Whirlpool Range 465 Super Capacity Oven: A VERY Detailed Review w/ Repair Info
Written: Jul 02 '01 (Updated Jul 05 '01)
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Pros: cooktop space, heavy grates, sealed burners, large oven, large drawer
Cons: front knobs get hot when broiling, computer panel
The Bottom Line: Knowing the drawbacks ahead of time, this stove is a great unit. Large oven, large storage drawer, good cooktop space and nice burner size it's an excellent purchase.
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| Caprig's Full Review: Whirlpool Free-Standing Self-Cleaning Ranges with ... |
I grew up with gas stoves. They were always very simple. Turn it on, the pilot light ignites the oven or the burner and "VOILA!" you may start baking or cooking.
When we were forced to have electric ranges for a long time, my husband and I had lamented not having a gas stove. Finally, one wonderful day we switched from electric to propane in our home.
The first thing we did was purchase a new range ("Range" is interchangable with the term "stove" in this review).
WHY DID WE CHOOSE THE WHIRLPOOL SUPER CAPACITY 465?
At the time we purchased this stove 3 years ago, the only ranges on the market had very clumsy cook tops. The grates for the burners were either too big, or too flimsy.
If the grates were large, there was not even room for placing a spoon rest in the space in between the left and right burners.
If they were too flimsy, our cast iron cookware would have ruined them right away.
When we saw the WHIRLPOOL SUPER CAPACITY 465 range, we were immediately impressed with the room in between burners. A small pan would fit there - a must for our cooking needs.
The grates were of a sturdy type, and sufficient to hold our cast iron cookware.
The other deciding factor was the large oven capacity. We bake a lot of things at the same time, so we need a large oven.
It did not take a lot of convincing to know that this range was the only one right for us.
WHAT IS OUR RANGE LIKE?
We have model # SF365PEGN in this line of ranges. That is an almond and black style stove.
This model also comes in:
white (trim)and white
biscuit(trim)and biscuit
black (trim)and white
The model color is signified by the ending letter in the sequence. For example, "N" signifies the almond and black color.
DIMENSIONS
46 7/8 inches in height
25 inches deep
29 7/8 inches wide
Cooking surface height is 36 inches adjustable to 37 1/4 inches.
Door handle sticks out 2 1/4 inches from the door.
Door swing is 21 1/2 inches
ELECTRICAL REQUIREMENTS FOR THIS STOVE
The following quoted information is from the Whirlpool literature:
"120 volts AC, 60Hz., 15 amp circuit, fused on both sides of the line is required. Time delay fuse or circuit breaker is recommended. It is recommended that a separate circuit serving only this appliance be provided."
FEATURES OF THE 465 SUPER CAPACITY RANGE
Super Capacity oven - 4.65 cu ft. with 2 baking racks
Self-Cleaning Oven w/ hidden auto latch (turn of the dial)
Oven fits in smoothly between cabinets to be flush
Four Sealed Burners:
6,500 BTU
7,500 BTU
9,500 BTU
12,50 BTU
Burners are three large and one small (back right)
Heavy steel grates
Electronic Ignition
Knob 150 oven and timer control
Broiler at the top of the oven instead of on bottom
Seamless upguard cooktop no places to collect grime
Full width removable glass door with window
Large Storage drawer (full width)
Auto oven light with manual switch
6 rack guide positions in oven
Porcelain broiling pan with grid
AVAILABLE ACCESSORIES
Gas Range Top Griddle fits 2 burners (non stick)
WARRANTY INFORMATION
All parts and labor for 1 year.
Extended warranties available from Whirlpool at approx $150 plus tax for 3 years. (you can get a 5 year plan through a repairman directly).
Repairmen for Whirlpool can get the best deals for extended warranties. Shop around.
REPAIR INFORMATION
COMPUTER PANEL
As in all products with computers, they are fussy sometimes. This is not exception here. At times , depending on if you have one of the fussy ones, the timer can interfere with the oven light.
If you set the timer, the oven light might stay on making you think that the oven it over heating, however, it is just the light.
In our case, the oven was overheating because the computer panel was going. The panel is easy to replace, but costly. This panel controls the clock, timer, and oven temperature.
When there is a power failure, this readout will let you know. Usually, if the computer panel is failing, an error code will show up.
There have been cases where radio waves, electronic signals and sometimes something as strange as dimmers in lights have caused some weird problems with some computer panels in stoves like these.
That kind of problem is more rare, but it does happen.
BURNER IGNITION
There is a little ceramic disk that resembles a pony bead that sits under the iron disk on the burner. This is responsible for lighting the burner.
