Troubleshooting a Gas Oven
Gas ovens have been used by humans for around two centuries. They’re now used not only in individual homes, but also in restaurants. Most common brands manufacture various gas ovens for both residential and light commercial use. Canada’s most famous manufacturers are Whirlpool, LG, Bosch, Kenmore, Samsung, GE, and Frigidaire.
When you enjoy cooking with your family and serving them meals at home, your oven becomes the center of your household. When it doesn’t work well, it’s easy to become frustrated. One common issue is a gas oven that won’t heat up completely so that the food is never warm enough.
When you turn on your gas oven and it doesn’t heat, it could be one of several problems. Let’s review troubleshooting the issue before you contact a repair company: Let’s read about reasons why your gas oven may not be working correctly.
If you haven’t been able to locate and solve the problem, the skilled technicians at RA Appliance Repair stand ready to do their best to fix your gas oven.
Common Reasons for Your Gas Oven Refusing to Heat
Often, when you start to bake or broil a dish, you begin by preheating the oven to 350 degrees. Next you put your food in the oven. Later, you turn on your oven light to check on the process and see how dinner is coming along. But when you look, and then open the oven door to double check, you realize that the temperature in your oven is not rising. What’s gone wrong? Why isn’t the oven warming up? Before we go over a list of potential problems, lets review how a gas oven actually works.
When you select the function to bake or broil in your gas oven, the controls send an electrical current to the spark electrode or igniter. The igniter then lights the gas, which goes into a flame to heat up the oven. This igniter will be on and keep a safety valve open until your oven hits the temperature that you’ve set it to. Your oven also has a thermostat bulb that will monitor until the oven reaches the selected temperature. The control then shuts off the voltage to the igniter. Then the gas supply to the burner is also shut off. This cycle repeats throughout baking or broiling so that your oven stays at the same temperature while you’re cooking.
The selected temperature is an average, however, as it will change somewhat during the cooking process. Convection ovens dramatically reduce this fluctuation, as they have a fan that helps the heated air circulate through the oven while you’re cooking.
There can be numerous reasons that your gas oven isn’t heating up, including the following:
Reason 1 – The oven’s igniter isn’t working
Eventually, the igniter on most ovens will stop working correctly. After you turn the oven on, keep an eye out to see if your igniter starts to visibly glow. If you cannot see the burner light, your igniter may be faulty and could be causing the issues that you’re experiencing.
Reason 2 – Your spark electrode is broken.
Gas ovens may use a spark electrode to light the gas. If this component is damaged, it will not light and your oven will not heat up.
Reason 3 – Your thermostat is not working correctly.
Your thermostat tracks the temperature in your oven, shutting off the current when it’s reached the desired temperature. You’ll need to figure out if this part is conducting electricity and working as it should. It may be broken.
Reason 4 – Your temperature isn’t calibrated properly
You may experience a situation where your gas oven is heating but you see an incorrect temperature on the display. This may mean that your gas oven is incorrectly calibrated.
Your wire connection is burned or too loose. An electrode power supply wire or igniter could burn near your heat source. These damages are usually visible. In these situations, you’ll need to be sure that the wire is secure and not damaged.
Reason 5 – Your relay board or control board is not working correctly.
If you’ve excluded the failure of other parts, your cause could be in your relay or control board.
Troubleshooting Your Gas Oven Not Heating Up
Your gas oven is one of the most important appliances in your home, even if you don’t use it very often. If you’ve decided to bake a casserole or make some cookies, you need your oven to feed your family. When it isn’t working, it’s extremely frustrating. Here we’ll discuss solutions for fixing common problems that won’t take very long.
It’s important that you know, first, that there’s an Ontario regulation stating that a safety certificate is required for various activities. You’ll need to hold a certificate before you repair, service, or remove any appliance or equipment under Ontario Regulation 215/01.
Igniter – Over time, the igniter on your oven gets weaker. Your temperature decreases dramatically, and it can be difficult to get the oven to temperatures over 350 degrees. First, test your igniter with a multimeter to make sure that you have a continuous electrical path. If this is damaged, the part will need to be replaced.
The oven is too slow to heat – Here are several potential causes that you may be able to troubleshoot. You can start by assessing the problem with a thermometer or temperature sensor. You may also try checking it using a ohmmeter and a multimeter to be sure that it’s working correctly.
If these all seem to be in working order, you may need to recalibrate your oven. The oven should be warmed to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Check the temperature inside the oven with the thermometer every twenty minutes. Do this from 90-180 minutes, each 20 minutes. Then add up all of your readings and divide the sum by the number of readings you have. This will provide you with your oven’s average temperature. Then you can adjust the oven’s temperature dial based on your calculations.
If you’ve tried most simple steps to discover the issues with your oven and the appliance is still not working, your problem may be with your relay or control board. You can’t test this component very easily, but you can inspect it for signs of elements that have burned or short circuited.
Problems with a gas oven are never fun, and it can be incredibly difficult to diagnose and repair your own issues. When this is the case and you’re struggling with the repairs, be sure to reach out to the friendly professionals from RA Appliance Repair to help you with the troubleshooting process.