Whirlpool gas stove help needed
 

I'm trying to help my son with a problem with his stove. It is a Whirlpool gas stove. During the recent winter storm, he lost power for a few hours. When power came back, his oven wouldn't work.

The stove top burners all work. When the knob is turned on, I hear a spark and the gas ignites.

The oven doesn't work, neither the top or bottom unit. I checked the pilot light, and it is out. I have read a little bit about these, and I understand if the pilot light is out, the gas won't turn on.

What's not clear to me is how the pilot light works. Is the pilot light constantly on, or is it ignited by something that generates a spark.

Any help would be appreciated. I have the model and serial number, which I plan to look up.

Mike

Most reasonably modern gas stoves no longer have a pilot light for anything. They use an ignitor and a thermocouple.
First step, unplug it for a while and try again. No stove should cease to function for a simple power outage.
If it's old enough to use a pilot light for the oven, you'll have to get that lit first, or the thermocouple will prevent gas from flowing to the oven.
Depends on how old it is.... older units the pilot would remain lit at all times, new unit would have an electronic ignition for the pilot, once the pilot is lit the thermocouple would allow gas to flow to the oven.
Unlikely that an older unit would be damaged by a power outage or power surge ... so light the pilot and see what happens.

I would look at the igniter depending on the age
I've changed mine out on my gas stove ..it's about 12 years old...

Use YouTube it's a great tool for appliance repair
There are some good forums to join as well...

https://appliancerepairforum.com/Forum10.aspx
https://www.repairclinic.com/RepairH...takes-too-long
http://forum.appliancepartspros.com

If you have igniters on the burners, highly unlikely that the oven uses a standing pilot. More than likely it uses an igniter of some sort. Broiler unit in the top of the oven? Turn the oven to broil, and look for a spark, or a glow.
Do you use a knob to turn on the oven, or does it work through the clock assembly?

What is the model number? If the top burners are spark ignition the oven would not have a standing pilot.

oven
 

The igniter has a spec. for resistance and amp.draw you can look up. Igniters can glow red but not be hot enough to light the oven. Its the same system used in gas dryers. Good luck

Thanks to everyone for the input.

The oven is actually in my son's rental condo. Our best guess is it is about 15 years old. I stopped by on my way from work Friday, but I didn't have any tools.

I looked at some videos on the internet. The Whirlpool uses a ignitor that generates a spark. I called the tenant after I left and asked if they heard a spark when they set the over to broil, and they did. Based on that, I would say it is the ignitor for the bottom burner.

For those of you who service appliances, I'm not sure what turns on the gas. I know the controls send a signal to the ignitor, which sparks and lights the gas. But what turns on the gas valve? I undestand how the ignitors works on a stove that has the heater element that glows. The gas valve is in series with the glow element, so if that burns out, there is no current to the valve. But the ignitor generates a single spark. Can someone explain this to me?

Thanks,

Mike

On a spark oven igniter the control turns on the gas then sparks the igntiter twice 3 times. you should hear the igniter go click click(very short pause) click click(very short pause)click click. this is only if its not lighting. If everything is working you usually only hear 1 click and the burner lights. What is the model number?

If you don't hear a click or hear the gas turn on then its probably the controller not the igniter.

I'm a long way from you in a different country but in things like this, I'm sure the same rules apply.

And that is, if this is a rental property with a fee paying tenant, I STRONGLY advise you to employ a professional repair guy to fix the problem.

Reason being is if YOU repair it and it causes a problem which may (or may not be) attributable you you and someone is injured (dies even), the ramifications can be horrendous.

Might be fine to do it yourself at your own home but if there is a renter involved, its best to step back, bend over and grit your teeth while the repair guy gouges you. Best thing in the long run. Gas & Electricity are a no-no repair where renters are involved.

JMHO

Ian:ausflag::ausflag::ausflag:

The model number is SF362LXSB0

I went by tonight to look at the oven. This ignitor is the type that functions similar to a spark plug, and not a glow plug. The filament is a thin piece of steel bent 90 degrees with an insulator over it. My initial thoughts were it was corroded and wasn't able to spark, so I removed it and sanded it with fine sandpaper. I re-installed it and tested it.

With the oven set to bake, I don't hear the ignitor try to spark. When I set the oven to broil, I hear the top unit spark 3 times. I removed the ignitor again and ohmed both ends to see if there was continuity. There was continuity. I also didn't hear it arcing to anything else. I suspect that the problem is with whatever generates the spark.

I don't have a schematic for this particular oven, but I found some generic schematics. It looks like the control unit sends a signal to a power supply, which creates the spark sent to the ignitor. If the broil unit tries to light, but the lower unit doesn't, is it more likely the controls or the power supply? I also checked the wiring to the ignitor for damage and it looked good.

Here are some photos.

Here is the tech sheet for that range. Check the resistance of the gas valve coils. If open it wont even try to spark.

Call the owner/landlord and describe the problem. Unless the rental agreement (hopefully there is one) has some weird provisions, it’s not your responsibility to fix appliances that you don’t own and did not damage. In fact standard rental agreements prohibit the renter from doing this kind of stuff without the owner’s permission. If the owner does give permission for the repairs, the owner should be paying, not you.

Possibly a bad spark module.

My son is the owner of the condo. He rents it.

Poncho Mike
The way it sounded (to me anyway) was like your son rented the condo from someone. Obviously I was wrong. :o

That said, I looked at the tech sheet that was posted and that setup looks the same as my Amana, which is owned by Whirlpool. My initial guess is that when the power came on a surge may have damage a circuit board, like the DSI board. It’s rare but does happen. My uncles microwave was damaged when power was restored after a storm. Hopefully the diagnostics will help pinpoint the problem.