Ideally, the spark comes up the middle of the "Ceramic pony bead looking thing" and travels inward to light the gas that is lightly flowing through the burner. This spark comes through a wire that is attached to a sparking mechanism which forces the current up the middle of the ceramic thing. Each burner has its own sparking disk, all attached by wires to a central unit.
Sometimes the spark will be driven AWAY from the burner and not light that burner. That can be due to a bit of carbon buildup on the ceramic disk. A very fast light swipe with extra fine sandpaper will sometimes take care of that.
This is often the case when you click and click and the burner will not light.
In a worse case scenario, it could be an insufficient flow of gas through the pipes that lead to the burner that is having difficulty lighting. The solution to that is to have the air/gas flow adjusted on the metal pipe that connects the two burners on that particular side.
Either repair is not costly and can be done yourself if you are very good with mechanics and appliance repairs. If you need someone to do it for you, a 1/2 hour is all it should take at the most for either repair and testing.
GLOWBAR
Used to be in the past that pilot lights would ignite the oven. Not so anymore.
In this oven (and most others now) there is something called a glow bar. The job of the little item is to light up really hot, really fast and then ignite the gas to heat your oven.
If you bake often, the glowbar will last 2-4 years. If you do not bake a whole lot, you are looking at 5-7 years.
This part is about $55 to replace yourself, or over $100 to have someone do it for you.
POWER FAILURES
This oven will NOT work during power failures. The computer needs power to work to control the oven temp. The burners are the only things that will work in power failures. Then you have to light them by hand. They will not light automatically as the sparking unit is run by electricity.
CAUTION
These handles are in the front for the burners. When using the broiler and leaving the oven door adjar, the handles can get HOT. Keep that in mind when you broil.
Also you will want to get child proof knobs for the burner knobs. They are easy to reach for any toddler.
OVEN DOOR WEBS
Since gas stoves are open, it is easy for cobwebs to gather between the glass panes in the oven door. You can take it all apart to get them out if you want, but it is not necessary.
CLEANING
You might have wondered why I do not mention the self cleaning features of this stove.
That is because I refuse to use ANY stove's self cleaning features. I feel the temperature gets way too hot. I have had other stoves crack, get burn marks near vents that do not come off, and warp after self cleaning.
I have had friends start fires when trying to self-clean their stoves.
Instead of using that feature in any stove, including this one, I use QUICK N BRITE cleaner (infomercial stuff) or baking soda made into a paste and left on for a bit to dissolve the buildup. You need to heat up the oven for a bit in using each of these methods, but not on high.
The stovetop of this range is hard to keep clean. You will want to get pans to fit over the burners. You can get the pans at Target, or other such stores. Whirlpool no longer sells them.
I have been told that oven cleaner will clean the top of the stove nicely, but I do not want that caustic chemical in my home with a toddler around.
I may try the baking soda. Quick N Brite cleans it well, but leaves a few places that it can not get off.
CLOSING COMMENTS
We love this range. We are not keen about the glowbar, and the computer components, but we were covered under our extended warranty plan.
Most current gas stoves have the same kind of components, so it is not a problem with the model really, just current gas stoves in general.
The drawer is wonderfully roomy and will store iron cookware, but only a few items, due to the heavy weight. More lightweight items would fit with no problem. Drawer works smoothly even when loaded full.
The oven size is fantastic. We can bake up to four things in the oven at once. Thanksgiving is no problem either. Everything we need to bake fits in there at the same time, cutting down baking time.
The room on top of the range is very nice. It is easy to set bowls of pancake batter up there and a spoon rest if desired. It is a nice feature of this stove.
The grates have held up under tremendous use by iron pans. There is very little chipping on them and they have held up well for 3 years.
All in all, we love our WHIRLPOOL SUPER CAPACITY 465 RANGE MODEL SF365PEGN We would prefer to have more manual controls instead of computer driven ones, but that is just not what is available these days.
Out of all of the stoves we looked at, this one is still our main choice for the oven size, drawer space, burner size and cooktop space.
As long as you do not use the SELF CLEANING feature, you will probably get a lot of use from this stove.
REBATE OFFERS
Whirlpool often has rebates on this range. They are offering one for the summer of 2001.
If you are planning to purchanse this range, check out their website for rebates.
The current one is for $30 for this model.
www.whirlpool.com
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 529
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Caprig
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Location: NE US- 2 email me delete REMOVETHIS
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Product-Evaluation/Information-Specialist. Too Busy to Be KIND to Others? You are TOO BUSY.
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