Oven pilot problem

[Scott21120]

Our recently purchased boat has a two burner Hillerange range, and on a recent trip, I discovered the oven will not stay on. The pilot will light fine, but the heater pilot, which warms the thermocouple will only kick on if I turn the oven thermostat up around 500 degrees, and even then, the burner will come on briefly, then go out, and the pilot returns to just regular pilot. I realize the burner cycles when in use, but in this case it will not come on again. The burner will never light if I select any heat less than around 500 degrees. I have taken the burner and pilot out, cleaned them, and run a wire through the orifice in the pilot without effecting any change. Is there an adjustment somewhere for the pilot, or do I need to replace something? The burners on the stove work fine, by the way, and I have followed the instruction to light the right burner before the oven to eliminate air in the line. I have brand new propane tanks, switch and hoses.Thanks,Scott

 

[Ross]

from your discription of

the problem it sounds like a bad valve. The pilot stays lighted which means the thermocouple is working but the thermostst is not opening the burner valve unless you turn it all the way up. There should be a bulb and a capillary tube from the oven to the valve. That determines that the oven is colder than the setting. It seems that it isn't paying attention. You might be able to just replace the bulb and tube, I have never tried.

 

[topagent]

Your oven problem

You also might have a thermocouple going bad.The purpose of the thermocouple is to prove the presence of the pilot flame before turning on the main gas valve for the oven.I would replace the thermocouple (inexpensive part) first and see if that works. If that's not the problem, you won't have to worry about that being a problem for many years to come.Just my 2 centsPlease let us know when you find the problem and what you did to fix it.

 

[Ross]

Scott, There is one simple adjustment

that you can try. On most gas valves if you pull the knob off there is a hole in the knob shaft and at the bottom of that hole is a screwdriver slot to allow adjusting the oven temperture so that it agrees with the numbers on the knob.

 

[Scott21120]

Tried the adjustment under the temperature knob

I don't know exactly how it is supposed to be adjusted, but I turned the oven to the lowest temp, then turned the screw in the center of the oven temp knob shaft counterclockwise until the heater pilot activated. The oven burner at least went through one cycle which was more than it ever did before, so I am cautiously optimistic - I didn't have time to stay and watch it any longer. I guess the next step would be to take an oven thermometer to the boat, or perhaps try a test batch of chocolate chip cookies.Thanks for the ideas - I'll post again when I have a little more info.

 

[Ross]

Good news! stay with it

somebody may have messed with it or it may be going bad slowly. As long as it works, enjoy.

 

[Rich Stidger]

I have a similiar problem....

I have a Seaward Princess range where the pilot will not stay lit. After several calls to Seaward and doing some trouble shooting with the service manager (Tom, ext 204) he deduced that my problem was the oven thermostat.It sounds to me like it is a bad oven thermostat since it will not produce the larger heater pilot at lower temperatures. However I would call Seaward and talk to Tom. I believe that Hillerange was made by Seaward or is now supported by them. The current Seaward phone number is 562-699-7997 and they are located in Whittier, CA.

 

[RichH]

CLEAN the thermocouple first .....

thermocouples easily attract a glaze from the impurities in the gas. Take some fine sand paper and clean / 'shine-up' the thermocouple to remove the glaze. If that doesnt do the trick then consider to replace the thermostat.

 

[jc]

hillerange problem fixed

I went through this same problem a few years back, and after not being able to get anyone tooffer any help ( liabilty issues ), I resortedto parts changing. Starting with the pilot/thermocoupler assy, part in the oven, (did not fix it ) Next replaced the thermostat assy., part on the front panel with control knob, Problem solved... The people at Seaward were very helpful and both parts were less than 100 bucks total.

 

[Scott]

Talked to Seaward yesterday

and they said the same thing - almost before I had finished describing the problem - replace the thermostat. I stayed on the boat last night with two of my daughters, and after adjusting the small screw under the thermostat knob so that the heater pilot would actually work at all temps, we tried making chocolate chip cookies. I am happy to say the cookies turned out fine, but I had to have the theromstat on broil to obtain the 375 degrees necessary for the cookies! Looks like a new theromstat is in the picture - as soon as I take care of a couple more pressing issues.Thanks for all the replies.