Sprung oven door

October 21, 2009 11:25 PM

Our oven door springs are sprung. It's an old O'Keefe and Merritt stove - the kind with lots of space on top; we love it. But the oven door can't stay shut. Help!

We've used sponges as shims, but they no longer work well. It's a gas stove. I can't manage a way to whittle a wooden shim down to the perfect wedge. A previous question here yielded this; has anyone tried one for this purpose? What other ways of securing a sprung spring door have you tried?

Our landlords aren't interested in helping us here unless it is to replace this big stove with a rickety tiny one, and we can't really afford to get a repairman out.

posted by goofyfoot to home & garden (12 comments total)

You can order O'Keeffe and Merritt replacement parts here. The springs all look to be about 12.95 each, regardless of model.
posted by scody at 11:55 PM on October 21

I had the same idea, and scouted replacement parts. But this is the landlord's property. As capable as I can be, I can't afford to fuck up the stove.
posted by goofyfoot at 12:35 AM on October 22

goofyfoot: But this is the landlord's property. As capable as I can be, I can't afford to fuck up the stove.

Then it is the landlord's responsibility. Get him or her to order and install the parts.
posted by DarlingBri at 1:34 AM on October 22

The landlords will replace the big lovely stove with a tiny one. I'm trying to avoid that.


We've used sponges as shims, but they no longer work well. It's a gas stove. I can't manage a way to whittle a wooden shim down to the perfect wedge. A previous question here yielded this; has anyone tried one for this purpose? What other ways of securing a sprung spring door have you tried?
posted by goofyfoot at 1:56 AM on October 22

I can't afford to fuck up the stove.

If the landlord is already willing to replace the stove with a new one, is replacing the springs really such a high-stakes operation? I've done this job on a couple of (cheaper, flimsier) stoves. It wasn't a big deal.
posted by jon1270 at 2:47 AM on October 22

This might be nonsensical or ridiculous, but I saw an episode of Diners, Drive-ins, & Dives on the Food Network a while ago where an oven was held shut with a string that was tied to the handle of the oven door, i think, & wrapped around one of dials for the stove. Not that it seems particularly safe!
posted by oh really at 3:02 AM on October 22

If there's space on the front of the stove on the face frame, I'd consider using a few rare earth magnets to hold the door shut.

Otherwise, I'd say do it on your own. Oven mechanical parts are not that complicated (I just went through the exercise of trying to repair a 30+ year old stove so I got to look at a lot of the construction). The biggest issue you'll have is that something in the oven is so corroded that it comes apart in your hands as you disassemble it and you can't replace it or fix it. If this happens, you really should be replacing the stove.

If you're really, really scared, buy the parts and pay an appliance repair shop to come out and change them for you. That will turn your $12/spring into more like $12+50, but you get the stove back.
posted by plinth at 3:35 AM on October 22

jon1270, how did you do this? I'm asking for advice or instruction.
posted by goofyfoot at 3:42 AM on October 22

I can't give you a step-by-step since I'm not familiar with your stove. I can tell you that the springs are attached to the hinges, which means they're just inside the front of the oven. The first time I tackled this job was on an old (1950's?) stove in my first apartment. I just started unscrewing parts that were near the hinge area -- beginning by removing the door from the hinges -- until I could get to the spring. This didn't take long. Once inside, I simply removed the broken parts and put a new spring in place, then reassembled.

This was before the age of digital cameras, so I had to remember how the parts went back together. If you have a camera, use it several times during disassembly.

There are springs on both hinges. If your oven sorta-kinda stays shut, but not tightly, then only one spring is broken. If it's completely limp then both are broken.

If you buy the springs from a dealer that specializes in parts for these stoves, it's likely that someone there can advise you on the process.
posted by jon1270 at 5:43 AM on October 22

plinth: One reason rare-earth magnets aren't used much in applications like this is the low Curie Point.

For your typical neodymium version, such as found in nerd shops everywhere, that point can be as low as 80°C. Samarium cobalt magnets tend to be a lot higher; I've seen figures up to 800~900°C, but they're not as strong as neodymium, and much more expensive. And one of the things about rare-earth magnets is that, unlike ordinary iron or iron-nickel magnets, they don't recover their magnetism when they cool back down. Once they're hot, they're shot...
posted by Pinback at 6:09 AM on October 22 [2 favorites has favorites]

What about a big bungee cord, perhaps hooked to the oven door handle?
posted by carmicha at 7:21 AM on October 22

Pinback, thanks - that's AWESOME - I had totally forgotten about the Curie point. I knew about it from an old Weller soldering iron my dad had that used the Curie point to keep the soldering iron at temperature.
posted by plinth at 6:17 PM on October 22