Magic chef oven pilot light difficult to keep lit

[Nhyrum]

We have an 08 surveyor with a magic chef oven(I can't find a model number) and recently the pilot light is difficult to keep lit. The manual offers some help, but not very much detail.

The range is a three burner cook top with a piezo ignition for the top burners, but manual ignition for the oven. The pilot lights pretty easy, but no matter how long I hold the knob it, once I let go, the pilot goes out. 30 seconds to a minute, doesn't matter. But eventually after a half hour, I guess I finally held my tongue just right and it will stay lit, but both times(the last two times trying to use the oven) it would eventually light when I turned the knob from pilot to a temperature keeping the knob pushed in, but that's not a 100% success rate(probably like 10%, but everything else is 0% so far) I've tried holding the lighter to the thermocouple, seeing if that helps, and it doesn't seem to. I've tried bleeding air from the lines(unlikely, we're hooked up to a 120 gallon tank) it was filled recently, maybe that has something to do with it, it started after the refill, but I'm not sure if it happened the first time using the oven after the fill.

The manual I have that came in the packet of manuals for the trailer is manual 8110P274-60 Rev 1 if that helps narrow down what range we have. The troubleshooting guide in the manual list plugged, clogged, kinked or leaking pilot tubing, the regulator, and the knob. I'm not too keen about trying to undo the gas line at the pilot to maybe run a pipe cleaner through it, as I don't believe I have the right wrenches, and I'd rather have a pilot that takes a half hour to light than ruin the gas line trying to use an all-sixteenths wrench and not have an oven at all. Is it possible to just run something like a pipe cleaner through the pilot? What's the best way to clean it out?

Then, how can I start to troubleshoot the regulator (I'm not sure if they mean the regulator at the bottle or if the appliance has a regulator that's separate from the knob) and the knob?

How bad would it be to leave the pilot on? My wife is pretty convinced that if we do, were not going to wake up the next morning, or wake up in a crater. While I don't completely disagree with her, her fears aren't completely unfounded. The pilot isn't burning much propane, so there's not much carbon monoxide, and I'm sure our doors leak enough air to compensate, I just don't know if I'd bet our lives on it.

 

[Dwilcox]

Sounds from your description that the thermocouple is failing or too far from the pilot flame from being bumped out of adjustment. I would check where the flame is located in relation to the thermocouple. If it looks good, I would remove it and test it. You would need a good Digital multimeter reading millivolts to do this. It might be less expensive if you don't have a good meter to just replace it.
I would not leave a gas appliance on that does not function properly.

 

[Nhyrum]

Sounds from your description that the thermocouple is failing or too far from the pilot flame from being bumped out of adjustment. I would check where the flame is located in relation to the thermocouple. If it looks good, I would remove it and test it. You would need a good Digital multimeter reading millivolts to do this. It might be less expensive if you don't have a good meter to just replace it.
I would not leave a gas appliance on that does not function properly.

The flame from the pilot hits the thermocouple just at it's very tip. I thought this might be part of the solution, so I tried to move things around to get the thermocouple more in the flame, but I couldn't get anything to bend to move it. I'm not able to look at the thermocouple at the moment, but is it something where I could loosen some jam nuts, screw the probe in more and retighten the nuts?

 

[Dwilcox]

The flame from the pilot hits the thermocouple just at it's very tip. I thought this might be part of the solution, so I tried to move things around to get the thermocouple more in the flame, but I couldn't get anything to bend to move it. I'm not able to look at the thermocouple at the moment, but is it something where I could loosen some jam nuts, screw the probe in more and retighten the nuts?

I would need to look at it. you can on ours.

 

[Freetyme]

Sounds from your description that the thermocouple is failing or too far from the pilot flame from being bumped out of adjustment. I would check where the flame is located in relation to the thermocouple. If it looks good, I would remove it and test it. You would need a good Digital multimeter reading millivolts to do this. It might be less expensive if you don't have a good meter to just replace it.
I would not leave a gas appliance on that does not function properly.

Thermocouple my guess also. They can go bad. Experience with thermocouples is the probe should be cleaned periodically with a fine sandpaper. Can you increase the pilot flame a bit as in a gas fireplace , it needs to sense the flame to keep the gas valve open. If no problem with top burners , could check the orofice for dirt if flame isn't sufficient to satisfy the thermocouple .

 

[Mookie58]

Yes, I would try cleaning the thermocouple with emery cloth or very fine sandpaper first. Wipe clean with a damp towel after.

 

[rich.p]

I just turn my oven dial up to whatever temperature I want as soon as the pilot lights, and the big burner comes on. Then the pilot light is out of the picture.

Or am I missing something?

 

[Mariana NC]

A while back we had all kinds of problems with our stove. The flames were yellow, there was a faint gas smell whenever we lit the stove and sometime we'd have to turn on the furnace to get the stove to light! (I know... weird ... the repair guy didn't believe that actually worked until we proved it to him!) Also didn't realize we should bleed the gas line every time we refilled the gas tanks or the gas might not get to the fridge, since they use the same gas line! (... that was an expensive learning experience!) We had everything checked out by our repair guy, replaced the regulator, etc. We had someone else look at the stove and told us about ANOTHER regulator (on the top of the stove) that no one ever mentioned. Don't know if that might be related to your problem ... but it might be worth checking into.

 

[Larry-NC]

I just turn my oven dial up to whatever temperature I want as soon as the pilot lights, and the big burner comes on. Then the pilot light is out of the picture.

Or am I missing something?

Yes, you are missing something. When you are baking (at a set temperature), the main burner cycles on and off to keep the oven near the set temperature. If the pilot light is out, as soon as the oven cycles off the first time, it won't/can't come back on.

 

[rich.p]

Well of course. Should have had some more coffee before I posted.

 

[Nhyrum]

Ok, so the thermocouple can't be adjusted for flame position. The rear nut is pressed onto the fitting for the thermocouple, kind of like a ferrule. It might be dirty, because once the pilot lights, it will stay lit and the oven cycles fine, so I think that rules out a faulty or inoperable thermocouple. I'll clean it with some emery or red scotch Brite and try again next time

 

[Larry-NC]

Ok, so the thermocouple can't be adjusted for flame position. The rear nut is pressed onto the fitting for the thermocouple, kind of like a ferrule. It might be dirty, because once the pilot lights, it will stay lit and the oven cycles fine, so I think that rules out a faulty or inoperable thermocouple. I'll clean it with some emery or red scotch Brite and try again next time

Sometimes you can bend either the thermocouple bracket or the bracket that holds the pilot flame element.

 

[Nhyrum]

Sometimes you can bend either the thermocouple bracket or the bracket that holds the pilot flame element.

I tried. I didn't try very hard, but the bracket the pilot and thermocouple are mounted in are pretty heavy duty. I wasn't wanting to break anything.