# Oven glow ignitor keeps burning out



## dishe (Apr 30, 2013)

I've been living in this house for 3 years now, and I've got an old Caloric RWS202 wall oven that came with the house. I just burnt out my oven's glow igniter for the 3rd time. Its an old house with an old oven, but that seems a bit excessive doesn't it?

The first time, I didn't know it was the igniter right away- it would glow, but it wouldn't start the gas. I left it on for a while hoping it would start (maybe it wasn't reaching the right temp?), and when it simply wouldn't go, I called an appliance repair guy. The repair guy tested everything and said that its probably the igniter bar even though it glowed. He replaced it, and sure enough it worked fine after that. For about 7 months. Then it burnt out again- this time it wouldn't even glow. He gives a year warranty on repairs, so he came back and replaced it again. That lasted about another 5-6 months. Since it was past the year, I ordered a replacement part online myself (matched part number on Amazon.com) and installed it. This was January of this year. Well, this past friday, it stopped glowing once again. This is barely 3 months later!

The only explanation I have is that there appears to be a small hole in the metal plate (flame spreader I think?) right above where the igniter attaches. 
I'm wondering if when my first igniter went bad, I accidentally burnt a small hole by leaving it on hoping it would start? Is that even possible? I mean this thing is designed to handle flames spreading all over the place, but I have no other way to describe why there appears to be a small hole only there. 

Anyway, I noticed that when the oven would ignite, you could see some flames rushing towards that hole. I'm guessing the hole acts as a source of oxygen so the fire is attracted there. Could that be burning out the igniter prematurely? It could be my imagination, but I think the hole got bigger since the first time we replaced it. 

I tried to source a new flame spreader/burner assembly, but it seems that no one makes them anymore for this model. I tried the usuals like repair clinic, ebay, even just googled the OEM part number. So I'm stuck with this one for now. Is there anything I can do to patch up this hole? I tried aluminum foil, but that just disintegrated/burnt up. Am I just doomed to replace the igniter every few months until I can afford a new oven? Is the hole not even the problem?

Thanks for any and all insight!


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## dishe (Apr 30, 2013)

I put in the new ignitor for now and its working fine, but I'd appreciate any feedback to avoid having this burn out in another 2-3 months. Is the hole a concern? Is it just cheap ignitors (Amazon special)?


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## BayouRunner (Feb 5, 2016)

The way the igniter works is you apply voltage and after it draws so many amps the gas valve will open. Usually close to 3 amps. So if it glows and only pulls 2.5 amps the valve won't open like it did earlier. They are extremely fragile and can break very easily. Care has to be taken in shipping and install. Was it an OEM ignitor? I try to use only OEM parts instead of the cheap ones. I have been burnt to many times. But sometimes the manufacturers don't make them anymore and we just have to take what we can get though. Hope this helps. I don't think your doing anything wrong.


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## dishe (Apr 30, 2013)

Thanks!
What about that hole, though? Would it cause premature igniter failure due to attracting flames?


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## BayouRunner (Feb 5, 2016)

Really not sure of what you mean by the hole. There has to be a hole for the gas to get to the ignitor. If it is something different a picture sure would help


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## Protocol. (May 31, 2012)

The hot surface ignitors are designed to get pretty hot. Air/gas mix is supposed to hit them to achieve ignition

Quick questiom, did you touch the metal part of the ignitor when installing? If you do the oils from your skin can greatly reduce the life of the ignitor. 

I would also go ahead and confirm vomtage reaching the Ignitor. Too high and the hsi may be overheating. 

This style of hsi that you have may also be susceptible to failure. Not all ignitors are created equal.


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## dishe (Apr 30, 2013)

BayouRunner said:


> Really not sure of what you mean by the hole. There has to be a hole for the gas to get to the ignitor. If it is something different a picture sure would help


No, there is a hole that doesn't look like it came from the factory. I'm at work now so I can't get a picture of the thing, but I'll try to add one when I get home if this doesn't make sense. 

Here's the part I'm talking about, there's a stock photo of it I found on repair clinic:








The ignitor is attached underneath this metal plate. I'm not talking about the holes along that pipe that allow gas to come out- I know that's how it works. I'm saying that there's a hole that appears to have been burned into the metal plate (flame spreader?) directly above where the ignitor glows. In the piece shown in that picture. I can see on this stock image of a new one that there isn't a hole there normally. It is all charred and burnt looking, and if I poke at it, it feels brittle like rust. When the oven is on, I can take a peek and see that the flames from the gas like to head towards this hole- which I'd guess is because it is a source of oxygen, and perhaps is creating more heat/stress on the ignitor than it is designed to handle?

I'd readily just replace the whole thing, but this part is out of stock and appears to be discontinued anywhere that I look for it. 



Protocol. said:


> The hot surface ignitors are designed to get pretty hot. Air/gas mix is supposed to hit them to achieve ignition
> 
> Quick questiom, did you touch the metal part of the ignitor when installing? If you do the oils from your skin can greatly reduce the life of the ignitor.
> 
> ...


