General Question

MyNewtBoobs's avatar

My oven's pilot light went out, how do I relight it?

Asked by MyNewtBoobs (19059points) May 20th, 2011
17 responses
“Great Question” (1points)

OR some other reason my oven doesn’t turn on when I turn it on.

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Answers

XOIIO's avatar

Check inside it to see for a small flame, or see if you smeel any gas. If you think it’s out call a technichian NOW! Your house could have a lot of gas in it an dlighting it would not be good.

MyNewtBoobs's avatar

@XOIIO It doesn’t have a lot of gas. I can’t see any flame (and I know there should be one).

augustlan's avatar

How old is the oven? Newer gas ovens often don’t have a continuously burning pilot light like the old ones did. They start up fresh every time you turn it on.

XOIIO's avatar

@augustlan that’s true, I assumed it was an old one

MyNewtBoobs's avatar

@augustlan It’s an apartment, so I don’t actually know, but it looks pretty new. And shiny. It may be that it’s not constantly on – so then how do I get it to actually light this time?

augustlan's avatar

In the past, I had problems with a blocked, um… gas hole ? I have no idea what the correct term is. Something about the gas not getting to the spark that lights it. In an apartment situation, I’d call the office and get a maintenance engineer to come take a look/fix it for you. The other option I can think of is to call the manufacturer and see if they have any suggestions. Good luck!

everephebe's avatar

Turn off the lights in your kitchen and open the oven door. (& Make sure the oven light is off too.) If you can’t see a little blue light from the flame and you smell gas… That spells trouble.
And after that, I get fuzzy as to… actually being helpful. From there.

MyNewtBoobs's avatar

@everephebe I can’t smell gas. I can, however, smell what I have cooking on the stove, so since that hasn’t set the whole house ablaze, I’m thinking I’m good.

everephebe's avatar

<—Crosses crossables.

XOIIO's avatar

@augustlan try a bran muffin

@MyNewtBoobs seems like you are good then.

LuckyGuy's avatar

If you have a newer oven it most probably has a Glow Bar Ignition System that consists of an ignitor, a gas valve and a controller.
This is not your grandma’s oven. When you “turn on” the oven you are telling the controller to start its job. It heats up the ignitor. If the ignitor does not get hot, the controller will not let gas flow. If the ignitor heats up, then the controller sends a signal to the gas solenoid valve to start gas flow. If the solenoid does not act correctly the controller will shut it down. If it is correct the gas will begin to flow. If you don’t have ignition within ~30–60 seconds the controller will shut everything off and give you a chance to relight it.
If you have x number of failures it will shut down and you will need to call service.
The unit has a diagnostic code that will tell the technician the problem.
If everything works correctly and the oven is lit, then the thermostat comes into play. The controller looks to see if the oven temp is above or below the set temp and turns itself on and off accordingly.

Why make it so complicated? It saves gas and electricity and prevents explosions.
Who knew, right?

Bagardbilla's avatar

If it’s an older version, unlike what @worriedguy described…
Open the bottom part/drawer of the unit and take a match to it, (provided that you do not smell an inordinate ammount of natural gas.
Just out of curiosity, what made it go out? Did you have your gas shut off, or perhaps the first time you’re using it?

St.George's avatar

Carefully.

LuckyGuy's avatar

I’m guessing it worked just fine. It just took 60 seconds to light and 90 seconds to get warm.
That’s surprising to someone who does not use an oven regularly. ;-)

Big date?

gailcalled's avatar

When the power goes out here, which it does regularly, I light the electric ignition thingy with a match. Then I can use the range (gas).

pshizzle's avatar

Call a technician.

skfinkel's avatar

@MyNewtBoobs Are you smelling gas in the house? That’s a pretty surefire (no pun intended) way to find out if the pilot light is out. It’s usually pretty simple to light: see where it looks like the light should be coming from, a central spot, and see if there is a mirror image of that on the other half of the stove. You will see the other pilot, and then can light the one that’s out. I don’t know anything about new stoves, though. SORRY, just saw this was an oven pilot light. Same concept though. Look for a place where the light should be coming from, where it can light the flame, and if the flame is off, you might try lighting it there. But be careful, the oven pilot light might be putting out more gas. Maybe if you don’t know where this is, you should call someone to help you,

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