1958 Tappan built-in

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Manalto
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1958 Tappan built-in

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On Craigslist, for the right mid-century kitchen. Free.

https://westernmass.craigslist.org/zip/ ... 99297.html

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Willa
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Re: 1958 Tappan built-in

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Ad says it is not working. Proceed at your own risk.

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Gothichome
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Re: 1958 Tappan built-in

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Not working, not a big deal, I’m sure it could be made to work for less than the cost of buying a working one. The layout reminds a me of classic early 50’s to mid 50’s car radios. Every thing arranged vertically in the middle of the dash.

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Willa
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Re: 1958 Tappan built-in

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Here's that very oven in a snazzy 1958 house in Dallas, TX.

https://www.oldhousedreams.com/2018/02/02/1958-contemporary-dallas-tx/

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With regards to vintage appliances, my advice is to find the vintage appliance repair place FIRST, then acquire accordingly. Some places might be willing to do repairs and overhauls, but my experience in Toronto was that I could not find anyone that was willing or competent to deal with a vintage electric stove. I know of one guy in Ontario (Ed White Appliances, Port Hope, ON, no website), and one place in Quebec (Antique Electro). I don't know if Antique Electro will do repairs or upgrades, but their price for a refurbised electric stove, beautifully and thoroughly done, is about $ 4000.00 CAN.

phil
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Re: 1958 Tappan built-in

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but with free stuff its best to strike when the iron is hot.
That style of clock is common to a lot of the ones I see in 1950s clock radios. it's got a knob in the middle but I bet the clock is very similar.
I'd just grab it if you like it , then worry about troubleshooting after it's home.



https://www.google.ca/search?q=crosley+ ... RdjzbQcLHM:

phil
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Re: 1958 Tappan built-in

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phil wrote:but with free stuff its best to strike when the iron is hot.
That style of clock is common to a lot of the ones I see in 1950s clock radios. it's got a knob in the middle but I bet the clock is very similar.
I'd just grab it if you like it , then worry about troubleshooting after it's home.



https://www.google.ca/search?q=crosley+ ... RdjzbQcLHM:


here is a GE one with a similar style of clock.
https://www.google.ca/search?q=ge+clock ... 6QdcKbUyjM:

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Gothichome
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Re: 1958 Tappan built-in

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Gothichome wrote:Not working, not a big deal, I’m sure it could be made to work for less than the cost of buying a working one. The layout reminds a me of classic early 50’s to mid 50’s car radios. Every thing arranged vertically in the middle of the dash.

On re reading this, this comment sounds a bit glib, and I must apologize. I often forget that many folks do not have the skills, experience or inclination to do thier own repairs on these sort of things. Phill, myself, and quite a few others could have this stove tore apart, repaired (or made to work) and reassembled in short order. But for many, it’ll take money and finding some one to do the work, making even getting it free a burden.

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Willa
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Re: 1958 Tappan built-in

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Gothichome wrote:
Gothichome wrote:On re reading this, this comment sounds a bit glib, and I must apologize. I often forget that many folks do not have the skills, experience or inclination to do thier own repairs on these sort of things. Phill, myself, and quite a few others could have this stove tore apart, repaired (or made to work) and reassembled in short order. But for many, it’ll take money and finding some one to do the work, making even getting it free a burden.


Mechanical/electrical skills aside, 75% of the misery is sourcing the replacement components. This is particularly trying if you are not in the trade, and do not have the specific lingo. Also if you do not have the original manual with the schematic drawing and labelled parts. As far as I know you can't 3-D print a switch or do some fancy stuff on a lathe to make one. You just need that darn part.

In my experience, finding a basic part like a switch was a nightmare, including being sold the wrong part from an appliance repair component place that insisted it was the right part. Add to this scenario over confident appliance repair dude # 2 who claims he can fix it but doesn't even know how to open the panel and starts to bend the front of the stove with misplaced force while attempting to undo rivets. (Meanwhile the access panel can just be popped off by a gentle lift and push - as demonstrated by MIA appliance repair dude # 1). Appliance dude # 3 is # 2's superior, who has no clue about sourcing older parts. Like this is a completely foreign concept. He tells me that he just tells people the stove can't be fixed and to get a new stove.

In certain parts of the US there are ENTHUSIASTIC vintage appliance repair places. This is great if you are in proximity to them and/or can afford to ship your stove/fridge/etc. to them.

It's not great if you have a fantastic vintage appliance but discover that while you estimate/hope the basic part and repair might cost about $ 10.00 (ie blown fuse) that the reality is that the repair might cost more than 100x that amount plus an excess of time and energy chasing around parts and service people. It feels horrible to love that stove but discover it is actually a 200 lb paperweight.

It especially maddens me as I know that old appliances CAN be fixed. Well, with the right part and a competent person to fix it.

Vintage appliances are like a more frustrating version of a classic car. There are more mechanics and body shops who are willing/able to deal with a 60 year old car than a 60 year old stove.

I spotted an even more excellent vintage stove for sale, while pondering the fate of the one that needed help that I already owned. Before I went to look at it, I called one of the major vintage appliance places in the US, that sells parts and service. The dude on the phone was pretty rude, but this is what he told me:

- don't buy an appliance that you cannot test before you buy(ie disconnected gas stove)

- he wasn't familiar with the Canadian brand of the stove that needed help, so he could not reliably sell me parts for that stove without seeing the actual part.

