Atwood Oven: sometimes no gas at pilot

[joerg68]

Hi all, maybe you have an idea. We have had our new camper since June of 2017. Until a short while ago, the oven has worked just fine. Set to Pilot, press valve knob, light pilot light.

Now, about 50% of the time, we get no gas at the pilot. At all. Consequently, we can't light the oven. No freshly baked rolls for breakfast.

We checked all that can be checked without major disassembly, removed the burner shelf to access the pilot assembly, things look clean.

The three top burners work just fine, so do all orher gas appliances.
When we do get LPG at the pilot, it lights and the oven works as it should. But the pilot flame is not very big, about 1/2 inch.

I did check if the safety pin gets pushed in all the way when I push the knob; this seems to be the case.

Any idea/explanation? I am thinking that something in the main valve might be stuck, but a new valve is not exactly cheap and the oven is just in its second season.

eta: when it doesn't work, it will do so for days. At some point it just works again - until it doesn't. Temperature or elevation do not seem to make a difference.

[joerg68]

a quick update as we just returned from a 2 1/2 week trip:

The first 1 1/2 weeks, the oven worked as it should.
Then it quit. One afternoon it worked, the next morning, parked in the same location, vehicle not moved, it did not. All the oven was used for is heating up bread/hard rolls, so there is not a lot of grease or anything around. I guess the oven just didn't like where we were traveling.

BUT we had brought a reserve Coleman folding oven 😉 So the hard rolls for breakfast were not in danger.

Thanks for all the replies so far! I will be looking into the issue during the winter break, so it may take a while until the next update.

The Coleman oven actually worked a lot better than the fixed Atwood... As in: faster baking time, better results.

[AnEv942]

Ok-- just I read- well, alarms went off.
But yes if you are manually heating the thermo then yes main valve will flow.
Never mind.

[Eric_Lisa]

AnEv942 wrote:
...
However and reason for post 'cause I just noted Erics comment, is if older Atwood with oven cold, pilot off and valve can be turned to heat and gas flows to main burner there is, In my opinion, a problem. That should not happen unless pilot on and themocoupler hot. Pilot flame is pretty small- there is a secondary and substantial increase of flow when knob turned past pilot (maybe what your describing?) but main burner flow should not be occurring.

I am thinking more along the lines of there is propane to the stove burners, but the little line going to the pilot still doesn't have enough propane to sustain the pilot. I do put a flame to the pilot/thermocouple with a lighter, and then the oven burner will fire off.

I understand the safety concern you are thinking - the oven could be on and venting gas without it being lit. It seems this is the same risk as if a stove top burner was on and not lit. Both are a potential problem, and I don't see where one is more of a risk than the other.

Thanks,
-Eric

[AnEv942]

Newer Atwoods the oven knob is pushed in to light pilot, the knob will have a "Pilot/push/hold" position written on it.
I can't offer suggestion on OPs question- unless its also a 'wait to purge air condition'. this may help in Atwood 2015 manual

Older Atwoods (pre 2004) knob is only pushed in to rotate to "Pilot" position but it is NOT required to hold pushed in to light pilot. The pushing in of knob is only a mechanical positioner, pushing knob in doesn't start gas flow. Once turned to "pilot" gas starts flowing.

However if gas bottle had just been opened (air in lines) it may take a while for the air in pilot tube to bleed out and pilot to light. (hence why some think they need to hold flame to thermocoupler, continue pushing knob when all that's really happening is waiting to air to purge). The thermocoupler does not control pilot gas flow on older Atwoods, it signals main valve once hot allowing main burner flow. Again this is on older Atwoods.

However and reason for post 'cause I just noted Erics comment, is if older Atwood with oven cold, pilot off and valve can be turned to heat and gas flows to main burner there is, In my opinion, a problem. That should not happen unless pilot on and themocoupler hot. Pilot flame is pretty small- there is a secondary and substantial increase of flow when knob turned past pilot (maybe what your describing?) but main burner flow should not be occurring.

[Eric_Lisa]

joerg68 wrote:
...Set to Pilot, press valve knob, light pilot light.
....

Did some searching on your part number. Updated paint and graphics, but looks pretty much identical to the one in my older Lance camper. I don't know about the 'press valve knob' thing, mine doesn't do that.

My procedure... Turn on propane tanks. Turn on burner. Let it flow against a flame for about 30 seconds before the gas gets to the stove and the burner lights off. (Only need to do this at start of trip). Now turn oven to Pilot. Get on hands & knees. Put flame to pilot light. Hold it there for about 20 seconds until the thermocouple heats up enough. Pilot is lit.

Alternate method... Cowboy it. With flame held to oven burner, simply turn the oven on. Gas comes out, and it lights. When done, turn back to Pilot and it will stay lit.

But... I don't know anything about "pressing the valve knob". Maybe yours is different, but the Internet pictures sure look like the same oven Atwood has been making for years.

HTH & YMMV!
-Eric

[bigfootford]

Not sure if this will help but 20 years ago our Atwood pilot was always difficult to light.

I discovered that putting the control knob on some temp or broil you do not need to hold in the knob to light. It is still working and never fails to light.

Told many other folks about this over the years and they found this is the easiest way to light their Atwood.

If it does not light just make sure you turn the knob to off.

Give it a try.

Jim

[AnEv942]

Pretty sure Atwood stoves/ovens are still under Dometic name,
also ACs and other products. The chassis divsion of Atwood (jacks etc) was accuired by Lippert.

[JoeChiOhki]

The range valve that controls all of that and/or its thermocouple are probably going. The primary temperature knob is also what controls the safety mechanism that allows gas to flow to the pilot and main burner, if its bypass function isn't working properly (Pushing in the knob) then no gas will flow to the pilot.

Unfortunately, you have an Atwood brand product, so replacement parts may be harder to come by, as Lippert owns them, now.

In a pinch a replacement with a Suburban brand appliance generally solves most problems. 😛

[BradW]

Our Atwood oven pilot light has been difficult to light and keep lit the whole 22 years we have owned it. Hope you figure it out.

[joerg68]

We tried this. There is a tube that covers the pilot jet and we weren't able to disassemble this any further. The oven is an RV 1735 SSP

[Chris_Bryant]

Clean the pilot assembly.