Temporarily bypassing ? a Hot surface ignition system on a GE electric oven

[SQLit]

I do not believe in nor support bypassing controls. Do your friend a favor and do not attempt to bypass the controls. Instead help him remove the old one and install the replacement.

[mm]

Do you think it is possible to temporarily partially bypass the hot surface ignition system on an GE electric oven, about 3 years old?

The oven won't light now, and my friends really need to cook now, before they can get it fixed. The repairman indicated it was NOT the ignitor, but didnt' have time Friday to fix it.

I've just read a lot on the web, but still have questions.

"As power flows through the ignitor it heats and allows a specific amount of current to flow to the oven valve which is in the same circuit."**

Do you think that temporarily it is possible to hotwire the oven valve with 110 volts and use a long Bic lighter** to light the flame??

When it says above "a specific amount of current" does the ignitor really control that, or is it just an on-off switch?. Does it just forward whatever voltage/current the control provides, up to 110 volts, to the valve and the valve uses what current it is designed for?

**Like people use to light charcoal and gas barbecue grills.

I have friends who have to do cooking every day all week for their daughter's wedding at the end of the week..

It broke Thursday night. The repairman came at the end of the day Friday for 5 minutes and looked and just said that if it was the valve it was 200 dollars, and if it was the control it was 600 and they should buy a new oven. He said he was going to come back with a helper, to diagnose it. The man, my friend, is thinking of buying a

2000 dollar oven, so that it will continue to work longer than 3 years, but don't want to buy in a rush.

Seems to me for this week only, we could run a wire from the hot side of the ignitor to the outside of the oven through a switch and back to the other side of the ignitor (or to the gas valve?). When the switch is turned on by the cook, gas would flow. The gas they would light with the long Bic lighter, like ovens were lit 50 years ago. Would this work??

Looking at the schmatic on the webpage, I get the feeling that the control would still regulate the amount of gas according to the termperature the control is set for, but I'm not sure. If it wouldn't, is there a way to include that in the rigging?.

Thanks a lot. mm

***This is from Applicance 411, FAQ, but I saved it as file last night (never really done that before) and I see that I have lost its url, although it is still in my browser history if anyone wants it.

Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let me know if you have posted also.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

The subject says it is an electric oven. they you go on about gas controls. If you don't know the difference, I respectfully suggest you wait for a pro to fix it.

I cannot recommend bypassing gas controls under any circumstances. If the flame goes out on the thermostat, what is going to re-light it?

Go to a good local appliance store. Tell them you MUST cook today and will buy a used range and then come back to buy a new model when you've had time to decide what is best. You may get lucky and get a used on for $50 or so.

[Appliance Repair Aid]

Hi,

Nope.

Yes.

Nope.

The ignitor must draw a specific amount of current through the gas safety valve before it will open and allow gas flow.

Wait until the tech can come back and do the service. JMO!

jeff. Appliance Repair Aid

[BKCustoms]

Hi I can understand and appreciate all the reasons for safety switches and features on a home appliance. What my question pertains to is not a home used appliance tho. I'm building a bake oven for powder coating and I have a nice sized steel lined insulated aluminum box with three H type propane grill burners all piped into it and it works very well except I have to manually regulate the temp using the shut off valve on the propane tank as a choker. I recently found an old gas stove manifold with the four burner valves and the thermo coupler oven valve. My question is about how I would go about piping this thing into my system to simply regulate the temperature. I can manually light it and just shut the tank off when finished.. after all the time and money it takes to prep items being powder coated it's nothing to babysit this rig for a short twenty mins while using but it's a bit much to have to keep watch of temp and keep adjusting the whole twenty mi s and I feel like the oven valve with thermostat is the key to my success in this process. Can anyone tell me how I would go about making this a functional reality?

[Dean Hoffman]

Well, Amazon has this. Robertshaw 4350-027 $130