Oven won't heat: troubleshooting gas range problems video

1. Gather the supplies you need

• Multimeter

• Hand tools

• Work gloves

• Igniter

2. Check the gas supply

Hi, this is Wayne from Sears PartsDirect. Today, we're going to talk about troubleshooting an oven on a gas range that won’t heat. The first thing you’ll want to do is confirm that you don’t have a problem with your gas supply.

If your surface burners are working, then you know your oven should be getting gas as well. If the burners aren’t working, check your gas supply cut-off valve to make sure that it's open. If it is open and you’re not getting gas, then you need to contact your gas supplier to figure out what’s wrong.

Some ranges have a service cut-off valve on the pressure regulator that shuts off the gas supply to the oven and not the surface burners. If your range has one, make sure that service valve is open. 

3. Test the igniter

The next thing we’ll check is the oven burner igniter. Pull the bottom panel out of your cold oven. Start the oven and see if the igniter glows.

If the igniter glows you may be convinced it’s working and want to replace the safety gas valve. But the safety gas valve rarely fails. The igniter can glow but not get hot enough to open the safety gas valve. In fact, this is the most frequent failure when an oven burner won't ignite even though the igniter is glowing bright. Replacing the igniter in this situation usually fixes the problem.

If you're uncertain whether your glowing igniter has failed, you can have a trained service technician check the amp draw through the igniter circuit.

Now, what do you do if your igniter wasn’t glowing? For these checks, we’ll need to use a multimeter. 

Unplug the range. For safety, always disconnect power before checking resistance. To check the resistance of the igniter, put the meter leads on the igniter terminals. If you measure between 10 and 2,500 ohms, then you know your igniter is okay.

If the igniter measures no continuity, that’s an OL on this meter, then you need to replace the igniter. Here’s a video showing you how. 

4. Test the safety gas valve

Next, check resistance on the safety gas valve. The safety gas valve should measure less than 5 ohms of resistance. If the safety gas valve measures no continuity, you can have a service technician replace that part.

If the igniter and the safety gas valve both check okay, then you could have a problem with wiring, or a defective electronic control board. 

5. Check the wiring and control board

Pull off the back panel and check resistance through the ignition circuit at the electronic control board. If you measure resistance through the ignition circuit, then replace the electronic control board. Here’s a video showing you how.

If you measure OL through the ignition circuit wiring, then you'll need to trace the wires through the ignition circuit and repair the broken wire. Click here to learn more about repairing wires.

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