Ruud kitchen range igniter and gas valve troubleshooting?

The hot surface igniter often looses it's ability to get hot enough to open the gas safety valve. The safety valve can fail, but most times it is just a bad hot surface igniter. The hot surface igniter can also quit part way through cooking , in other words the oven may cycle a couple of times and then it just sits there with the red glow from the igniter.

See the procedure below for how it works:---

Hot surface igniters do weaken and will eventually generate less heat than they normally could. When this happens they can still allow marginally correct current to flow to the oven gas valve for it to open but not get quite hot enough to ignite the gas burner immediately. When this happens, gas released into the oven can sometimes build up to the point where when finally ignited, the amount of gas lit can cause a small explosion inside the oven or cause an odor of gas with out the oven working. Yes, your glow bar igniter can glow orange-red and still be bad!!

How a common gas valve works,Click the link below:---

http://www.applianceaid.com/how-bake-valve-works-C21.pdf

-------------

Electrical current passing through the ignitor operates a small heater that ‘warps’ an internal piece of bimetal to open the gas valve. As long as the burner flame continues to heat the ignitor, its electrical resistance remains low enough to keep the valve turned on. If, for any reason, the flame is extinguished, the igniter's resistance increases and the valve turns off the gas to the burner.

While the valves are very reliable, the igniters have become the most common parts failure on these systems.

If your oven doesn’t light, but you see the ignitor glowing, it will most likely be glowing a very dull red and not drawing enough current to operate the valve. Or, in some cases, it will operate the valve very slightly and you’ll smell some gas odor. Neither case is desirable or acceptable!

Watch a clock or stopwatch. If it takes more than 2 minutes to light, you’ll want to replace the ignitor; it’s the culprit in 90% of these. And this is the best way for you to diagnose your ignition system! In most cases, that’s all there is to it. You don’t even have to worry about wire polarity on the new ignitor – they can be wired either way. Just be sure it’s wired like the old one, and not connected to 120V directly, or it will burn out. Ignitor and valve must be in series with each other, or you’ll burn out one or both, fast!

If you’ve replaced the ignitor and it glows but the oven still doesn’t light, it’s time for a new valve. They’re pricier, but I usually recommend doing this once in a range’s life if necessary. Still much cheaper than a new range.

If there’s no ‘glow’ at all, take a close look at the ignitor, and you’ll often see a crack, or it may even be obvious that it’s broken apart. You can use an ohmmeter to test for continuity if no cracks are visible.