Easy-Off as I'm afraid it will damage the heating element or take off the self-cleaning coating. I remove my racks for the self cleaning feature which the manual stated. Some damage to the electronic control may exist. Reason I say this is once a year or so the oven will beep incessantly and I'll have throw the breaker. Other than this the oven is perfect in every way. Also I see similar ovens on Craigslist to mine for around a hundred fifty bucks regularly
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| Post# 994629 , Reply# 12 5/19/2018 at 12:02 (2,168 days old) by firedome (Binghamton NY & Lake Champlain VT) | ||
Vintage P-7 GEs
are pretty common, a good way to go. They function well and we've never had a problem with one. 1960s to about early '80s models GE parts are available, and rarely seem to fail. 60s, '70s FDs are good too, build quality a smidgen better even, Electri-Clean came later than P-7, but FD parts don't seem to be as available, so we bought a complete parts range for our current '76 FD 30" Electri-clean, which works great. Build quality in almost all of the new and affordable ranges seems abysmal, they feel really cheap and flimsy, while up to early '80s GE's quality was still very good. Agree with Tom, they had it right then.
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Post# 994632 , Reply# 14 5/19/2018 at 12:24 (2,168 days old) by henene4 (Heidenheim a.d. Brenz (Germany)) |
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Actually... GE has a few models in the color she wanted for just 500$ MSRP with self clean option with coil surface units. WP offers some smooth-top models with simmilar spec, color and self clean for 650$ MSRP. Accounting for rebates, both seem pretty acceptable prices for ranges if they last 10 or so years... | ||
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Post# 994643 , Reply# 17 5/19/2018 at 14:22 (2,168 days old) by neptunebob (Pittsburgh, PA) |
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Thanks for all the answers...
Fan of fans: Actually, and I will get a picture, this Caloric is in sad shape. It has a lot of seams and sharp edges that collect crud and has the open burners that get crud under them too. For example, the GE Artistry range has at its top one stamped piece of metal that is porcelain coated that cover the entire top of the unit and curves up the back and the grates and burners on top. With the caloric, there is the top which is placed in the "box" with chrome trim around it and the back is a separate piece, and opening around the burners. The knobs are horizontal almost flush with the cooktop and has lots of crumbs, the writing is worn off, and the door is black glass with more crud collecting trim, it's stained in between, and it seems like they used excess parts to make the appliance.
There are too knobs that make the oven bake broil and self clean, one temperature and the other the mode. It has only one time, 3 hours. It is a digital clock but don't know if it is all electronic. It will still bake (badly) even though the SC doesn't work but on some ranges, when SC fails, the oven does not heat up at all. Were GE P-7 ovens more reliable about not cooking their electronics? How was all this handled back then? See this video about the engineer and how they had to keep Project-7 a secret (don't let the kids know!). She is going to look into getting the bisque GE range, the non-SC one. CLICK HERE TO GO TO neptunebob's LINK | ||
| Post# 994693 , Reply# 22 5/20/2018 at 06:54 (2,168 days old) by firedome (Binghamton NY & Lake Champlain VT) | ||
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GE P-7 was "analog" if you will...
and the self-cleaning cycle has never affected the electronics at all that I've ever heard of. There's no electronics to speak of, in the sense of digital chips, microprocessors, displays &c. Just hard wiring, rotary controls, motor timers, mechanical switches, and the like... there's really nothing to fry the way there is in new models. The overall cheap feel of new ranges completely turns me off as well.
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Post# 995823 , Reply# 23 5/31/2018 at 16:13 (2,156 days old) by ea56 (Cotati, Calif.) |
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I cleaned the oven for the first time in six months
last night after dinner. I was just going to replace the foil on the bottom, but when I found that there was some leakage under the foil, I decided to just clean the whole oven.
I had some Easy Off on hand, but I didn’t want to wait for it to act, and I hate wiping the nasty mess out anyway. So I just went at it with SOS, a Chore Boy SS scouring pad, green scrubing sponge and Bar Keepers Friend. I took off the door and tackled the floor first, then each side separately and finally the back. It took me all of 30 mins, not too bad, considering that I use the oven at least 4 times a week and the broiler 2 to 3 times weekly, and it went thru Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and Easter! I didn’t do the racks, but they aren’t really very dirty anyway, so I’ll do them sometime later on. I didn’t find the task onerous and I sure didn’t miss the fumes and smoke that I would have if I used a self cleaning oven. And its cheap therapy to get out my agressions, LOL! Eddie | ||
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Post# 999465 , Reply# 24 7/5/2018 at 21:38 (2,121 days old) by DaveAMKrayoGuy (Oak Park, MI) |
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This is my late-mom’s self cleaning range that my dad uses—and I mean uses, as in never cleans... and I’ll let you guess which burner no longer works (okay, the large, front, most-used one on the right!)
So, as for the oven which has probably not been cleaned since the brief time years ago when my mom was able to use it, I will let the pictures speak for themselves: (Bonus features: Grandma’s dishwasher used for storage of stuff no longer fit to use) — Dave | ||
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Post# 999475 , Reply# 25 7/6/2018 at 05:38 (2,121 days old) by askolover (South of Nash Vegas, TN) |
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I bought my mother a Caloric self-cleaning gas range with sealed burners in 1992. At the time it was heavier built than anything else from WP, MT, MC, or FD as I checked all of them out. But it did have a lot of square corners, seams, and crannies to catch crap. It served her well for almost 25 years but the oven control started getting wonky and a new board was around $400. I told her to get a new stove so she got a Frigidaire almost like mine. We used the self clean on her old one only a couple of times when it was new but didn't like how hot it made the kitchen. So she just used easy off. Same with her new one and I have never used the clean cycle on mine either. Oven cleaner is fine. I'm not a messy cook and most times I can just wipe out small splatters.
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Post# 999529 , Reply# 26 7/6/2018 at 14:37 (2,120 days old) by cuffs054 (MONTICELLO, GA) |
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Dave, was anyone hurt in the explosion? | ||
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