The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California
First Aid For The Ailing Houses
Hot enamel surfaces should not be wiped with cold water because of the risk of cracking and chipping.
To clean a burner, the grid or other range top is removed and the burner freed by lifting its large end; stopped holes are cleaned with a hairpin or other wire or a small reaming tool and the inside cleaned with a percolator brush.
In ordinary use, burners will become so greasy that once every 6 months or so they should be boiled in washing-soda solution—a rounded tablespoonful to each 2 quarts of water. After being boiled, followed by rinsing in clear hot water, the burners should be thoroughly dried before heing replaced. They will dry quickly when placed upside down in a hot oven,
A pilot light will require occasional cleaning by passing a wire through the gas openings.
Complaints of low gas pressure are sometimes due to the clogging of the gas cock. To clear this, the gas must first be shut off at the meter, and a burner lighted to dispose of the gas remaining in the pipe. The burner is removed, and the gas cock unscrewed from the pipe to which it is attached. The outlet end of the gas cock is covered by a cap with a six-sided nut formed on it; with a wrench, the cap can be unscrewed from the gas cock; dirt and grease found inside it should be scraped out with a wire and by soaking in a hot and strong solution of washing soda. With the cleaned cap returned to position, the gas cock is screwed back on the pipe. The gas having been turned on, the flow to the burner must be adjusted.
Adjusting a Burner To burn with full heat, gas must be mixed with air; the adjustment consists, first, in regulating the flow of gas; second, in adding to the gas the quantity of air needed for proper combustion.
The flow of gas is usually adjusted by means of the sixsided nut located on the outlet side of the gas cock; turning it toward the gas cock reduces the flow of gas and turning it the other way increases the flow.
The air adjustment is a round plate on the end of the burner, close to the gas cock and facing it. This plate has holes that can cover or uncover corresponding holes in the end of the tube that forms one end of the burner. The adjustment is made by revolving the plate to permit more or less air to pass. When set, the plate is secured by tightening a screw.