- he had no clue about the excellent stove for sale, as it was a less common US brand (Odin) from the other side of the country. He deals with vintage stoves all day, so if he wasn't familiar, the parts hassles could be much greater. The parts might be universal or they might be specific to that manufacturer.

Lots of people get lucky and score an excellent vintage appliance in perfect working condition for free or cheap. The caveat is that if you don't - or it works for three months then dies - then what ?

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Re: 1958 Tappan built-in

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Willa, I think the scenario you have mentioned is a universal issue. Finding the right appliance person. All (or at least most) vintage appliances work on exactly the same principles just the parts look different. A creative appliance person could make it work by adapting an off make part. This may involve some creative thinking on thier part, that’s were the problem is. A lot of trades have lost the art of creating thinking. A fifty cent piece that is no longer available is justification for scrapping were as a replacement part can be made for a dollar.

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Re: 1958 Tappan built-in

Post by phil »

I'd be careful if it contains asbestos as an insulation material. the switches , thermostat and heat elements might require some creative work to make different ones work but there are thousands of new switches to pick from. and I'd just try some used appliance places for comparable switches (or rheostats) if the switches that exist are broken beyond repair. At least it wouldn't have a PCB that's blown like new ones often do. often with old radios I come across switches that are unique and I will try to repair the bad switch itself, or move one from a set that has been dropped or damaged beyond repair. I've got a bin of all sorts of different ones so I'd rummage through that looking for the closest match. Of course oven rheostats are capable of much higher amperage so radio parts wouldn't do it but other old appliance parts aren't too hard come by.
Id do an initial inspection , then test it, if there are issues then isolate the issue and figure out whats actually broken. If it is s broken switch and others aren't available then you can likely drill out the rivets and disassemble it, or remove the switch and go to an appliance place in person ( and take your smile) and ask for help in finding a switch that is similar electrically. you might need to adapt the original knob to fit or something but that's all part of the fun and challenge of restoration.
Electrically a stove is not a complex device, it's a heater with a rheostat. one circuit for each element, one for the stove , plus maybe a timer for the clock. it might have a relay to turn the power on and off to the element. you do need to respect that it draws a high amperage so you cant' go cheap out on the thickness of wire or quality of insulation but this isn't rocket science. I wouldn't go monkey-ing around inside a plugged in stove unless you know the fundamentals of electrical troubleshooting but with some basic troubleshooting experience you can pull out a meter and probe different places to isolate the problem and then once you know what is actually electrically broken then you are on to the next step. most can be checked without the stove being plugged in, like for example to pull off the wires and put probes across the switch and measure its resistance and see if it is "jumpy" or to check the resistance of each element which is either blown or not blown. since the rheostats and elements are probably duplicated you can use other parts which have not failed for comparisons. the schematic may have some of that info if you have one, and if no schematic, draw your own using the stove as your point of reference.

once you get into it you can take pictures and describe the issues you see, there are lots of people that are willing to help. try an appliance forum. If an appliance place is not helping, try another, or throw the switch on the counter and 20 bucks and tell them the 20 is their tip for spending the next few minutes really trying to help, do that with a real and true smile and a nod and you'll be surprised how the negative attitude can change. - if not go somewhere where they are customer friendly.

If you have a trained and qualified appliancge guy helping you , realize he probaboy charges out at 50 to 100 dollars an hour,, and you are just a small one shot customer.. if he realizes you are paying for his time and expertise than he may aproach the odd request from a different viewpoint. You'll get further if you put the bad part in his hand than you will by requesting a bunch of specific info over the phone. You should be able to tell him the number of ohms and the range that the existing switch should be by comparing to the others. do the groundwork and give him the info he needs. Or if you aren't comfortable troubleshooting ask the hourly rate and have them check it out for you. they will even do house calls if that's what you want but expect to pay the guy fair wages if you do that and accept that his troubleshooting time will be charged to you whether or not it turns out to be economical or not.. You can always say the max you can spend is ( 100$) so I just want an hour of troubleshooting and the resulting info written up.. that's fair. most of those places have people that work by the hour. wheather the guy is charging you for troubleshooting with a meter or finding an obsolete switch part on the internet is chargeable time. I can totally accept that they may not want ot go looking for parts that they dont; list just out of the goodness of their heart for a phone in customer. he could easily spend half an hour and not be able to charge anything for his work. Its different if you deal with them all the time for other items. The partsman may be in a situation where he knows this is not profitable and be trained to brush stuff like that aside. All partsmen aren't equal either , some rock and know every part number by heart while some are kids straight out of high school. sometimes with the right attitude you can just ask them if they have any trained appliance guys that he can consult with. if you go with the right attitude these guys may help a lot more. If you are in the store lined up with others needing parts then there is a bit more pride involved. the store might go to a little more effort in person.. others in the store including buyers may be watching.

often if I walked in wiuth an odd question like that I might for example allow the counter to serve the others waiting and just say look I know this one will require a bit more time so lets deal with them first. the counter staff will appreciate that and likely thank you and show their appreciation by taking more time when they get to you.
you could find that the issue is for example a bad relay and then just find one that is an electrical equivalent. You might have to reattach the wires or mount it differently or something but my point is some of the functional parts might not be so unique. The maker of the stove bought those parts might not be the maker of said parts. and an appliance guy might look at a switch and just know from experience what other stoves he's seen that same part used in.

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