50+ year-old gas cooker with stiff gas taps

[petermeakins]

The New World seventy-six cooker I have needs the taps / knobs lubricating - I saw something on a previous post suggesting gss c*ck grease. Is this the stuff, and is it straightforward to dismantle and re-grease them? A gas engineer I spoke to muttered darkly about carbon monoxide and said any engineer would charge =A3100 to come out and then slap a condemned label on it to cover himself. I like the cooker but like life more - should I think of scrapping it for safety? The flame on one burner was a little yellow, to I closed what I took to be an air inlet screw on the cast iron pipe leading to it - this improved it but even fully tightened the flame is still a little yellow. Would re- greasing the taps help this - and should I be in there at all? Thanks for advice. Peter

[cynic]

Greasing gas taps is relatively simple, do not use excessive amounts of grease or you may clog the injector and bypass ports. As with all such jobs you really ought to have the facility to check the c*ck is closing of correctly and does not leak around the barrel on completion (a little leak detector spray might be a reassurance here) With respect to the yellow flame, a thorough clean out of the air inlet, burner mixing tube and the burner head may work wonders. Your screw adjustment needs a bit more clarification. Is it a screw which projects into the mixing tube? If so the effect of screwing it in is to create a resistance to the flow of gas and air from the injector jet to the burner and would tend to soften the flame by reducing the airflow. Less air, same amount of gas will tend to cause yellowing of the flame not reduce it. On an old burner scaling and corrosion may be causing a restriction within the casting. Try a stiff baby bottle brush or similar

[petermeakins]

Thanks for all that. I will see if I can get hold of some gas c*ck grease and give it a go...What I described as 'adjusting screws' are located on the top of the mixing tubes, just behind the taps. I'd assumed they were to adjust the gas / air mix, but from what you are saying that is not really correct. I am wondering what their purpose is? I will start with a thorough clean as you suggest and go from there.

[The Medway Handyman]

50+ years old?

I'd get rid of the bloody thing as soon as possible, before it kills you.

[meow2222]

I cant think of anything about a modern cooker that a 1950s one doesnt have, other than insulation in the oven cavity wall. Just as safe.

NT

[Rod]

Age, of itself, doesn't make something dangerous, does it? OK - maybe some materials have deteriorated, some wear has occurred, it might not have all possible the safety features we expect, but if it has worked for 50 years without (we assume) killing anyone, is it really more likely to kill someone tomorrow than on the day it was first installed?

If it is like the old New World cooker I had, the biggest issue I can think of is lack of any flame failure mechanism. But its extremely solid build was a plus.

[petermeakins]

Yes it's really well made. Is flame failure cut-out now standard? Never come across it.. My safety concerns are to do with the age of the thing, but although not an expert I don't usually think of age as bad (increasingly so!); just depends on the context. Call me old fashioned but mountains of recently manufactured stuff being dumped to be replaced ad infinitum doesn't seem to make sense...

[Rod]

Truth to tell, I just *assumed* that some such would be fitted to the oven and grill (but possibly not the rings) - after posting I suddenly realised that I don't know - hopefully someone who does know will now post.

[ARWadsworth]

I cant think of anything about a modern cooker that a 1950s one doesnt have, other than insulation in the oven cavity wall. Just as safe.

NT

It might work with town gas if needed to.

Adam

[A.Lee]

No, flame failure is rare on hobs. That's why 22mm pipe is used for gas nowadays, when a big boiler kicks in, it could suck up enough of the gas in a pipe, that a lit burner on a hob temporarily goes out as gas flow is reduced so much, the gas flow would resume fairly quickly, but it wouldnt be lit. Separate gas pipes to the cooker and boiler usually solve this, as well as the bigger bore pipes now required on boilers. Alan.

[YAPH]

Flame failure device, in the oven at least and increasingly nowadays on the burners too (mandatory in blocks of flats).

Plus taps and regulators that are designed for higher pressure NG (aka North Sea gas) rather than ancient Town Gas.

[YAPH]

Oh dear :-(

The size of the pipe is related by simple arithmetic[1] to the gas consumption of the appliances served. For a combi boiler a certain amount of 22mm pipework is likely to be involved unless the boiler is less than a metre (effectively[2]) from the meter[3].

Who's been listening to Doctor D? FFS if you're going to go that route do it properly and run separate pipelines through the Ukraine back to Russia :-)

[1] what us boring old farts called O-level: now known as a first class degree, apparently ;-) [2] where the effect of a sharp 90 degree bend is equivalent to half a metre of pipe [3] thank $DEITY for our rightpondian difference of spelling between the metric unit of length and a device for measuring

[The Medway Handyman]

Other than 50 years wear.

[Fred]

My biggest concern is the yellow flame. It is indicative of a incorrect air/gas mixture. If you've opened the air inlet screw wide open, the next thing you can look at is the burner. I guess it's made of cast iron in which case you'll probably find rust has closed the gaps to restrict the flow of mixture leaving the burner. The offending burners should be removed and the slots cleared. You might also find the slots are coated with dried household cleaners.

I'm sure some here would frown, but generally if you have a blue flame, you've got complete combustion with little or no carbon monoxide being generated.

[Rod]

Thanks for confirming what I thought about flame failure devices.

However the taps and regulators must have been acceptable at NG pressures when the conversion was done. (Would the regulator have been changed at conversion time? If so, then it would even be designed for NG.)

[Doctor Drivel]

wrote in message news: [e-mail]... The New World seventy-six cooker I have needs the taps / knobs lubricating

[Doctor Drivel]

By changing the injectors and burners and sometimes the burner tubes.

[Doctor Drivel]

On many combis 28mm gas pipe is involved as well.

He is half right. He is right on having a separate gas supply to boiler from the meter. It is clear your experience of these matters is limited indeed. Listen to people who know more than you.....and learn and then do as they say. Then you will not have any come-backs.

[Doctor Drivel]

Not an issue as it has been converted. The taps themselves were rarely and issue when converting appliances.

[Doctor Drivel]

On many combis 28mm gas pipe is involved as well.

He is half right. He is right on having a separate gas supply to boiler from the meter. With many high gas consumption boilers being fitted, here can be a surge on the gas mains at peak times. Also, a meter regulator could be slow in reacting. A separate gas supply to a boiler can eliminate any small adverse effects of a sticking or poor quality meter regulator. Having a dedicated gas supply for the boiler can reduce or eliminate any effects.

It is clear your experience of these matters is limited indeed. Listen to people who know more than you.....and learn and then do as they say. Then you will not have any come-backs.