Griswold Stove

[sdakotadoug]

I recently purchased a Griswold single burner cast iron stove. The only obvious outside problem is the air/propane mixture plate is rusted so bad that it is probable allowing at least twice the air in as it should. I hooked up a fresh propane tank to it, ran a small gauge drill bit in each orofice and lit it. I was rewarded with a little tiny flame at each orofice. Everything from the propane tank to the stove is new. No amount of adjustment of the regulator at the tank or the valve at the stove would make any difference in the flame. Someone mentioned that he thought all those old stoves were set up for natural gas and not propane and that I might need a different jet. I find that hard to believe but could well be wrong. I'm considering the old duct tape trick to close up some of the air inlet and seeing if that doesn't help. If it does then I could just build a new one (anyone know where I could buy one?) Help, can any of you vintage experts help, Doug

[doug hodder]

I don't know about your specific stove/or burner, but yes, natural gas and propane are jetted differently however on an old Griswold single burner, don't know if it's that big of a deal. I know I had to jet my kitchen stove to run on the propane as well as my gas heater in the house. I'd tear it apart, valve too, and see if there is some crud in the system. On any rusty stove, I think you're just better off to tear it apart and do a serious cleaning on it. A small piece of stuff could block the path, I've had spiders build a nest in a gas system and completely shut it down. Running a drill bit into an orifice can be an issue, it's possible to change diameters, not a real issue if it's on the burner though, more of a valve type thing. Welder tip cleaners are maybe a better option. Just my opinion. Doug

[sdakotadoug]

Thanks Doug, I was hoping you'd reply. The drill bit was run in with finger pressure only, no mechanical advantage there. Do you think that closing down the rusty air/fuel disc would help. I have an air compressor that I could blow through it. Might get more out the burner holes though. Although that might tell me I need to clean deeper. Do you know of any commercial supplier of those disc's? Doug

[doug hodder]

You need to get all the rust cleaned out of everything....vinegar or acetic acid will work, don't leave brass in too long....rust and scale are the worst enemies of things like this....I don't know of a supplier of those discs, sorry. Doug

[bobhenry]

http://www.rubylane.com/item/167844-9957/Griswold-Classic-No-501-Single

anything like this one ??

I have an old double burner similar but not as ornate.

The burner on the one in the picture appears to be simply a wavey washer looking thing and I can see where rust would choke it down to almost no flow. Try actually pumping the vinegar thru the gas inlet valve with perhaps a pump up garden sprayer then hit it with the air compresser to dislodge the offending rust. .

Doug help me out on this one......

In one of the pictures the cooktop is upside down and the air bleed opening is shown. Am I correct in that there was a light duty tin piece that slid forward and back to adjust the mix of gas and air.
It is clearly missing in this picture IF there was one ( and I am betting there was ) You might experiment with some duct tape as a temporary test fix in various positions to see if fixing this adjuster will make a difference.

Let us know how it turns out

[Mark72]

Doug, Be careful with that drill bit. Propane uses the smaller of the two orifices. A couple good pics would help a ton on figuring out what you need. Some of those stoves had an adjustable gas orifice.

Mark

[sdakotadoug]

The drill bit was used with finger power only not in a drill. The model is 201. And I know that someday I will have to tackle taking and posting pictures, but the workshop is 14 Degrees right now so it may be a few days. Doug