How to Fix the Ones You Can and Identify the Ones You Can’t

You’ve been waiting for an hour for your gas oven to come up to heat. It should have been ready 45 minutes ago. And still you wait.  “What’s the problem?” you curse under your breath. We’ve been here and we know exactly how you feel. (Although we hope it’s not the night before a bake sale when you encounter this.) Appliances don’t always work. Sometimes you run into a problem with your gas oven and you’ve got no idea what it is or why it’s happened.  

Why you chose might choose a gas oven 

When you were purchasing your brand new gas oven, it might have seemed like a fantastic idea at the time. When you compare the pros and cons, a gas oven comes out ahead for many people. You save money because gas ovens cost less to run than electric ovens, they heat up and cool down quicker, and they are more energy efficient. Or you might have chosen it because while an electric oven typically only lasts for 13 years, a gas oven can last up to 15 according to American Home Shield.  These are all reasons we looked into when it came to justifying our gas oven against the initial cost of purchasing one and installing the gas line. 

Common Problems With a Gas Oven 

However, like all appliances, there are times when things just go wrong and you don’t have a say in the matter. That’s when you need to be able to tell the difference between a problem you can fix and a problem we can fix. 

Before we dig in: Please make sure to take reasonable precautions before doing any of these. 

Something to look for with all of these issues is whether your oven is getting gas or not. Start by turning on the range burners if you have any. If the gas is flowing normally to the range burners, you know that the issues are within the oven itself. If they aren’t, you need to take a step back and make sure that you’re getting gas from your intake line, and your gas provider. (Sadly, we don’t have an in with any of them. We advise calling them once you’ve confirmed that an issue is with the gas supply rather than the oven itself.) 

Problems with Your Gas Oven that YOU Can Fix

Excessive Food Debris

Food debris can keep the burner from lighting, so your best bet is to clean it out regularly. But we all get busy, or have unintentional cooking mishaps, so here are the steps you need to go through when it’s built up. 

• Start by removing the grate over the burner. Either gently lift it off or loosen the screws that hold it in place. 

• Scrub off any food built up on the grate with a sponge soaked in warm soapy water. 

• Sweep out the cavity of the oven with a small hand brush or towel, paying attention to the corners.

• Check the burner tube(s) and ignition  to see if they have any food built up on them, carefully using scrubbing with an old toothbrush or a wire bristle brush. 

Inadequate Lighting

Sometimes the burners in your oven just won’t light completely. Even though you’ve got the dial cranked to high, you’re not getting a sufficient flame. This not only is going to affect your cooking, but also the efficiency of your oven. The most likely reasoning for this is that you have a cross-over port that’s restricted due to some type of blockage. Grab your old toothbrush and a wire brush and scrub carefully at all of the ports. With a bit of time you should be able to clear anything blocking the ports. 

Oven Burner Fails to Light

What about if the pilot light doesn’t light up after you’ve turned the oven on? You’ll know it hasn’t if you can open up the oven and don’t see a light at the back of the oven. If it’s not on, you might need to clean the electrode for the pilot. After you’ve taken your trust tools to it, you can relight the pilot with this article from Bob Villa. 

Problems with Your Gas Oven that WE Can Fix

Delayed Ignition

One of the benefits of a gas oven, and the reason many people choose them, is the rapid on-off time, the opposite of using electric ovens. However you can have times where even after you ignite the oven, it takes a long time before it operates. This can be caused by the ignition ports being blocked. Please note, this is different from having the cross-over ports blocked. A trained technician is your best choice in this case, rather than doing it yourself. They will be able to tell if it is the ignition port that is clogged and get it fixed. The reason we advise caution here is because a delayed ignition has the potential to cause a fire or explosion, causing damage to you, your oven or your home. 

Oven Fails to Heat 

If your oven won’t heat at all, it’s possible that the ignition is a problem. If you’ve made sure that both the gas supply is active and open, pop open the panel at the bottom of your oven. Here you’ll see your burner tube.  Turn on your oven to 350 and see if the igniter burns hot. If it does but the gas doesn’t ignite, there’s most likely a problem with the igniter, and it’ll need to be replaced. If the igniter doesn’t glow, the next step is checking it with a multimeter, which you can do on your own, or you can call us in. For more information on how this process works, check out this video. 

The Igniter is Glowing, But it Has NO Flame 

If you’re facing off against an oven that doesn’t have any flame, your first spot to look is the igniter. (Hm, that thing seems to be the potential spot for several problems doesn’t it?)  So, pull out the shields and check to see if it’s glowing. If there’s not flame and your igniter has been glowing for a long period of time, you need a new igniter. They can get old and worn out so that they can’t open the safety valve and bring gas into the burner tube. 

Gas Odor While Oven is Lit

If you’ve got your oven lit and you can smell the gas, you’ve got a problem. Start by turning off the oven. If left unchecked a gas leak can cause a fire, explosion or poisoning of anyone in the home. 

Now that we’ve got you safe, there are two possible causes for you smelling gas. The first is that the gas valves are opening up too soon before the ignition is reaching the right temperature. The second could be a hole or slit in the gas valves. Both of these need to be addressed by a professional as soon as possible after you notice it. 

Oven problems can happen to any homeowner. It’s not something you’ve done or not done, it’s just wear and tear on the parts. The good news is that half of these you can fix on your own. For the other half, Appliance Rescue Service is always here to help. If you’ve got questions about ovens (gas or electric) that we didn’t cover today, or just in general, let us know in the comments below or over on our Facebook page. If on the other hand you found us because you’re dealing with one of these problems, you can reach out to us on our webpage. So long as you live in Addison or the surrounding area, we’re here to help.