By the late 1890s the first gas range sale by the company occurred. Agree to pay for 20,000 cubic feet of gas in advance and receive a free gas range – 1,400 new ranges were sold and installed by the company.
In 1916 the company installed the first gas furnace in the home of Dr. Alfred Owre, the Dean of the School of Dentristry. It cost Dr. Owre $400 a year to heat his home. By the 1930sthe annual cost to heat the average home in Minneapolis was down to $100 a year.
Natural gas first came to Minneapolis via pipeline in 1934 and was mixed with manufactured gas from the company’s Works facility. Roughly 500 company employees worked to adapt 118,000 customer appliances to this mixed gas.
During the 1930s the company developed a group of specially trained service technicians to provide 24 hour service for Electrolux gas refrigerators. The company viewed the gas refrigerator as a load builder. These Electrolux gas refrigerators carried a lifetime service guarantee.
Company installation of gas appliances grew rapidly between 1935 and 1940 because of the many home conversions from coal to gas and the increasing number of new homes being built.
Starting salary in the Appliance Service Department was $89 a month for a 44 hour work week in the 1940s.
Two-way radios were first installed in company service vehicles in 1945.
By November of 1947 straight natural gas with NO manufactured gas added became the base fuel for our company. 225 employees worked six 10 hour days a week for six months to convert the 370,000 appliances.
In 1982 the Appliance Service Department was restructured with much anxiety. The Service Plus Program was then introduced and soon became a huge success.
