Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Common House Kitchen Stove

[Paul Barton-Davis (pbd]

Sorry for replying to the list - I already replied privately to David,
but I just wanted to make two specific points in response to Joani's
message. If I had David's address still, I'd mail him instead.

>guess on all these stoves, the ignition systems and the thermostats are the
>parts most likely to go out, but on the one we have, these two items have
>given us more than the expected amount of grief. 

Its *very* important on this category of stove to make sure that it
has its own dedicated 20amp circuit. The ignition systems can draw a
*lot* of current, and having anything else running on the circuit (and
in a kitchen, its likely a current-hog too) when these babies fire up
can shorten their life by a factor of 10-15. This is quite different
from most regular residential gas ranges, so simply hooking up a
viking or similar range to the same outlet is not a good idea unless
you know its on a dedicated circuit.

My experience with Viking has been that they gave me free replacement
ignition systems when I reported problems (and even sent me 2 free on
one occasion).
                                                  I'd also recommend
>stainless steel top (area around the burners). The heat of these burners
>has quite permanently damaged the surface enamel or burned on food so
>solidly that we  can't get it off. It is hard to tell.

There are ways to clean these up, but my feelings about the
"environmental sensitivity" of the techniques leave me unable to
recommend them. We just live with the gunk as part of the
appearance. At least a little 8 year old kid who lives near us thinks
it means we have a junker stove :) I don't believe that stainless
steel will help with this, much.

--p