Greetings Countryfolk, About 3 years ago we were lucky to find & buy a Geneva Wood & Gas Cookstove from the Summit Foundry in Geneva NY. Since then, we have remodeled our kitchen, stoned a wall and added a chimney and we just moved the stove inside this past weekend. Good things take time. Our stove is patented 1917, it is grey with nice chrome, warming oven & broiler on top, 4 burners are wood and 4 are gas. We are converting it to propane. Can anyone supply any info regarding the Summit Foundry, Geneva stoves, or handy tips we'll be sure need about this stove, such as where to find any replacement parts. I do intend to use the propane side mostly, but I hope to use the wood burners too. I have a couple of woodstove cookbooks, which have been informative, but I'm sure there's plenty of experienced cooks out there just bursting to talk about their kitchen pride & joy. Many thanks for your help.

-- Charleen Satkowski (charleen@eznet.net), October 04, 2000

Answers

Charleen, we're getting our dual fuel installed right now. Yipee! But I'm only familiar with Monarch dual fuels. So some questions along with my comments. Warming oven AND a broiler on top? Is the warming oven just catching heat from the chimney? Is the broiler a second oven? What's underneath? Has some idiot been at the guts of this stove trying to "convert" or "repair" it? I've got a gas orfice conversion chart (somewhere) if you can send me your measurements. Some may be convertible between natural and propane gas simply by screwing the orfices in and out-just because your stove was patented in 1917, it doesn't mean that the stove couldn't be much "newer". Is there anything on the nameplate (or elsewhere) that says something like burners 8.000 btus? Send me that info.

Off the top of my befuddled little head I think my orfices were 70 & 68 with the oven at 62, but your stove might not be anywhere near that. You'll need little hand drill bits, they're the sort you use without a drill of any sort, just twist with your hand. Generally available from a heating supplier, maybe an appliance repair, or appliance parts wholesaler. And the smaller the number, the bigger the ibt.

How does/do the oven/s light? A match each time? Pilot light? Does it have a Robert Shaw thermostat? If you've got an oven underneath, I can give you some clues, but if all you've got are the ones above, you'll have to describe things to me. An underneath oven will have a main gas tube down, and most likely a secondary tube/control, do the upper ovens have this?

Ok, I'm taking a deep breath, I'm already late, so later won't matter.

What is the stove set up for now? Propane or natural gas? Why do you think/know that? What was it originally? Why do you think/know that? Get the gas caps off the burners, are there any numbers on them? Can you check that the holes match the numbers? I'll have to give some thought to how I'd describe in words the self-converting burner setup.

Can you get access or buy some of the drill bits I was writing about above? Depending on how the stove's been used/stored, there is most likely a lot of rust and sediment in the burner holes, use a drill bit to clean out but DO NOT enlarge or damage the holes.

Behind the pilots for the stove burners there are probably little lidded cup-like affairs? When you get all the parts assembled and the holes are all the right sizes, you'll move those "lids" to adjust the flames, but that's later, just make sure they're clean and not frozen for now. But when you're ready to set the pilots, get them burning with just a bit of yellow, then back them down to all blue.

Propane runs at higher pressure and has more btus than natural gas, so that's why the orfices have to be smaller with propane.

At this point, I'm just stumbling around trying to think of what I should tell you. I'm hoping someone answered you off the board, but if not, send me the info and I'll have something solid to work with. Your propane gas supplier or possibly an appliance repair person who is familiar with propane (most any rural-based person) should be able to do the conversion for you-I'm guessing about $100. As for parts, if you find any, let me know, my stove's was badly cobbed in a natural gas conversion and I still need some replacement parts. I was able to get a few from a wholesale only supplier to appliance repair shops (I have my ways) and possibly I could get you some parts-depends on which ones you need. Ask at appliance repair shops (it gets to be a hobby after a while) sometimes they'll have a box of junk with needed parts in it (and want a million dollars for it).

You'll need a "mat" underneath it, I think they're around $30. You may well need a heat shield behind the stove too.

Check the stove carefully for damaged areas.

Ugh, I've really got to go. If you need help, holler. Gerbil

-- Gerbil (ima_gerbil@hotmail.com), October 07, 2000.

We bought a propane/wood cookstove from around 1950. It is a kalamazoo that needed a new thermostat for the gas oven. We finally found a place called unity stove in Florida(of all places!). They are on the web too. Our stat cost 250 dollars but would have been impossible to find anywhere. They rebuilt the broken one we had. I do have a leak on my one burner so I always shut the gas down at the source after use until I get that fixed. I am looking for knobs for my stove if anyone knows a source. Thanks.

-- evelyn Bergdoll (evandjim@klink.net), October 09, 2000.

I too found the Unity Stove Company in Jupiter Florida to be the answer to our prayers. We had the worst tome finding parts for our Stove and now shes up and running! The Unity Stove folks are VERY knowledgeable, helpful, friendly and if they don't have the part you need (they probably do) they will help you to locate it. So try the web site at http://www.unitystove.com/antique.html or call them at 1-800-228-6489.

-- Happy Customer (DDwater@aol.com), September 06, 2001.

we too have picked up a geneva summit foundry stove. grey and white, four gas burner with an asortment of lift out cast discs on the right side. under the discs there is a long burner and a huge empty cavity. i was told it's for keeping a supply of hot water on hand and also to humidify the house. on the whole it looks to be in very fine condition. it also has 1917 on the oven door and 1830 on the stove top. my wife and i saw it in an antique store and i knew we had to have it. on closer inspection we saw it was made in geneva n.y. we live ten minutes from geneva, how cool is that. we know nothing about antique stoves and are having trouble locating info. don't they reprint any old manuals? the pilot light has a needle valve but the front of the valve has a push button, how does this work. the orifices have a needle that they screw over so it looks to be a fully adjustable orifice so how do i set it for propane? we sign the papers on an 1850's greek revival home this week and are looking forward to dialing in this beautiful stove so if anyone has some input let me know.

-- diego ruiz (nyruiz@yahoo.com), April 28, 2002.