Electronic Ignition for Stovetop (w/pics)

[12thgenusa]

I finally got tired enough of the piezoelectric igniter on my Atwood stovetop that I decided to replace it with a battery-powered igniter unit. You know what I’m talking about. You twist the knob; bam, bam, bam . . . bam, bam, bam and sometimes the burner lights and sometimes not.:M
I removed the old igniter and took some measurement to determine the available real estate. I found a replacement electronic igniter for Charbroil grills from Home Depot for $30 that looked promising.
The hole for the original igniter was 5/8” and the new one requires 7/8”. If you have a unibit step drill, that would work nice. But since I don’t and didn’t want to spend the $$ I used a stone grinder bit and “hogged” the hole out to 7/8. You need to “cheat” the hole slightly up and to the left for a little more clearance for the igniter.
Pull the wires off the old igniter and slide them on to the new, order does not matter. Even though the old igniter has round pins and the new has spade pins, the terminals slide on with a tight fit and work fine. Due to the higher voltage of this unit I saw occasional flashover between the terminals when it was activated. I solved that by adding a second layer of heat shrink over the terminals.
The new igniter has four terminals and since the stovetop only has three burners, that left one to add a sparker for the oven pilot light. The new unit comes with spare 37” and 32” igniter wires. I joined the two together and they were long enough to reach across the stovetop, and follow the oven control plumbing down into the oven. The longer wire looks like it has a high-temp coating, but I also wrapped the part that is actually in the oven with high-temp fiberglass tape. I needed a sparker so I removed the one from my gas grill side burner, which I never use anyway. After removing the burner assembly from the oven, I “guesstimated” the location for the sparker and drilled a 7/16” hole in the pilot support plate. Once the sparker was in place, I reinstalled the burner assembly. The sparker electrode had to be “tweaked” slightly to get a reliable spark to the outlet end of the pilot light tube.
If you don’t add the oven igniter, you need to install one of the supplied wires on the fourth terminal and coil and stow the wire so that it won’t short to the stove. If you don’t do this, the bare terminal on the igniter will flashover to the others.
After installing the single AA battery and turning on the gas, it was time for a test run.
Aaaahh . . . The stovetop burners light almost instantly, quietly and reliably. The electronic ignition sparks about six times per second for as long as you hold the button as opposed to three sparks per half-revolution of the knob on the old one.
The oven pilot lights nicely. I’ve found that if you turn the oven knob to “pilot” and hold it for about 10 seconds and then push the igniter button, it will light almost instantly. I was a little concerned about the wire in the oven, so I heated the oven to 500 degrees for a test. Everything looks good and smoke check passed.
DW is HAPPY, and you know what that means . . .:B

Before


Old Piezoelectric Igniter


New Electronic Igniter


Oven Pilot Light Sparker Installation


After

[trucker_LOU]

I cut a trim plate from black plastic Folgers coffee can lid. white plastic ? dairy products plastic lid ? I also attached (pop rivet)a small stainless steel mirror to inside of oven door. allows me to check for flame while standing.

[Philip_Shantz]

Thanks!

[12thgenusa]

The igniter is only secured by the plastic nut, but everything seems very well held in place. I used a couple of small plastic "upholstery plugs" to cover the two holes, which you can see in the third and fifth pictures. I think you can get them at an auto parts store. A round or square sheet metal plate would also work on either the inside or outside. The igniter and nut would hold it in place on whichever side you installed it. I think there is also room to install short screws with nuts to plug the holes. The battery cover/button comes right to the edge of the holes, so you might have to shave the edge of the plastic buttons or screw heads.

[Philip_Shantz]

Yes, that's about what I had in mind for trim if I have to cobble something (except my stove is white :C) -- but in the original post it looks to me (third picture, closeup from top and fifth picture) like there is a black plastic cover about 1/16 inch thick extending to both sides of the push knob...so I was curious.

More important than aesthetics though, that implies that the igniter is screwed in two places to the stove and doesn't rely only on the somewhat flimsy knob nut for fastening...a more quality approach in my book.

But that was probably last year's model and someone figured they could save a fraction of a cent by eliminating these pesky screws and threaded holes...

[tvman44]

I have not installed mine yet but I plan to get a small piece of sheet metal and cut it to cover the holes and paint it black before installation.

[Philip_Shantz]

12thgen (or anybody with an Atwood who has done this...)

I found the Char-Broil igniter at Lowe's today for about $18 (close to the Amazon price plus shipping) so being somewhat impatient I went for it.

I think the unit I purchased is slightly different than the picture in the original post, though...it would undoubtedly work, but there's no "mounting plate" -- or even screws to hold the unit on the stove front sheet-metal; the only thing to tighten the unit in the hole at all is a plastic nut beneath the threaded battery cover/pushbutton. That would be fine except it leaves the original 2 screw holes uncovered.

So my questions are: Does the unit everyone's been using (which Amazon still has in stock) mount with screws? Does it have an elongated plate that would cover the screw holes in my Atwood stove (They are 1 3/8" OC)

If the unit @ Amazon attaches a little more substantially -- and also addresses the "naked screw-holes" problem I'll go for it...otherwise I'll have to cobble together some cover.

Philip

[mikestock]

If your pilot gas comes on just by turning the knob then there is no need for a thermocouple.

[Slowmover]

Thanks for the OP and other comments above. Bookmarked for reference.

