What's the first thing to do with ones Chambers?

[ammon]

Hello all. Thanks to everyone for all their helpful comments and suggestions so far. I'm going to get my stove this afternoon. I'm dying to throw out my old stove and hook the Chambers up immediately, but I'll try to be a little more circumspect about the process. What do you guys recommend as the correct procedure, after cleaning it. Should I take the sides off? Check the rock wool in the doors? Is there a standard operating procedure of how to go about checking the stove? And how do I get an operating manual?
Thanks again,
Ammon

[lowracer]

<font color="#FFFFFF" size="1">[ March 10, 2006 12:02 AM: Message edited by: lowracer ]</font>

[berlyn]

Ammon,

You are in for a treat!!
[url="http://community.webshots.com/album/259218814eAzvEX"]Big Bertha's[/url] journey.

[RobbiQuest]

There are 2 excellent resources for manuals (and cookbooks - you gotta have one of those!) on this other site (both resources are members of this board):

[url="http://www.chambersvirtualconvention.com/resources.htm"]http://www.chambersvirtualconvention.com/resources.htm[/url]

[ammon]

Lowracer - I am simultaneously in awe of and tremendously jealous of the full restorations that you and others have undertaken. I, however, live in a fairly small 1 bedroom apartment in NYC. I have 2 cats and a young pit bull that will chew up anything that I leave out. She hasn't yet chewed up anything metal, but I wouldn't put it past her. I am afraid that at this point I don't have the space to spread my whole stove out in bits and pieces and grind away all the rust and do all those things. Of course, when I get it I might very well change my mind and perhaps I'll turn my bedroom into a work room. My main concern at the moment is more with the things that one would do as an initial inspection. Are there any things which would not be readily apparent that I should be looking for? I'll probably be building my own safety system, but until I do I'll turn off the main gas line in the apartment when I have the stove hooked up but not in use. Does that sound reasonable?
thanks again,
Ammon

[lowracer]

<font color="#FFFFFF" size="1">[ March 10, 2006 12:03 AM: Message edited by: lowracer ]</font>

[BlueBeetle]

"With The Uncertain Stoveman's help, I'm putting a safety system together and am photographing the whole process piece by piece to take the confusion out of it for those who will follow."

Many of us will be looking forward to the finished product. That sounds like a worthwhile article to archive on the Virtual Convention site. :-)

[pete244874]

I'll second that!

[ammon]

I've just got my stove into my apartment, and, since I am sure that this is one group of people that can appreciate such a sentiment, I have to say that mere pictures of such a thing really do not adequately prepare one for the real item. wow, this is truly an impressive piece of cookware.
It made it home without any fuss or bother. all the parts seem to be in pretty good shape. Even the rock wool in the door looks clean and fluffy. I'll probably replace that, but not immediately. The thermowell lid doesn't rattle or make any noise when it's shook. The overall stove certainly needs a good cleaning, which I'm about to begin on.
As seems to be common, it is missing most of the thermowell pots, but at least it has the large one, and in good shape.
Thanks to one and all for the kind words of advice and encouragement so far, and rest assured I'll be bugging all of you for more in the near future.
Now I can see what you're all so nuts about.
Ammon

[chipperhiker]

Sorry, but if your concern is safety until you put in a safety system, then turning off the gas when the stove is not in use is missing the point rather widely. I think it is important that we all actually understand how our ovens work, how they can get us into trouble if they malfunction, and how the safety system works to reduce this risk.

The most important fact is that the oven is dangerous when it is IN USE.

The danger results if the oven pilot somehow goes out while you are using the oven. This can be due to a strong breeze (potentially from closing the door too vigorously), low gas pressure, a spontaneous pilot gas occlusion (clog), or moisture in your gas line. When this happens, you can get into trouble.

When you light the oven, you are actually lighting the main oven burner, as well as a small pilot. When the oven reaches the set temp, the gas flow to the burner turns off, but the pilot gas continues to flow. The pilot will relight the main burner whenever the temp drops below the set point and the thermostat allows more gas to flow to the burner.

If your pilot goes out, and the oven temp drops, a whole lot of unburned gas fills the oven compartment. Not suspecting a problem, you open the door, letting out a huge volume of gas, and a potentially dangerous explosion can result. There are many sources of ignition, like the other pilots on your stove, a candle, an electrical spark, etc..

With a safety valve in place, the gas to your oven will only flow if the pilot remains lit.

The safety system described on this site will only deal with the oven gas. It does not stop the flow of gas to your whole stove if the oven pilot fails. The two other pilots (stovetop burners and thermowell) will continue to leak a small amount of gas if their pilots go out. In that case, however, the relative magnitude of gas is far less than the oven, and it is not in an enclosed space. In short, it's not really a significant explosion risk.

So, to make a long-winded story short, turning off the main gas line is not a substitute for a safety system. Please be careful, and get a safety installed, preferably before you use that lovely new oven.

-Jenn