Propane Oven Problems

[Alex B]

I have a propane oven that will not stay lit. It will light and stay lit as long as I hold the gas knob in, but as soon as I release it the oven shuts off. I have tried holding it for a long time and still the same result. I imagine this is linked to some safety feature that has gone bad. Has anyone had the same experience and managed to fix it themselves?Thanks in advance.AB - H34

 

[Rich Stidger]

Safety Valve is Bad

I experienced this same problem with a propane oven on a RV motorhome. The problem was with the safety valve that senses the pilot and allows gas to the main burner as long as the pilot is burning. Holding in the gas valve over-rides the sensor to allow you to light the pilot and heat the sensor. When the valve fails, it no longer senses the pilot and so will interrupt the main gas supply in its failsafe mode.Solution is to replace the safety valve. The one that failed with me had no user-servicable parts and I replaced as a unit. It has a long metal tube with a bulb on the end that is located in the pilot flame. I would expect that the item is shown in the parts breakdown of your oven manual. I think that part for the RV stove was about $45, so you can probably expect $90 for the marine part.Rich Stidger

 

[Tom Ressler s/v Blowdacious]

Thermocouple

The part that is bad is called a thermocouple. It generates a low voltage that is sensed by the gas valve. Some are replacable, most are not. Get it from Camper's World or someplace taht sells propane parts. They are all the same since there are only a few companies that make them.

 

[Wayne Fredrick]

It Might be Simple

Alex, I had the same problem this summer with my propane stove. I called Seaward Marine and they told me to check the small hole on the pilot. When I say small, I mean small. A pin will barely go through it. You can get to the pilot by finding where the pilot light goes on and using I believe a 10mm wrench to open that connection. In side that is a very small little piece of brass which is the orifice for the pilot light. My was clogged from junk that comes from filling your propane tank. Once I cleaned it out, the stove stayed lit and worked perfectly. I used a very small piece of wire to clean out the hole. Before you go crazy and spend any money on anything else, try that in the spring and see if it works.

 

[Bob Miller]

Oven Pilot

Wayne has the right idea. I had the same problem, but in my case cleaning the orifice didn't work. My problem was corrected by bending the pilot flame deflector a little to direct the flame onto the thermocouple a little better.Bob MillerGusty GetawayEverett, WA