dead oven

[Denise in NH]

Hi folks, this is my first time to ask a question. I have a 5 year old Amana natural gas stove. It worked perfectly on Thanksgiving. Today, although the burners work, and the broiler works, the oven will not heat at all for baking.

This appliance was not used at all since Thanksgiving, as we have a little counter top oven for everyday use.

Off the top of your head, without getting too technical, could you give me a couple of ideas on what my husband could check out. He's very mechanical but doesn't usually work on stoves.

Denise

[The Daring Dufas]

The first thing I would check would be the position of the thermocouple, if your oven has a standing pilot light. Posting the model number of your oven may give one of the fellows who knows appliances more of a clue as to what may be a common problem with your particular stove. What I have see happen to stoves with an oven that will not heat or stay lit, is that somewhere, sometime, something heavy or bulky knocked something loose in the oven. I had a problem with our own Roper gas stove where the thermocouple/flame sensor was not positioned correctly and the pilot flame was not heating it up enough. It could be that some turkey knocked your oven out of whack. (pun intended)

TDD

[Stormin Mormon]

Sure. Just take the back of the oven apart, and see if the thingie is working. Use a doodad to see if it's drawing the proper current, so that the hoozitz opens, and provides stuff to the burner.

[Mikepier]

90% of the time its the ignitor ( the plug that glows red in your oven next to the burners). It is easy to check to see if its defective. You need an ohmeter and measure across the 2 leads. If it measures open, its bad and needs to be replaced.

[Master Betty]

90% of the time its the ignitor ( the plug that glows red in your oven next to the burners). It is easy to check to see if its defective. You need an ohmeter and measure across the 2 leads. If it measures open, its bad and needs to be replaced. +++++++++

Probably closer to 98%. Make sure to check prices on the internet.

Jim

[hrhofmann]

You don't have to be quite so sarcastic to someone who poses an honest question!!!

[Jim Elbrecht]

Beyond that- it is bad advice.

The most common problem on a modern oven is the igniter & you can check that without pulling the stove out in most cases.

Jim

[Jim Elbrecht]

-snip-

Probably the igniter if the stove is less than 20yrs old or so. check repairclinic.com for how to look at it on your stove.

Mine only involves pulling out the bottom of the oven. If it doesn't glow at all it is dead. If it glows it still might be too weak to start the oven.

Jim

[ransley]

Is the pilot still lit? Ive had them go out. If electronic see if the ignitor works, it might be real simple once opened up.

[Stormin Mormon]

Yeah, that mighta been a bit much. Still, it's a concern that someone who doesn't know much is being goaded by his wife, into a repair he's uncomfortable doing.

[Stormin Mormon]

I said back of the oven, not back of the whole device.

[Stormin Mormon]

Well, she did say it was 5 years old, so it's clearly less than 20. The web page should be a good help.

[Jules]

Yeah, the fact that it died after one of the biggest meals of the year may well be a factor - I agreee, it's worth checking that something didn't get knocked out of line, or that something didn't spill where it shouldn't have spilled...

All that might just be coincidence, of course! (particularly if the OP doesn't otherwise use the oven part much)

cheers

Jules

[Denise in NH]

stormin mormon said: Sure. Just take the back of the oven apart, and see if the thingie is working. Use a doodad to see if it's drawing the proper current, so that the hoozitz opens, and provides stuff to the burner.

[DD_BobK]

Denise-

as per the other posts......its most likely the glowbar

I had a GE oven fail to work ON Thanksgiving a couple years ago. It was the "glowbar" / ignitor...both the oven one & the broiler one!

I was in a jam & just called my local repair guy since I priced them online & his price installed wasnt all that much more than the parts.

Prices have come down (it appears) since then, the part I needed was online at $125 but now (same website is only $70). If you can stand the wait and you can find the one you need on ebay you can get them for even less.

here;s a link to a site that I use quite frequently for parts

this link shows all the Amana glowbars pick the one that matches OR get your stove model number and redo the selection

Depending on access to the glowbar wiring, your husband may have to slide the stove out and remove an access panel to replace the unit. Just to be one the safe side, unplug the stove or throw the breaker.

cheers Bob

[Hell Toupee]

Most likely the gas igniter for the oven. That's a separate device from the one for the cooktop. The igniter heats up and ignites the gas flowing into the oven burner. As a safety feature, the gas valve closes/won't open when the igniter fails. It can go out quite suddenly. Mine died a few weeks ago while the oven was operating. The gas valve then shut off and that was the end of the cake in the oven. I had Sears replace it. They charged $100 for the part and $130 for the service call. You can probably get it done cheaper than that, Sears tends to be spendier than most local service techs.

Another possibility is that the gas valve switch may have been bumped into the off position. If you have a drawer underneath your oven, the switch may be located at the back end of the oven, and the drawer might have bumped it off. If you still have your range's owners manual, check it to see where the switch is located. Try flipping it in the other direction and see if that fixes things. If it doesn't, it's probably the igniter.

[The Daring Dufas]

I think the oven in the stove here at the house has a flame sensor instead of a thermocouple, the difference being that the sensor is mechanical. When the tip is heated, it expands a working fluid that pushes against a diaphragm at the other end of the capillary tube that in turn releases a mechanical interlock which allows the main gas valve to open. The problem we had was that over several years, the slamming of the oven door and banging around of the racks in the oven was enough to knock the sensor assembly slightly too far away from the pilot flame. All I did was to reach up into the oven and slightly bend the mounting bracket. Function restored.

TDD

[Mikepier]

I got my ignitor for my GE oven off e-bay for $24 including shipping. The local parts guy wanted $80.

[Stormin Mormon]

I'm always amazed, the people who don't know much about what they are doing. And then come to forums like this for advice on how to fix the appliance for cheap. And then get irritated when trades people who pay for training, tools and insurance, won't tell them how to do the job for cheap. After all, the home owner just wants to avoid paying the tradesaman for his training, and expenses.

You wouldn't ask a gas station for free gasoline (would you?) or a store for free groceries. Wonder why it's OK to get mad at a tradesman who says "call a pro"?

[Fishface]

And I think it's funny how people who don't have anything to say always find a way to say the most.