I wore gloves just to make sure I didn't accidentally touch that part. And the first two replacements were by a certified appliance repair guy, who also took the necessary precautions. So I don't think it has to do with accidentally touching it.


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## dishe (Apr 30, 2013)

Here's a couple of pictures I snapped from home to illustrate:
This one used the flash so you can see the hole. The ignitor is glowing directly underneath that hole. 









This next picture I turned the flash off so you can see that there is actually flame escaping from the hole. I'm guessing this is also making the hole bigger over time as it eats away at the metal there? Perhaps little pieces of burnt metal are falling into the ignitor causing it to prematurely burn out?


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## BayouRunner (Feb 5, 2016)

Picture sure makes a difference. I would say the part is wore out. I can't say that it would effect the ignitor though. If the part isn't available maybe you could create some sort of metal patch to buy you some time. Maybe a square piece of metal screwed down to divert flame? If I were repairing that oven I would want to replace that part. But as a do it yourself repair I don't see how it would hurt


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## dishe (Apr 30, 2013)

BayouRunner said:


> Picture sure makes a difference. I would say the part is wore out. I can't say that it would effect the ignitor though. If the part isn't available maybe you could create some sort of metal patch to buy you some time. Maybe a square piece of metal screwed down to divert flame? If I were repairing that oven I would want to replace that part. But as a do it yourself repair I don't see how it would hurt


Thanks! That's what I was thinking too. I can't seem to find that exact part anywhere, unfortunately. It seems they stopped making it long ago and none of the usual suspects have them in stock. What sort of metal can I put there that is light enough and still heatproof? My first thought was aluminum foil, but that disintegrated. I'm wondering actually if that burned out my last one, as there was debris of burnt up foil spread around.


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## BayouRunner (Feb 5, 2016)

Steel would work. Aluminum won't


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## dishe (Apr 30, 2013)

BayouRunner said:


> Steel would work. Aluminum won't


Fair enough. Just wanted to try what I had access to. Not sure where to source a little piece of steel like that.


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## dishe (Apr 30, 2013)

Hey everyone- sorry to revive a year old thread. My igniter just blew again, so I'm revisiting ways to patch it up. What I actually did last time was take the old igniter out and put it on top of the hole so that the ceramic body could act like a makeshift cover. Not a very elegant repair, but it was worth a shot and seems to have slowed down the rate in which it died- at least twice as long as the last two I replaced. But taking it out, I can see some discoloration where the the hole was, which means some flame was likely escaping from there eventually, which probably still eventually led to its demise.

I'm ordering another igniter and a spare while I'm at it right now, but do you have any suggestions as to where I can get a piece of steel or something to put on top? I don't really have scraps of metal lying around anywhere.


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## Stucaz (Jan 19, 2021)

Hi,
I am having the same problem with an expensive GE oven (that by the way I am never going to buy again) so I landed on this post. Because I am having the same problem (my igniter burnt out 4 times) and I have no holes or damages on the tray that separates the igniter from the oven, I don't think you problem is caused by that. On another post I read that changing the Control Valve may solve the problem. I hope this helps. The issue here is the poor level of manufacturing standards and their unethical modus operandi.


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## dj3 (Apr 27, 2020)

What is GE saying about this design flaw?
Is there a recall on your model?


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## Stucaz (Jan 19, 2021)

They don't own up to it! Just talked to them on the phone yesterday, the guy was useless and also said there is no recall!!! What a shame...


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## OGTsince1992 (7 mo ago)

Stucaz said:


> They don't own up to it! Just talked to them on the phone yesterday, the guy was useless and also said there is no recall!!! What a shame...


Same here! I haven’t called GE but this is the 4th time. Really getting tired of doing this


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## Mgmcorey (6 mo ago)

dishe said:


> I've been living in this house for 3 years now, and I've got an old Caloric RWS202 wall oven that came with the house. I just burnt out my oven's glow igniter for the 3rd time. Its an old house with an old oven, but that seems a bit excessive doesn't it?
> 
> The first time, I didn't know it was the igniter right away- it would glow, but it wouldn't start the gas. I left it on for a while hoping it would start (maybe it wasn't reaching the right temp?), and when it simply wouldn't go, I called an appliance repair guy. The repair guy tested everything and said that its probably the igniter bar even though it glowed. He replaced it, and sure enough it worked fine after that. For about 7 months. Then it burnt out again- this time it wouldn't even glow. He gives a year warranty on repairs, so he came back and replaced it again. That lasted about another 5-6 months. Since it was past the year, I ordered a replacement part online myself (matched part number on Amazon.com) and installed it. This was January of this year. Well, this past friday, it stopped glowing once again. This is barely 3 months later!
> 
> ...


Hey…. So I am not the only guy replacing ge profile igniters every 6/9 months. How and who do you complain to for ge to admit there is a flaw and needs to be recalled!!!!


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## chandler48 (Jun 5, 2017)

Probably not, and not the only person responding to a 6 year old thread. New threads will give you more personalized answers than tagging onto existing threads that have been concluded.


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