Four nuclei which are proved to be 2νββ emitters ( 76 Ge, 82 Se, 150 Nd, 238 U), and four suspected, due to the corresponding Q-values, to have this property ( 148 Nd, 154 Sm, 160 Gd, 232 Th), were treated within a proton-neutron quasiparticle random phase approximation (pnQRPA) with a projected spherical single particle basis. The advantage of the present procedure over the ones using a deformed Woods Saxon or Nilsson single particle basis is that the actual pnQRPA states have a definite angular momentum while all the others provide states having only K as a good quantum number. The model Hamiltonian involves a mean field term yielding the projected single particle states, a pairing interaction for alike nucleons and a dipole-dipole proton-neutron interaction in both the particle-hole (ph) and particle-particle (pp) channels. The effect of nuclear deformation on the single beta strength distribution as well as on the double beta Gamow-Teller transition amplitude (M GT ) is analyzed. The results are compared with the existent data and with the results from a different approach, in terms of the process half life T 1/2 . The case of different deformations for mother and daughter nuclei is also presented.