Gas Stove Won't Work

[In the Kitchen]

My brother has our mother's gas stove. In other words, not new. He asked me what the trouble was that the pilot light is on but when he wants to get a flame it doesn't seem to connect. It is Saturday and I could wait till Monday to call someone but curious about this problem. A service man once told me the old gas stoves lasted forever without any need of repair. This is why my gas stove has ignitor which I have replaced more than 3 times since i bought it which has only been 6 years ago. My former stove was over 50 years old that I bought from someone and really worked good. Maytag was the brand. Could any of you tell me what the problem is with my brother's stove? He doesn't have any manual to refer to. Why does everything happen on Saturday. He probably had problem for sometime and just told me today. Thanks for your suggestions. He will just have to wait till Monday to call someone. Till then he has to continue using a match to light it.

 

[Home chef]

Turn on the oven and stick your head in Does it smell funny

Seriously, gas appliances aren't something for inexperienced hands to mess with. I would wait til Monday and call a repair man.

 

[Andy M.]

I wouldn't try to fix it myself. But you could perform a couple of simple tests to figure out the problem.

Turn on the burner and try to light it with a match. If that works, you know the problem is probably a blockage between the pilot light and the burner. That can happen sometimes with food spillages getting into the wrong places. Try cleaning the burner.

If you can't light the burner with a match, that would indicate gas isn't getting to the burner.

 

[In the Kitchen]

Thanks

As you said, something not to mess with. I don't doubt there is food spillage. Only way he can use is to light with match and will just have to wait till he can call someone. I just cannot believe how the new appliances seem to have trouble and you can't fix it like you could the old ones. This is something I never experienced. thanks for advice.

 

[Constance]

Sounds like it has a stopped up oriface.
A lady I knew well turned on the gas in her old oven, and got distracted for a moment before she put the match to it....when it went "poof" it scorched her eyebrows!

 

[John Delaney]

As stated if you have any hesitation, call the repair service. OK, that said......

If you are going to play with this, open some windows, run a fan. I know it's getting cold, but......

The non electronic gas stoves typically used a combination of an orifice on the side of the burner housing that would shoot a small amount of gas down a metal tube that runs between the pilot and the burner. Some really old ones and some commercial ones I have seen just had a pilot at each burner.

So a few things could be wrong. The tube(s) could be missing or may have fallen out of place. The orifice could be blocked as mentioned. Something could be lodged in tube. The orifice, if say aluminum, could have coroded shut. Rusted shut if iron.

This can get more complicated too. Almost all gas appliances have some means of mixing gas and air. There is an adjustment here. If that is off then the pressure at the burner might be too low to get the gas to the pilot. Or the fuel air mixture might not be right. How this is adjusted totally depends on the stove.

A hint that this is off is that the flame color is wrong. Too orange = too much air. Big "fluffly" out of control flames that tend to blow out means too little air. The flame should be nicely formed with a dark cone inside the bright blue flame.

Hope that helps. BE CAREFUL, please.

-jd

 

[mish]

If you smell gas, call the gas co. They also, might come out, at no charge, for a free safety check as well.

I had an old gas stove in a rental years ago, where I had to use a match to light the burners and pilot all the time. I never thought twice about it, since it came with the unit. When I lifted off the top, there were loads of matchsticks I cleaned out. I would be on the safe side, and first see if you smell gas.

P.S. Don't know if it's a Maytag, but I will never buy anything from them. It took 6 months to a year to fix/get the right part for my built-in microwave. Each time a tech came out (when he showed up), they had the wrong part -- and that was for a broken handle. I'll take older appliances almost any day. Everything new seems to be built for obsolescence. It breaks right after the warantee expires.

 

[In the Kitchen]

John - mish

My brother is not the type who calls someone when he first has trouble. He waits until starts to really get on his nerves. He normally gets frustrated and I hope and pray it isn't too late. I can't stand something that constantly won't light, or drips forever, or worse makes noise at night. I don't know what kind of nerves he has but it doesn't bother him. I repeated all the comments here and he appreciated it but now when he gets a service man over there that is up to him. As long as I don't have to use the things in his house I am truly grateful. He does get most of his meals cooked by me when I offer. Seems he likes it when I prepare the food. I am completely trying to get restarted after Thanksgiving. Hope you all had help with your meals. Thank you for your time and suggestions.

 

[John Delaney]

Hope it all works out. Happy holidays.

 

[In the Kitchen]

Happy Holidays to you too

Thanks for all your time and understanding. One thing about family, you accept them no matter what you tell them. I am giving him this complete thread so he can 'digest' it.