Vintage Oven/Thermostat Repair in Chicago????

So, I have a nifty, 8 burner, two oven 1930's/40's Roper Range that needs some help. I've looked high and low, and the only person I've found who is willing to work on it is in California, so I'd have to dismantle, then ship, my thermostat, my oven doors and the hinges. As you can imagine, this is both time consuming and costly. Although I have a back up oven, I'd much prefer to find someone locally that can find the parts and make the repairs.

Has anyone found a good, vintage oven repair place in town or know of any such place closer than California?

I don't know about repair people, but surely you can find the parts at Automatic Appliance on Lawrence. They've got one of the largest stocks of parts in the universe for just about any appliance you can imagine. Lots of repair people are always in there buying parts, so that may be a good source for a repairman, too.

Automatic Appliance Parts
7757 W. Lawrence
Norridge, IL
708-453-8384

Also locations in Evanston, Arlington Hts & Downers Grove

Thanks, Steve, I'll be sure to check this out!

Any idea if they have vintage parts? I'm looking for a particularly rare thermostat, the Wilcolator Type S. I haven't been able to find it at any price, anywhere, and a rebuild is going to be about $500.

I assume you've Googled this pretty thoroughly?

MikeLM wrote:I assume you've Googled this pretty thoroughly?

I've Googled it beyond exhaustion, that is how I came up with the California shop. I've e-mailed photos and a description of the issues with my stove (identified by a local repairman who just can't find the parts) to about 15 places nationwide over the last 4 months and have only heard back from the one place that can actually do anything.

The major problem is the thermostat. The Wilcolator was one of the most common thermostats used in vintage ovens and a number of companies make repro's. Unfortunately, none make the type S.

I'm rather surprised that it is proving so difficult as so many of these stoves were made locally. Worst case scenario, I can have my old stove retrofitted with a new thermostat, but that would be an aesthetic sacrifice that I would rather avoid.

I, too, have an older Roper in need of a new thermostat (I sure hope it's not a Wilcolator Type S!). If I find anything of interest I'll be sure to post.

Many years ago, Reasonably Honest Dave's in Seattle helped me out with a hard to find dryer part. The guy I dealt with (Dave?) was unbelievably knowledgeable. If all else fails, it may be worth a call.

Reasonably Honest Dave's Used Appliances
Seattle WA
206-324-3270

Rene, excellent, thank you! I have a number of smaller parts (handles, knobs, etc) that I'm trying to track down, I'll give RHD a call and see if he can turn them up.

BTW, the model number on the thermostats is fiendishly difficult to locate, let me know if you need assistance locating it on yours. It requires interesting (and somewhat dangerous) maneuvering to get to, at least on mine.

Ursiform wrote:Thanks, Steve, I'll be sure to check this out!

Any idea if they have vintage parts? I'm looking for a particularly rare thermostat, the Wilcolator Type S. I haven't been able to find it at any price, anywhere, and a rebuild is going to be about $500.

There's a good chance they do, however I'm not sure about that specific thermostat. I was able to find new burners for my MIL's vintage Amana range. they had them in stock. It's well worth a call.

I too had a vintage oven that needed repair. Luckily my problem wasn't the thermostat. As you've discovered thermostats are the most difficult piece to replace.

I got a referral from this forum to D & B, clicking this link takes you to the original thread, and the repairman was wonderful. He spend a couple of hours cleaning my vintage Crown oven. His opinion was that it'll work very well for many more years to come and that it would outlast any new oven I could purchase today. He concurred that replacing the thermostat would have been a much bigger issue and I should be grateful that wasn't the problem.

D&B Appliance Service Professionals
An Appliance Authority
630-458-9755

Do call D&B and perhaps the problem isn't your thermostat afterall.

Diannie

Hi,

Have you tried e-Bay? NASA has used e-Bay to source parts for the space shuttle. I once found a stack of antique mica and metal toaster elements in my garage. I sold them all to collectors on e-Bay. For something specific, it may take time and I would put an e-mail search alert.

Also check this source.

I would also check Old House Journal. When I used to be an avid reader there were always people restoring kitchens to period. Repairing and renovating those older appliances was part of the deal.

Regards,

Diannie, thanks so much for the tips, it sounds as if D&B is definitely the way to go. I'm glad to hear you got your Crown back up on it's feet, these old stoves are really wonderful (when operating correctly )! I'm especially pleased to hear that they know how to deal with the hinges as mine are going on my broiler unit and pretty well shot on my oven.

