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Who to call to check out 15yr old Viking Range?

12 years ago

We bought a 48" Viking range that is about 15 years old from a friend of a friend... We are just finishing a rehab/restoration of an 1870's Victorian home and want to have the range cleaned and checked out before we use it... Who do we call? A large appliance repair place... Or are their maintenance places to call? As far as we know, it works... So I don't want to call a repair place if they don't know the kind of cleaning and checking I need. Also, any tips on what to ask them to do or check? We were so tight on the budget that we bought this to save lots of $$ but plan to replace it with a new 48" range in the next five years.

Thanks!

Shawna

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Comments (3)

mkroopy
12 years ago
15 is not that old, I'd think any qualified technician should be able to help you out. My stove is 60 years old (1953 Roper), and had honestly never been used (it looks brand new), was sitting in an apartment for all that time. I had to find a technician that specialized in old stoves, there are a few of them around the country. I had the 4 stove valves rebuilt, and the oven valve/thermocouple rebuilt and calibrated....cost me about 500 bucks. But these stoves were made like tanks, have ZERO electronics to give me problems, so I am thinking this stove should probably last me the rest of my life if I maintain it well (I'm 47). If yours cleans up nice and you get it functioning, I have no idea why you'd need to get a new one in 5 years, other than to "keep up with the Joneses". That's why I went with a vintage appliance....10-15 years ago stainless commercial quality stoves were not too common in people's homes...now I am the only person I know pretty much who does not have one. My ex just spent over 6K on a used Wolfe....kids say my pancakes taste just the same as hers....lol.

My house is an 1870s Victorian also...and truthfully I didnt think a stainless commercial quality stove would fit the decor...too modern. Oh one other thing, if you are are on a budget....do the bulk of the "cleaning/degreasing/etc" yourself. No reason to pay a technician upwards of 80-100 bucks an hour to do that....
llaatt22
12 years ago
Just as a method of proceeding, you might give priority to doing a normal installation and evaluation of your Viking by a competent service company, perhaps even being lucky enough to find one that has the ability to do so at some facility other than in your home.

Once the performance issues, if any, have been addressed without creating any excessive financial distress, the cosmetics of the situation might be looked after by contacting a quality auto body shop. They either have the equipment or are likely in touch with companies that do fine refinishing of metal surfaces using modern nondestructive systems. Sort of high tech sandblasting without damaging the stainless. You might even think about getting some custom painting! Also commonly found in areas where aircraft repainting services are available.
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do you know the model number of the range. Because if it has a 7 or 5 in the model, then you should be aware of the pretty consistent igniter issues with these ranges. not the end of the world, because its a relatively easy fix but its been a pretty prevalent issue. I'd strongly advise against the refrigerator in general despite that fact that there repair rates have dropped over the past 2 years or so(mind you they were terrible in the past so the increased reliability still means they are less reliable than most other brands) The price is pretty tough to beat though, may be worthwhile from a resale stand point
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Why am I not surprised? God help you mate. I've been where you are and it's no fun. Get rid of it while you can and get a Capital, or anything for that matter.
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I just thought I'd post a follow up. I had an email about this (but couldn't reply to it) so I thought I'd update everyone in case someone else finds this and wonders. On the front burner low simmer problems it turned out that I had a problem with 2 burners and another owner on this web site had a problem with only 1. So I knew before I called that it wasn't a consistent design flaw but probably was something that could be fixed. The repairman came and he noticed (that I hadn't) that you could hear the problem too - that on the front burners on simmer it wasn't kicking in and out like on the back (there is a faint hum when it kicks on -- the front was steady hum it wasn't cycling in and out the heat to get the nice low temp). Clearly something broken. They replaced (warranty) both the main control board and temperature sensors for those burners. It works great now - nice low simmer (very low need to turn up to med low to cook rice -- the simmer is even lower a nice barely keep warm). So that was a defect and was solved. However, the repairman did say my fan noise was normal. I might call Viking about it and see what they say. The cooling fans are quite loud (to me) and continue for a while after turning it off. I finally feel relaxed after cleaning up dinner when the sound stops... I'd say 15 minutes to cook french fries and the cooling off fan runs for 30 after I turn it off. My little Miele speed oven is much quieter when the fan runs. I don't know how this oven sound wise would compare to other current full sized ovens. The oven works great -- but it is noisy.
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That is a great deal, but you couldn't run fast enough to give me an all gas stove. In my previous house I had a dual fuel Viking and I loved it. In the current house, I have an all-gas GE Cafe. I hate it. EVERYTHING burns in the oven unless I use the convection mode. I was going to get the GE Cafe in dual fuel, but a friend who has the all gas GE Cafe told me that the all gas worked fine and I didn't need to spend the extra money. I forgot to take into consideration that she does no baking and no from-scratch preparation. All she needs is something that will bake a pot pie! Although I had not one minute's problem out of my Viking, I understand they can be finicky. I would only buy the used one if I could adequately test it. If you can get the serial number off the Viking, I'll bet their customer service can tell you how old it is. They may also be able to tell you if it has had any service calls. Viking customer service is very nice and very helpful. (I said I had no trouble out of mine, but the granite installers beat it up pretty badly and I had to get a repairman to replace some parts.) [sigh] I wish I had a Viking again instead of the POS I have. Here is a link that might be useful: How to find Viking serial number
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Caddidaddy55
12 years ago
Call your local gas company they most, likely can recommend someone. If the range was just removed from service before you bought it you may just want to clean it yourself and install it. 15 years ago a Viking was a really good range, I too would keep it. I sure wouldn't replace it with a new Viking.

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