Stove Burners

My wife and I had were out mid state for the apple harvest festival this past weekend and had a really great time. However my Bride is having a rough time adjusting the burners on the stove. They seem to be very touchy and she can't seem to get the flame low enough without it going out. Also when boiling a pot of water it seemed to take forever. It's 17 years old could it be plugged up with dirt or something? Is there a maintenance procedure? I did run it out of gas on Sunday, but all of this happened on Friday and Saturday. Could low fuel be the problem? I was also running the furnace, checking it out, seeing how it worked, ya know new toy stuff. So that may have been the what ran me out. I haven't filled the tanks since I bought it, so I was trying to run it out just to fill them to know they're full. Anyways back to the question! Is there something that I can do to fix this? Or does she have to just learn to cook on it. We have elec at home, but we've both had gas before and actually have camped using a coleman propane stove for years.

It may that the regulator is suffering from old age, they do go bad from time to time, you may not be getting the proper pressure. Although, if the other devices were working ok, I would think the problem is in the stove itself. If you are getting a good blue flame that would mean that it is in proper adjustment. I have never tried cleaning the stove. Our 1705 stove was not very fast at heating either, even when new.

The flame looks perfect, the burners look perfect, the oven works perfectly as does the furnace and water heater....Just doesn't boil water fast. She can't get the flame very low without it going out either. I wonder if a copper bottom pot would work better. She was using a thin wall metal pot to boil the water (ya know one of those cheap Teflon pots) and cast iron skillets.

try using a stainless steel pot like we do it works great !

Putting a lid on it would help speed it up. And, you know what happens to watched pots don't you?

This has been interesting to me, since I've been very impressed with our gas cooktop in our trailer. The high flame seems to boil water (in a covered pot) very quickly and, it has no tendency to go out when cranked all the way to low flame. Low flame will keep water AT the boiling point too.

vannooch - do the burners have a "uniform" flame pattern? Back when I was in the Air Force, I remember moving into a house once where the stove burners were partly clogged. I cleaned them out with a pin, as I recall. And, I've done the same with the burners on a gas barbecue (only here I used a 1/16" bit in a battery operated drill).

- Jack

RichR said:

Putting a lid on it would help speed it up. And, you know what happens to watched pots don't you?

Click to expand...

Yeah, we had a lid on it...

JackandJanet said:

This has been interesting to me, since I've been very impressed with our gas cooktop in our trailer. The high flame seems to boil water (in a covered pot) very quickly and, it has no tendency to go out when cranked all the way to low flame. Low flame will keep water AT the boiling point too.

vannooch - do the burners have a "uniform" flame pattern? Back when I was in the Air Force, I remember moving into a house once where the stove burners were partly clogged. I cleaned them out with a pin, as I recall. And, I've done the same with the burners on a gas barbecue (only here I used a 1/16" bit in a battery operated drill).

- Jack

Click to expand...

Well here's what I got.. it looks great. It's gotta be the pot! When you're turning them down, there seems to be alot of movement before the flame actually moves. Then the flame moves quickly with minimal knob movement. It may be because they weren't used that much. I've used it more this year than it has been used in the last five.

I have a 2007 and the 3 burner Wedgwood operates in a similar fashion. The knob adjustment is very finicky. The flame doesn't discernibly change until I lower the temp 3/4th of the way down ... so I have to watch the flame height to get what I want. Iv'e not used the oven, but I have heard that it is not professional grade either and tends to be hot on the bottom ... my solution is to add a Pizza stone to the oven bottom. I'll let you know how well it works!

Our 95 was the same way, you have to watch the flame not the numbers on the dial. The 2209T is some better but watching the flame is still needed.

NDgent said:

I have a 2007 and the 3 burner Wedgwood operates in a similar fashion. The knob adjustment is very finicky. The flame doesn't discernibly change until I lower the temp 3/4th of the way down ... so I have to watch the flame height to get what I want. Iv'e not used the oven, but I have heard that it is not professional grade either and tends to be hot on the bottom ... my solution is to add a Pizza stone to the oven bottom. I'll let you know how well it works!

Click to expand...

Cool, We haven't had any problem with the oven, she made me some bread and chocolate chip cookies....I know I know...we were roughing it. It's our first rig we're spoiled.....cut me some slack.

vannooch said:

Well here's what I got.. it looks great. It's gotta be the pot! When you're turning them down, there seems to be alot of movement before the flame actually moves. Then the flame moves quickly with minimal knob movement. It may be because they weren't used that much. I've used it more this year than it has been used in the last five.

Click to expand...

Your burners look fine to me. It's got to be the controls, from the way you're describing it. In our three-burner cooktop, the flame follows the knob in a nice, linear fashion all the way to the minimum setting. No delay and no sudden jumps in flame volume.

Janet and I have actually commented on how nice the cooktop worked! There's an older gas range at an old ranch house that we visit now and then that acts the way you describe. It's VERY hard to get to a minimum setting without turning it off, and we had the same problem with an old camp stove we've replaced too.

My guess is, this is something that modern technology has improved upon.

In our cooktop, the highest setting is at the beginning, lighting point. Then, the flame is reduced as you continue to rotate the knob. To turn a burner off, you have to rotate up PAST the highest and lighting setting. Is this how yours works?

- Jack

JackandJanet said:

Your burners look fine to me. It's got to be the controls, from the way you're describing it. In our three-burner cooktop, the flame follows the knob in a nice, linear fashion all the way to the minimum setting. No delay and no sudden jumps in flame volume.

Janet and I have actually commented on how nice the cooktop worked! There's an older gas range at an old ranch house that we visit now and then that acts the way you describe. It's VERY hard to get to a minimum setting without turning it off, and we had the same problem with an old camp stove we've replaced too.

My guess is, this is something that modern technology has improved upon.

In our cooktop, the highest setting is at the beginning, lighting point. Then, the flame is reduced as you continue to rotate the knob. To turn a burner off, you have to rotate up PAST the highest and lighting setting. Is this how yours works?

- Jack

Click to expand...

No just the opposite, ignition then low to high. And turning it down you slowly turn...turn...turn and then all of the sudden the flame drops. It seems like just a touch changes it dramatically. I can get it but she struggles with it, it may change as it gets used, if not we'll have to get used to it or I'll buy new valves for it. I didn't know if there was some magic cleaning trick to these stoves or if they are basically a gas stove, and it seems that it is just that.

vannooch said:

No just the opposite, ignition then low to high. And turning it down you slowly turn...turn...turn and then all of the sudden the flame drops. It seems like just a touch changes it dramatically. I can get it but she struggles with it, it may change as it gets used, if not we'll have to get used to it or I'll buy new valves for it. I didn't know if there was some magic cleaning trick to these stoves or if they are basically a gas stove, and it seems that it is just that.

Click to expand...

OK, I think this is a technological improvement in the design then. Our Light->High->Med->Low design is clearly a better way for the valve to work.

I doubt you could replace the controls, but a new cooktop should not be all that expensive or hard to install.

- Jack

New Atwood 21" at $600.00........