I have a Frigidaire/Electrolux gas range, with two burners (broiler [top] and bake [bottom]).
When I turn on the oven for broiling, everything works fine. When I set it to 'bake', the bake igniter will turn very bright orange, then the gas will turn on, but the pressure is VERY low, the gas never reaches the igniter, and therefore does not ignite.
I can take a grill lighter and light the gas coming out of the burner, and it hardly shows any blue flame (like when you turn a burner on the top of the stove all the way to the lowest gas setting). So there is gas coming out of the burner, but not enough to reach the igniter. Thus, our kitchen fills with the smell of gas, and the oven never lights.
There are two gas valves to each burner. Here is a picture of the two that lead to the bake burner.
The right valve feeds the burner. There was a thick yellow sticky substance that covered the entire top of the 2nd valve (red rectangle). I cleaned it off, and verified there is nothing above the valve that was dripping anything down onto the valve, or anywhere around it. I'm not sure where the sticky substance came from.
When the igniter is glowing and the gas flow is very low, if I tap gently on the edge of the valve (green circle), then the gas suddenly flows correctly (I can hear it flowing), and the igniter lights the gas like it should.
I think the valve is bad and needs to be replaced, because tapping on it fixes the gas flow issue every time. However, as I bake things, the gas turns on and off to keep the oven at the target temperature, and it lights just fine while the oven is hot. So I'm wondering if the igniter is really to blame. Is it just not getting hot enough when I first turn the oven on, and so it never fully opens the gas valve? And then while I'm baking, the igniter is hot enough and so when the gas turns off/on, the valve opens all the way?
Best Answer
The only way to determine if you have a bad gas valve or ignitor is to check the amperage of the ignitor. They sell Ampmeters at most hardware stores. Unplug range. Gain access to the wires going to the ignitor. Clamp the amp probe around either wire to the ignitor, and a safe distance from burner. Plug in the range, turn on oven bake and watch the amps increase. The ignitor needs to pull at least 3.2 amps before its hit enough to ignitthe gas. The gas valve won’t open until the :.2 amps is reached. If you have less than 3.2 amps after a few minutes, then your ignitor needs replaced. If you have 3.2 amps and little or no gas comes out the valve, then you have a failed valve. Unplug to make repairs. Turn off gas when replacing the gas valve. Test for gas leaks.