Hello there:
The oven bake burner
and ignition components are located beneath the oven cavity. In most
cases the oven bottom panel can be removed for access (check your
owner's manual) but on some models the oven burner has to be accessed
from below in the warming or broiler drawer area. If accessing from the
top, a 'flame spreader' (flat metal plate) above the burner may also
need to be removed to see the burner itself.Many ovens
use a single oven burner in which case they only have a single gas
valve and ignitor. The same burner is used for both bake and broil
functions, the broil usually being in the drawer area below the oven.
Higher-end models may have a separate bake and broil burner. On such a
system there will be two ignitors, one for each burner. They may also
employ a 'dual' gas valve (see illustration above) instead of using a
separate valve for each burner.Some range models may
have an additional broil burner located at the top of the oven cavity
which may be referred to as a 'waist high' broil. If not, broiling
usually takes place in the drawer area below the oven, which uses the
same bake burner for the broil function.
Most gas ranges
currently available employ one of 3 basic gas ignition systems; pilot
ignition, hot surface ignition system (which uses a 'glow bar' or 'glow
coil' - aka an "ignitor") and a spark ignition system. The latter two
being referred to as "electronic ignition" systems as they use
electricity in one form or another to operate the oven heating system.
Only the pilot ignition system has an actual "pilot" (which is a small but real "flame")
which might need manual lighting.
If the surface burners of a range are a spark ignition type, the oven IS one of the possible kinds of electronic ignition systems
and thus will not usually have a "pilot" which needs lighting. Be aware
though that just because the surface burners might light via a spark
doesn't necessarily mean the oven uses the spark type ignition system
too.
There is one older style of electronic ignition system which
does
also use an oven pilot but it is very rare and such a system hasn't
been used in oven models since the early to mid 70's. It is the
'constant pilot' *electronic ignition* system.
Making Observations
The oven burner's operation will usually need to be directly observed
while in operation as the first step to troubleshooting problems.
Ignition System Type Links
Ignition System Types:
Pilot Ignition
Electronic Ignition with Constant Pilot (rare)
Electronic Ignition with Glow Ignitor (most common)
Spark Ignition System
Is there continuity between the oven gas valve's terminals?
Hot Surface ('Glow Bar') Ignition System (most common)
This is the most
popular system currently used for ovens and is comprised of a control
mechanism (whether thermostat or electronic control), the oven ignitor
and an oven gas valve.
What happens in this
style ignition system is that the thermostat or electronic control
switches power to the oven ignitor and gas valve circuit which are
connected in series (one after the other). As power flows through the
ignitor it heats and draws current (measured in amperage). Once the
oven ignitor draws a specific amount of current the oven valve opens to
allow gas to flow to the oven burner where the glowing hot ignitor
(glow bar) ignites it. Power must continually flow through the ignitor
and oven gas valve for gas to be released into the oven burner to
create a flame.
It should usually
only take in the area of 30-90 seconds for the oven ignitor to reach
the proper resistance to allow the proper amperage to reach the gas
valve to open it and for the ignitor to ignite the gas at the oven
burner.
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