January 28, 2016

Oven won't heat: troubleshooting gas range problems video

Troubleshooting gas range if oven won't heat.

This video from Sears PartsDirect shows you what to do if your gas oven won’t heat, including checking your gas supply, the igniter, electronic control board and the safety gas valve. Once you determine the problem, our video repair guides will walk you through how to replace a broken or damaged part.

If your range is electric, follow the troubleshooting tips in this oven won't heat video.

Plus, check out our repair help page the next time you have a DIY repair project with your range or other appliances.

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.

Thanks for watching. Be sure to check out our other videos, here on the YouTube channel, and don't forget to subscribe.