Yellow 61C-New to board

[violanofam]

Hi, I've been reading the message board for a few weeks now. I just bought a yellow 61C.
We think she is in rather good condition.
Her sides are dirty from being in the same place for 50 years, but the top,porcelain,and knobs look fine to me.
How do I clean the porcelain carefully?
She is in the garage at the moment as I don't have a gas line in my kitchen.
I am thinking of having PSE&G come and check the lines to make sure everything is ok.
The stove works! The owner turned on all the burners and the grill and griddle for me. I have been using an electric cooktop for six years and would love to have the Chambers moved into my kitchen.
Has anyone had a utilty service person install a safety valve?
Thanks for your help.

[Todd W. White]

Hello and WELCOME to the CHAMBERS family!

Some thoughts:

1. With regard to cleaning, check here:

[b][i][url="http://www.chamberstoves.net/Cleaning.html"]Cleaning A Chambers[/url][/i][/b]

2. I would not have the Gas Co. come out and check it. Sometimes, they red tag it when they see it has no safety system. Often, they red tag them just because "it's old". Stupid, but true. You can check the lines yourself. Look here:

[url="http://www.hostboard.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi/ubb/get_topic/f/7954/t/1023"]Intermittent Gas Leak[/url]

3. With regard to a safety system, there are pro's and con's about them. You can read about them on this Discussion Board. Just do a search for "safety system." You can do it yourself or have someone do so that's handy, or pay a certified gas appliance repairman to do so by having him follow the instructions found on this Board.

4. You REALLY NEED the Service Manual in order for whomever does the work to be certain they're doing it right. You can get one from me or from Sam.

5. Your REALLY NEED the "Idle Hour" Cookbook, which is actually an Operation Manual with recipes. It will teach you how to operate, care for, and use your CHAMBERS, and has all the information you need to "cook with the gas turned OFF" on retained heat in the fabulously well insulated Chambers Thermowell and Oven. You can get also one of these from me or from Sam.

[kimvsmith]

Just posting to let you know that Todd's not just trying to sell his books, Julie. Everyone here will tell you they're extremely helpful (and fascinating).

[violanofam]

Thanks for the information, Todd. I will be ordering a manual soon, I haven't decided which one I should get first. I spoke to a repairman who's actually worked on a few Chambers stoves today. So I'm really happy to find someone in my neck of the woods who knows the stoves.
We have to run a gas line to our kitchen. I can't decide if I should do it now (involves a lot of work, cutting out the electric cooktop, counters and cabinet )or wait until I redo my kitchen to install the Chambers. BTW, we have a Hotpoint electric oven it was probably made soon after they took over Chambers. It looks a lot like one in the early ads. Our house was built in 1958 and the all electric kitchen was the way to go then.
I'll have to just read about cooking with the gas off until we make a choice.