The stovetop burners work great. The oven broiler works great.
The oven lower burner will not light up. It sits for awhile, then sometimes lights with a WHOOOMP. Sometimes just smells of gas and we shut it off. Never works right. It worked great for almost two decades.
I took out the oven floor and the two burner plates. As in the photo below, the heating element gets hot and the gas starts to flow through the burner tube. But it won’t light. Even with a lighter stick, it just blows the flame around. So I think the gas/air mixture is messed up? Is there a shutter I can adjust, or do I need to clean something (the holes in the burner tube look clear to me), or do I need to replace a regulator of some sort?
I’m attaching two parts diagrams. I’m not completely sure which is the right one–I haven’t taken it apart that far yet.
Most likely the problem with your oven is a bad igniter (the part you called “heating element”).
[CENTER][/CENTER]
Let me explain how it works:
The igniter is wired in series with the burner valve. When the thermostat calls for heat, line voltage is applied to the circuit. As the igniter begins to glow, the current increases. The current flow causes the valve to open when the igniter becomes bright red (almost white). Flat igniters operate from 3.2 to 3.6 amps. In your case the current is less or about 3.2 amps and it does not open the gas valve or opens it only a little bit letting very small amount of the gas to come out which is not enough for the igniter to light up. When the oven door is closed, the gas is accumulating inside the oven and if the igniter is on, causing a small explosion, which you heard as a “WHOOOMP”.
Most likely replacing the igniter should solve the problem.
The part number for the new oven igniter AP2634719
