Philip K. for Model Number PGR366ZS The stovetop igniter continues to activate even after the burners lit. Igniter appears to be activating on all six of the burners regardless of which burner is turned on and all six continue to activate continuously. A repairman suggested that all of the igniters need to be replaced however the spark appears to be strong on all of them and Adequately lights the burners. Should I be looking at the ignition control module instead? One of the Q and A's suggest a valve for a similar sounding problem but do not go into detail. I’m not sure what valve the answer is referring to.
Answer Hello Philip, I should first explain how the unit is designed to work for a full understanding of why this issue is occurring. For safety reasons the unit is designed to spark all ignitors at the same time in case something were to be miswired and a surface burner is turned on and gas is coming in but the spark is too far away for ignition to occur since the spark is on another surface burner, creating an explosion danger. Since all burners are sparking, this eliminates this possibility. Next, the spark module is actually sensing the very low resistance of the flame and turns off the sparking when the flame is present. If the flame goes out, the spark module senses the larger resistance of the absence of the flame and will try to restart the flame by sparking all surface burner ignitors again. If a spill occurs or an increase in resistance between the metal pieces of the cooktop from normal corrosion, the resistance is increased enough that the spark module cannot sense the small resistance of the flame and will spark the ignitors. Technicians refer to this as "dropping ground" for the surface burners. Correction of the issue includes disassembly of the cooktop and cleaning, (best with sandpaper), between the connection points of the metal parts of the cooktop so when the screws are reinserted, electrical continuity is reestablished between the chassis all of the parts connected. This is so chassis ground can be electrically provided to the burner base for the spark module to sense the presence of the flame will eliminate the sparking. I hope this was not too complicated to understand but if we just told you to disassemble the unit and sand where the metals parts contact each other, you would probably think we were crazy. While the repair may take a bit of time to accomplish, no parts are required for the repair and will reestablish ground to the burner base, stopping the sparking. Read More... Answered by AppliancePartsPros.com | Saturday, April 7, 2018