Cathy, I thought e-bay would have come through for me by now, but nada. I continue to check on a daily basis as I'm not eager to shell out $500 bucks to rebuild my thermostat. Culinary Parts is a good lead that I'll try and OHJ as well. I probably need to renew my subscription now that I'm rehabbing an abandoned 116 year old house anyway.

BTW, I found my entire kitchen nearly for free on Craig's list. My house had *NO* kitchen when I bought it and I'm working on a budget. Some very nice fellows purchased a house with a completely custom built kitchen from the 40's, complete with a vintage Kohler sink with original hardware, St. Charles cabinets & a really great pink speckled formica/stainless steel countertop and were going to sell it for scrap when they put their new kitchen in. We paid them a nominal fee and hired movers to haul all of it back to our house. I knew the kitchen would need some work when I bought it and I'm overall very, very pleased with my "new" vintage kitchen, but wowza, the thermostat is a killer!

Thanks for all of these great suggestions, I'll be sure to let you know what I turn up!

Ursiform, what an intriguing tale. Finding a vintage kitchen intact is a daydream of mine. (I used to haunt Murco.net with a passion.) Do you have photos, a blog, anything to let me vicariously live my dream kitchen?

Sassafrass, I am working on a blog now, when I have it in reasonable shape, I'll post a link. We've documented everything, now I just have to put it in order!

The very un-fun part of finding an intact vintage kitchen; putting it back together and making it fit in a new space!

Great to find some other locals with old stoves! I've got an early 40s Roper that you can see here:

http://n54th.wordpress.com/2002/03/24/g ... uel-floor/

Mine's chugging along happily, so I haven't needed to find a local repair place. But I did find this encouraging site recently when trying to help another local Roper owner:

http://www.aaaasc.com/RESIDENTIAL/Antiq ... fault.aspx

Hexleg, I love your blog, I hope mine looks half as good when I finally get it up and running!

I did call the Appliance Service Center - they came out, looked at it, said it would be 5k to fix if they could find the parts without telling me WHAT was wrong with it, and charged me a rather exorbitant service call. I had high hopes for them based on that ad.

I found another local service place that would work on my stove, and for an $80 service fee, they a)cleaned it out, b) showed me how it worked, hooray (how to adjust the amount of gas going to each burner, how to clean it out, basic function things), and actually TOLD me what was wrong with it. I need new hinges, a new thermostat, and some new knobs & such. He's been looking for parts for me for months, but isn't having any luck, so I've turned to the internet.

Don't mind the mess in this photo as we are under heavy construction in the house and nothing is even close to finished! Here is an image of my baby when we first got her in, pre-cleanup. You can see the broiler unit on the left, the oven on the right with the thermostat that needs replacing (damn you, Wilcolator type S!), and in the middle where the "griddlelator" would have gone is additional cabinetry. Apparently, you used to be able to get these things configured any way you would like and the folks who had this built didn't want the griddleator. Clearly, she needs some work, but the oven repair guy that actually talked to me said she would easily run another 70 years and that I really had a gem:



Your stove is clearly is a real beauty! I hope to get mine into that kind of condition soon.

Hi Ursiform. That's a nifty split Roper you've got there. I haven't seen one like it before.

Thanks for the cautionary tale about the Appliance Service Center. That's disheartening, though.

As to heavy construction in the house and messes everywhere—believe me, I could not understand more. I'm a pro at destruction and rather a slowpoke at reconstruction.

Wow! Who'da thought my D&B recommendation would make it as a reference! Diannie, glad to hear they worked out for you. Ursiform, please give them a call; they are great and probably have contacts that might help. Another thought was to check with your local gas company to see if they have any references. One never knows.

I've searched a bit on the Web and found this place in Michigan. Don't know if you've tried them or not but I thought I'd post here.

Antique Stoves, 410 Fleming Rd., Tekonsha, Michigan 49092
WE REBUILD OLDER 1920s - 30s
HEAT 'Regulators'
Lorain, Robertshaw, Wilcolator etc.
We will still need the Type, brand and Numbers on the back and side of your Domestic or Commercial Thermostat. (Stove type not required.)
Call (805) 643-3532 to find out if your Thermostat is IN-STOCK.
FREE phone or e-mail consultation with all orders.
http://www.antiquestoves.com/thermostats/index.htm

You really do have a gem and I hope you can get it fully restored. Of course, we expect pictures!