Thanksgiving morning started with a propane fire in my house. I'm always the first one up.
Putting the mocha coffee pot on the stove on the old commercial range (we bought used 15 years ago), I noticed the valve felt funny and in turning the valve, the flame wouldn't go out. So I jiggled it and suddenly a flame came blasting out around the knob(!) I hadn't had any coffee so first I panicked.
As I tried to put the flame out with a dishcloth, I hollered "Hey!" thinking my family would rush to my assistance. No response (son, daughter and mate asleep). As I watched the plastic knob ignite in the blow torches inferno, thought #1 was fire extinguisher: I couldn't remember where it was (right around the corner in the pantry, where I mounted it years ago).
Thought # 2 then popped into my head: The gas shut off valve. That was the easy answer! Moved some stove out of the way and turned the gas off. Flame out.
Back to coffee. Luckily we have a small apartment stove in the vacant apartment.
Tons of food to cook for family and guests arriving at 5 pm, not to mention a 20 pound turkey, I broke the news to my wife. I'd already assessed the situation. One upper burner valve was shot. I could take it off but I couldn't find the right threaded plug to seal it so we could use the rest of the stove.
If there is one time of the year when we need a commercial stove, big enough to roast a turkey with half of the oven to run other dishes through, all day long, it was today.
With the valve on my bench, I noticed it looked like you could disassemble it.
Sure enough, the knurled top came off. This thing is nothing but a small seacock! I could fix that.
A few days before, my wife was trying to pull the knob off the wonky valve. In so doing, she compressed the spring that holds the inner body tight in the case, until it hung up. When I jiggled the knob, the inner cone of the seacock allowed gas to flow by and out of the front of the stove. When enough was there, the pilot ignited it.
Simply taking it apart released the spring so I could see what happened.
These old commercial stoves aren't for everybody(I've lived with 3 in my life). They're old tech and, I should have known, servicable. It worked flawlessly for the entire day coughing out dish after dish ending with the grande finale of a perfectly roasted 20 pound turkey.
It's always satisfying, on the boat or at home, when you save the day. This save, according to my wife, will go down in the record books.
This was Xmas 2016. For the first time in 10 years, we had all four of us together for Thanksgiving.
