How bad did I screw up? Wolf CHR-6-29

[DarrenDriven]

I'm a young guy and avid DIYer who had a great chance to buy a small house in Portland and renovate it just the way that I wanted it from the ground up.  In the kitchen I knew I wanted some commercial-quality appliances and for the range I ended up with near-perfect-condition used 34" Wolf 6-burner that I think is the CHR-6-29.  It looks identical to the photo in the brochure anyway.

I now understand that installing a commercial range in a residential application is a little sticky... even dangerous.  The problem is that I had $10,000 custom cabinets built and a $3000 custom stainless steel countertop fabricated around it.  I did leave a concealed air gap of 3" on each side of the range to prevent any wood from being in contact with the body of the range, but there's no air flow so I'm not sure how helpful that gap really is.  I hardly cook and I've only used the stovetop a handful of times.

The problem is the oven.  I bought a frozen pizza one night and tried to cook it, but even with the oven dial set to max, I could only get about 175 degrees.  It took two hours to turn that frozen pizza into soggy pizza.  Not only that, the pilot light keeps the oven around 130 degrees all the time.  I have turned off the pilot light and the oven sits unused.

I'm faced with a dilemma.  I have a few options, I think:

- Figure out the problem with the range, solve it and then use it very sparingly only when needed.  I don't keep the pilot light lit, so I would have to light the pilot if I ever need to use the oven, then extinguish it when I am finished.  Not ideal, but not that hard. 

- Replace this oven with another one that is the same dimensions and intended for a residential application. Budget $2000?

- Buy a cheap, newer gas range and create a Frankenstein monster of the two.  Build the newer oven bottom into the bottom of the Wolf chassis, skin it with the original door and have a more modern hybrid of the two.

 

I'd love to hear the expert opinions that you guys have to offer.  Please understand that I can't modify the cabinetry or countertops really.  I'd rather have a non-functioning oven than to ruin the $13k that I dropped on those.  My dumb fault!

[certified tech group 51]

This one is a real Wolf range......Some generic questions......When you lite the pilot light did you turn the toggle switch to ON ??......Flame high enough to heat the thermo-couple..???......These older units had a flaw in the design...If you open the oven door, stick your head in the oven a ways...At the gap between the door and the front of the oven frame, look down, , do you see the gas valve???..Under normal use when the oven bakes, condensation forms on the inner door, it drips down and lands on what do you thing, the gas valve.......Adjust the pilot size, if needed....move the thermo-couple towards the flame , if possible..............Clean the contacts on the gas valve...Do you have the lighting procedure, it is in your use and care guide.....If not, search the web for..Form no.  714468...................Look under the burner and burner pans on the left side, look for the data plate on the left  wall....get your model number  and the serial number...you will need them when you order parts from Wolf......

[DarrenDriven]

Great info there.  Thanks!  Found the actual model: C34S-4.

It was about a year ago that I used the oven last.  I don't remember turning on a valve, but I did follow some online directions for lighting the pilot.  I believe that the thermo-coupling is working because there is no gas smell with the pilot light off.  I do remember that I did smell a little gas for a couple days after I turned the pilot off, but that went away and never came back. 

I can pull off the lower panel and reveal the build plate with the serial number, etc, and also clearly exposes the valve.  Would the contacts on the valve cause the oven not to reach temperature?  I was wondering if there was a pressure valve somewhere on the back or something that might cause the pressure to be low for some reason... or maybe commercial gas pressure is higher than residential pressure?  The stove works awesome, so I'm not quite sure.

Do you have an opinion on whether or not I should keep this range or replace it with something more modern? 

[AccApp]

Yo! This one is straight outta Compton! With most commercial gas ovens I've seen, there is a safety valve (usually Baso brand) with a red button you push to start the gas flowing to the pilot. Once the pilot is lit for long enough you can release the red button as the thermocouple provides enough power to keep the pilot safety valve open if everything is working properly. The Baso valve has a second circuit which allows the gas for the main burner to flow through it when the thermostat calls for it. When the pilot is lit and the thermostat calls for heat and sends main burner gas to the Baso valve do you see the main burner firing? Commercial or residential uses the same gas pressure.

[DarrenDriven]

The pilot light will light and stay lit if I want it.  The main burner definitely fired up.  I was hoping there was some kind of pressure valve I could adjust, or maybe the thermostat is bad?  Any specific troubleshooting steps that I should follow?

 

[AccApp]

What did the flames on the main burner look like? Very rare for one of these thermostats to fail.