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fpw
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# Posted: 4 Sep 2012 19:42
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While wandering through antique stores with my wife, we found this little 1920s apartment gas stove. The stove is very sound, in very good shape and we gave 125 bucks for it.
I will have the propane guys swap out the orifices and we now have a much more permanent set up for the Stump Ranch. We should be able to retire the well used Coleman stove to outdoor coffee making duty.
Additionally, I will get a propane tank and haul it out to the cabin, which is much cheaper than buying those little propane containers. This will also give me a source of propane to install some lighting.
At the same shop, we found an old ice block refrigerator, which we are painting, restoring, and should be ready to use next year.
Having no power sure makes us look at things a little differently.
Antique Apartment Gas Stove
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Kudzu
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# Posted: 4 Sep 2012 20:17
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That is a nice find.
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JoshG
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# Posted: 4 Sep 2012 21:58
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exactly the same set up I had in my first cabin with no power. Antique gas stove and a coolerator ice box.
Cool.
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hattie
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# Posted: 4 Sep 2012 22:29
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Oh how beautiful! I am jealous! What a great find!!! Post some pictures of the ice block refrigerator when you can too. Can't wait to see it.
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TomChum
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# Posted: 4 Sep 2012 23:16
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Thats a nice stove and nice price. I woulda bought it too!
My stove is for an RV, it cost $400. I was trying to find one from a wrecked RV but it didn't happen, and the Grampa needed the stove first to make the cabinets. I'd much rather have a genuinely old one, like yours.
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exsailor
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# Posted: 6 Sep 2012 11:05
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Fantastic scores and perfect fits for the cabin.
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Anonymous
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# Posted: 8 Sep 2012 00:06
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I would love a antique gas stove but most have standing pilot lights if you have a homeowners policy it will be invalid.
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cabingal3
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# Posted: 8 Sep 2012 00:37
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thats a wonderful stove.sure love it.thanks for sharing with us.
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fred
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# Posted: 8 Sep 2012 13:43
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I picked up a small propane stove a few weeks ago that should be perfect for our cabin. This it bu ours has a window in the oven. Only $50 but now I have to get the gas line in.
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DaJTCHA
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# Posted: 8 Sep 2012 14:30
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That looks great! One question, are there any concerns surrounding ventilation for this kind of stove?
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Storogoth
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# Posted: 9 Sep 2012 01:42
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I bought one similar to this a few months ago and at 20" wide it should be perfect for our cabina's kitchen next year when I am ready. It cleaned up really nicely.
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trollbridge
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# Posted: 9 Sep 2012 14:12
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fpw...love the old stove...what a great find and it is going to look wonderful at your cabin-will fit right in with the rustic look! Congrats!
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Hoboman
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# Posted: 6 Jun 2020 17:10
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Storogoth
Good afternoon: I am a newbie here and while searching for info on this Vesta stove i came across your post back in 2012. I am hoping you will be able to give me some info on the operation of this stove as i just got this and I am in the process of cleaning it up. So if you would get back to me,,,much appreciated.
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gcrank1
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# Posted: 1 Nov 2020 20:42 - Edited by: gcrank1
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Did you get any info/tips to getting these old stoves hooked up and working?
We just got a 1930's (?) Windsor Desoto range that was on natural gas when last used 40ish years ago. The couple that had it always thought it would be nice for a cabin. That never happened for them but it is in ours now while I sort it out for cylinder LP.
I aint a 'gas man' any more than I am an electrician, but as a farm boy and an old mechanic Ive messed around with lots o' stuff.
Mine has no integral regulator, I suspect that most are like that. LP stuff pretty much runs on 11" WC (water column), that is what the typical bbq rig regulator runs at (the typical ones, NOT the big boss hog monsters).
That should feed the stove fine BUT, you must use the far smaller LP orifaces, the NG ones are huge because NG is at a lower pressure. Do Not even try 'em. There are charts online of the BTU's for the burners for either gas. Some smaller LP stoves may have a 'soft' burner with a smaller dia burner head that runs about 3000-5000 btu which will require a smaller orifice than the others. Some may also have a larger dia burner head for the big pots, 10000-12000 btu or so, thus a larger orifice than the more general burner head of about 7500 btu.
The fittings should be done with the Yellow/Gas teflon tape, NOT the white/plumbing teflon tape.
All supply lines should be rigid with a shut off valve on the supply side of the 'flex pipe', if used to the appliance. The piping needs to be big enough to flow the gas needed for all the burners on And the length of the run from the tank. Basically, use code for the hook up even if it is diy and not inspected. Its a safety thing.