[DD716TED]

Since my Suburban Stove had no previous ignitors, I have to install 3 of them... I have made sheet metal brackets and mounted the insulator/spark devices to them... QUESTION... will mounting these brackets directly under each burner to the metal bottom of the stove panel with short 1/2" sheet metal screws hurt anything?... I am sure there is a considerable gap / insulation between the bottom of the stove and the oven liner but I thought I would ask first..

[trucker_LOU]

Hey 12thgen, I tried your conversion , it worked slick.FYI found char-broil igniter#4586094 and music city metals sparker#03351(with long hvy duty covererd pigtail at Amazon.com for less than igniter alone at HD.had to make small bracket to hold sparker on burner. thanks for the good instructions and pics .

[tvman44]

There is something wrong with your oven, it should not do that.
The link you posted does not work, could you try again, please.

onetonford wrote:

12thgenusa wrote:

whiteeye42 wrote:
just my opinion on the oven ignigter there is a reason why the manufacture does not put one in the oven and it is because if by chance the over knob gets turned on and you don't catch in time the oven will fill with gas and then you go to lite the stove top and everything goes BOOM so just be really careful with it and check all the knobs before lighting any burners on the stove top

Not true. The oven gas valve will not turn on regardless of the knob position unless it senses heat from the pilot light. The pilot then lights the main burner when called for by the setting of the knob with feed back from the temp sensor. The above mod only makes it more convenient to light the pilot. Electronic ignition without a pilot for the oven is a whole different ball game. Nothing in this mod changes the original operation of the stove or oven; it is just more convenient and reliable.

NOT True If You turn oven knob to turn on pilot it will fill oven with gas I know because this has happened to me. Good thing we smelled it before we lit the stove. That is why when I modded mine it does not have one in the oven.

[Alpenliter]

All58Parks wrote:

onetonford wrote:
NOT True If You turn oven knob to turn on pilot it will fill oven with gas I know because this has happened to me. Good thing we smelled it before we lit the stove. That is why when I modded mine it does not have one in the oven.

Hmm, I think your oven is broken. You are supposed to have to press and hold the knob to activate the gas flow to the pilot. If it doesn't light and you aren't pressing the knob in, the gas flow should stop. If an unlit pilot filled your oven, you should maybe have that looked at.

OK, so I did this mod too and have been following this arguement. Just read the last couple of posts, so just got up and tried it. The only way you can get gas to flow is to push the knob in and turn it. You cannot get gas to flow without pushing it in.. Therefore this is a safe mod. If you push in and turn the knob and walk away, you're going to blow up with either a clicker or an electric ignition. So check and make sure it lights, no matter what system you use.

[All58Parks]

onetonford wrote:
NOT True If You turn oven knob to turn on pilot it will fill oven with gas I know because this has happened to me. Good thing we smelled it before we lit the stove. That is why when I modded mine it does not have one in the oven.

Hmm, I think your oven is broken. You are supposed to have to press and hold the knob to activate the gas flow to the pilot. If it doesn't light and you aren't pressing the knob in, the gas flow should stop. If an unlit pilot filled your oven, you should maybe have that looked at.

[12thgenusa]

onetonford wrote:

12thgenusa wrote:

whiteeye42 wrote:
just my opinion on the oven ignigter there is a reason why the manufacture does not put one in the oven and it is because if by chance the over knob gets turned on and you don't catch in time the oven will fill with gas and then you go to lite the stove top and everything goes BOOM so just be really careful with it and check all the knobs before lighting any burners on the stove top

Not true. The oven gas valve will not turn on regardless of the knob position unless it senses heat from the pilot light. The pilot then lights the main burner when called for by the setting of the knob with feed back from the temp sensor. The above mod only makes it more convenient to light the pilot. Electronic ignition without a pilot for the oven is a whole different ball game. Nothing in this mod changes the original operation of the stove or oven; it is just more convenient and reliable.

NOT True If You turn oven knob to turn on pilot it will fill oven with gas I know because this has happened to me. Good thing we smelled it before we lit the stove. That is why when I modded mine it does not have one in the oven.

I'm sorry, but you do not understand the operation of the gas valve. The valve can be turned to "pilot" or even "on" but no gas is passed to the pilot or burner if the pilot has not yet been lit. In order to light the pilot, the knob must be pushed in. This overrides the thermocouple and allows gas to flow to the pilot only. Once the pilot lights, the knob must be held in for a few seconds to allow the thermocouple temp to rise sufficiently to cause the gas valve to continue to supply gas to the pilot after the knob is released. If for some reason the pilot gets extinguished, the thermocouple no longer senses the heat and will cause the gas valve to stop gas flow to the pilot. The main burner uses the same safety feature. Gas will not be supplied to the burner if the pilot is not lit.

If your oven has filled with gas as you describe, you have an unsafe condition and probably need to replace your gas valve. Keep in mind that the mercaptan additive is intentionally very pungent and will be noticeable long before a combustible concentration of gas is reached.

Keep in mind also that the stove burners don't have this feature. If the knob is turned, gas is flowing. That is also why you have to "push" and "turn".

As stated before, nothing in this mod alters or bypasses any of the safety features. It's just an alternate (and easier) method of lighting the pilot.

[onetonford]

http://www.wildcatcamperforum.com/t4031-stove-modI also did this mod did not see it here till today but I posted it on the Wildcat forum you can see it is almost Identical so we all feel that the manufacture should change their igniter system.