Just stuff-quite long

17 years ago

Oven on our gas kitchen range quit working and knowing that if we have a repair person come out and fix it it would probably run into hundreds of dollars, I called around to find a shop with an igniter that I could buy, found one in North Platte and got it for only $35:00.

I almost never use foul language but before I got that d-mn igniter replaced I confess I just about used up my complete repertoire of cuss words. Seems ironic that about the only other time I have to fall back on strong language is working with Christmas lights, that'll do it.

To replace the igniter you have to lay on the floor and dismantle the oven and I really mean dismantle it. You have pieces of enameled sheet metal and lots of other things with no name lying everywhere. Anyway, now it works and if it ever happens again I'll happily pay the repair person to fix it.

While I was working on the stove I remembered when dad and stepmother decided to change from a wood and coal burning kitchen stove in winter and kerosene stove in summer to a Skelgas range. Quite exciting, sis and I had been listening to Captain Midnight, sponsered by Skelgas, on the radio and had a secret code ring and other things we got from sending in to the program. As I remember, dad had to sign us up at the local Skelly gas station when he filled the car.

Skelgas was or is propane, don't think it is around here anymore at least in that brand and it was exciting watching the man run a pipe through the wall and erect an small metal leanto shed next to the house for the propane tanks. Remember they got a premium of a lot of dinnerware pieces when they bought the stove. Thinking back on it seems that they were kind of an ugly purple or pink but perhaps memory is playing a trick on me. We thought that they were great at the time. Whoa, even the name of the dinnerware pattern is trying to get through, it was a Spanish city name, Seville, Malaga, Cordoba no don't think those were right.

Step mother was thrilled with the new appliance, great even cooking in the oven without having to guess at the temperature. You had to strike a match first, put it next to the burner and slowly turn it on. For the oven there was a place right in the bottom front that you lit and could watch the flame spread over the bottom burners. Dad always maintained that fried chicken always tasted better cooked on the old wood range. Doubt that that was true but every time we had chicken it was mentioned.

In winter though, we missed the warmth and comfort of the huge old wood stove, sometimes stepmother would light the oven on the Skelgas stove and open the oven door and close the pocket door between the kitchen and dining room and warm up the room that way. Probably wasn't a good idea but we made it through regardless.

Wish I had saved some of those old premiums that sis and I got through the old radio programs we listened to such as Little Orphan Annie, Jack Armstrong-All American Boy and another one or two I can't remember. Perhaps one of those secret decoder rings would help me figure out whats going on sometimes.

I hasn't intended to write a historical novel but so be it.

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Comments (9)

kris_zone6
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
My oven quit working 2 days before Christmas. I had a repairman come the next week and he had to replace the igniter. The bill was $210. I do not have the knowledge to repair gas stoves and after seeing what he went through to replace it, I was more than glad to pay the $210. We have also had to replace the igniter in our furnace twice in the 12 years we have had it. Maybe pilot lights weren't so bad.
lindac
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Quite a few years back the ignighter went out on my stive. I hated the stove and since it would cost a fair amount to replace, we decided to replace the stove. But couldn't find another huge old range to fit into the spot and besides the counter tops were old...so as long as we had to...
Anyhow 4 months later and about $20,000 poorer I had a stove that works....as well as a new floor and a wall that was pushed out...
Watch those ignighters...they can be expensive!
Linda C
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andie_rathbone
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jazmynsmom
17 years ago
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Last night Steve made moose meatloaf for dinner and tried to serve it to me practically raw, because the recipe said it would be done by thenand if thatÂs what the recipe says, it is not for us to dispute. My first impulse was to be annoyed, but then I rejoiced, because as of Friday, such a thing will no longer be possible. Oh sure, weÂll still eat moose meatloaf (and like it), but on Friday weÂre getting a new oven range that features an integral meat thermometer, so internal temps are indisputably displayed and I donÂt have to deal with his over-reliance on written instructions when cooking. (Theoretically.)

When we moved in nearly four years ago, Steve and I agreed that the range would be replaced as soon as practical. There's nothing wrong with it, per se: Plenty of people like glass-topped electric stoves, and I've managed to work around the oven's consistent imprecision. There's probably some kind of recalibration dial I could adjust... but solving this would only force me to keep it longer...

So when Steve was surprised with a generous performance bonus, we decided to put most in our retirement savingsÂ but to splurge on a new range.

Giddy at the prospect, I called my neighbor to discuss where to donate our old appliance. She knows the contempt I have for it so we danced a happy jig together and she asked what our timetable looked like. "Well, a normal couple would have one in a week or so, but I'm married to Steve so he'll have to research everything on line, examine the inventory of every appliance-selling establishment in a 50 mile radius while nearly disassembling each in the showroom, read product reviews, think about it, and then re-visit every store to find the best price. *sigh* Might take months..."

"Whereas if you had your way, you'd just make it yourself!" she retorted, knowingly. (TouchÃ©.)

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calliope
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I was told they went extinct, but managed to find a new gas cook-top when we remodeled our kitchen with a standing pilot light. That click-click-clicking drives me ape.

I've cooked in old stoves where the only thermostatic control was how wide you cracked the oven door. I also remember my mother heating up the kitchen with the range burners. Now and again, like the weather we are having now, I purposefully set a kettle of beans on the stove to crank the kitchen warmth up a notch. The trade off is steamy windows.
andie_rathbone
17 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
We're getting to the point where we're going to have to get a new stove. The cooktop is going - one burner at a time. I wish I could say that we could replace the electric cooktop with gas, but unfortunately that's not going to happen.
jsrachel
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Hello i was wondering if anyone could help us out,, We wanted a vintage range and had the oppurtunity to pick up a skelgas range, named the constellation, i am looking for a few parts for it but cant seem to find any info about it on the web, It was manufactured for Skelly oil co. but i cant find who the manufaturer was, and dont see antwhere that skelly manufactured any appliances themselves.. it is a 1954 model, any help would be great thanks John
User
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
We had a #6 Wedgewood

google

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kris_zone6

lindac

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