So, with adequate, and safe, piping from a regulator (a must have, Never run off a tank without a regulator!) and the right size orifices and some adjusting of the air intake to get a nice blue flame with maybe only a lick of yellow at the tips you should be 'cookin with gas'.
Btw, it can be hard to impossible to find orifices for old stuff. Not that big a deal IF you need a larger one for NG, you just drill 'em out incrementally with 'number drills' but most of us are LP and need smaller. There are plugs made to do that, you drill the orifice body for the plug and drill the plug to the size you need. Some gas co. folks will do this for you. Ive done some by carefully peening the orifice mostly closed and drilling to the size I need.
As to pilot lights, at least for the top burners, they are adjustable and can be turned off (typically a tiny screw somewhere at the base of the pilot line from the manifold), or maybe better yet, remove that line and plug it off with a pipe plug (save the assembly to go with the antique stove, pls). You can easily light the top burners with a match or bbq lighter (my fav).
The oven may need it's pilot to open the gas safety valve which lets the larger volume of gas in for bake/broil. We dont bake/broil at the cabin so my oven control is blanked off. The oven makes a fine place for us to store the cookware.
Aint sayin everybody should be doin this stuff, just that its worked for me. Know your limitations.
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Fanman
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# Posted: 2 Nov 2020 18:59
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Quoting: gcrank1 Btw, it can be hard to impossible to find orifices for old stuff. Not that big a deal IF you need a larger one for NG, you just drill 'em out incrementally with 'number drills' but most of us are LP and need smaller. There are plugs made to do that, you drill the orifice body for the plug and drill the plug to the size you need. Some gas co. folks will do this for you. Ive done some by carefully peening the orifice mostly closed and drilling to the size I need.
You can also solder them shut, then drill them out to the correct size... that's what I did when converting a NG furnace to LP.
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Hoboman
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# Posted: 4 Nov 2020 09:01
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Thanks gcrank1,Fanman: Thanks for all the info and help. The stove was completly disassembled,,reassembled and cleaned. It works great. It has a pilot light in the oven,,which confused me a little as the old one didn't and so has a safety valve with a thermal interlok. Anyway all works great with a barbecue regulator,,so thanks for the info.
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gcrank1
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# Posted: 4 Nov 2020 20:18 - Edited by: gcrank1
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Great!
Now that you have it working it might be time to sort out a few details.
A bbq reg. is a quick&dirty approach to getting a typical propane appliance running that uses the 11ish inches of water column (11"WC) but it isnt to code for any device that is thermostatically controlled (ie, cycles off/on) rather than manually controlled as in a bbq.
What you NEED is a 2-stage regulator. Here is why.
The pressure inside an LP tank can be over 250psi.
Your 11"WC is about .4 psi. Yes, less than 1/2 # of pressure. The bbq reg has to take whatever that tank pressure is and reduce it to a steady and safe <.4 psi.
That is a lot to ask.
A 2-stage has the 1st stage reduce the tank pressure to about 10psi then the 2nd stage does the final reduction; much better regulation, safer and required on all RV's too.
In a typical house 'pane system there is a big reg (service reg) on the torpedo tank as the 1st stage and another, the 2nd stage (supply), at the house.
And a 2-stage RV type for what you are doing isnt expensive. Btw, you can buy just the 2-stage reg w/o the hoses/lines and maybe swap yours in if they attach to the reg with threaded fittings (use the yellow 'gas' tape or gas rated 'pipe dope').
Another consideration is the connection from the output of the reg to the appliance, it needs to be a 'hard line', not a flexy bbq hose (tho there are some expensive high-end hoses that are approved for use in some jurisdictions. They are not bbq hoses).
And if you do have a hard (the 'supply') line to the appliance and an appliance flex line to the appliance there needs to be a shut off valve at the supply end before the appliance flex line.
The appliance flex lines cannot be re-used and older ones should be replaced asap with the new, current (SAFE) line. Too many old ones have failed and we have all seen on TV where a home has been reduced to toothpicks because of a gas explosion.
And pls dont have the propane cylinder inside.
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Fanman
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# Posted: 9 Nov 2020 17:02
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FWIW, at the end of last summer I replaced the 1950s vintage Kenmore stove in our cabin with a new cooktop. We liked the old stove, though but it was barely insulated and then mice got into it, you can never get the smell out. We rarely used the oven anyway. The point is that it had 3 pilots, one for each pair of burners and one for the oven. The new cooktop is electric ignition (of course a match can be used if the power is out). Our gas consumption dropped dramatically, I never would have believed how much the pilots consume.
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