Thursday April 28, 2011
Tweaking a nipple makes all the difference when it comes to morning toast.
We were unable to try the ‘new’ gas oven before we purchased it over the internet. It replaced an old gas stove/oven that had done so well, cooking countless meals, cookies and loaves of delicious bread.
Purchasing the replacement, sight unseen, was just one of those things that we had to take a chance over. Once installed, extensive soot under the stove top indicated a problem. The middle grill flamed yellow. It should have been blue and the flames should not have separated from the burner, as ours did. The heating grill also stunk like mad, and making toast was akin to being inside a fish smoker. No amount of adjusting the air mixer screw would fix the problem.
The burner nipples (properly called injectors) on the stove top are two sizes. The instructions indicated three sizes: Boiling burners size 80, grill 90 and Oven 60. This seems to correlate to fractions of a mm.
An examination indicated the two burner nipples the same size, and the grill certainly had such a wide aperture nipple hole that the excess gas was not being completely burnt, resulting in smoke and smell.
Logic 101 demanded we try a smaller diameter nipple off the old cannibalised stove. It was too small. Nice blue flames, but not enough heat to warm bread let alone toast it. Some brow furrowing produced the simple idea of just boring out the small hole in the hope we would hit on the right gas flow. The closest drill bit to a size 90, if that indeed was .9mm was 1.0mm.
If you are like me, all my small diameter drill bits are broken. I’m sure the hardware shops make gazillions selling these small ones. I am also not of the persuasion to carry on board spares galore, although the spare oven was an exception.
The Admiral and I are at Waiheke Island, and so were lucky to be within walking distance of a large hardware shop in the middle of the island. We can see the Sky Tower of Auckland central, have bush lined harbours and pleasant walks, but have a touch of civilization to ward off any technological crisis.It is a Clayton’s island. No annoying or corrupt officials (still waiting for customs to check us as they did in the Marlborough Sounds), no ocean voyage, no ocean storms, no fees to pay to enter, no crew needed, no itchy tropical heat, no tropical ulcers, no silly protocols, no Spam nor corned beef, and our fridge is not hemorrhaging attempting to cool the beer.We trotted along the narrow tree lined streets to buy a 1mm bit in the hope that it would be the right size to drill out a spare nipple to the correct diameter.
Yep, next morning, the carefully drilled out brass nipple gave us perfect toast.
Too much yellow flame.. big nipple aperture
Drilling the nipple to 1mm.
Adjusting the air mixture.
