Customer Questions and Answers for Gas Range Spark Module by Whirlpool

Hello Mike, The issue of the ignitors continuing to spark after the burner is lit is quite common and normally does not require any parts to repair. First I will explain how the units with the reignition feature are designed to operate since it is necessary to understand how it works to fully understand why it acts this way when not operating properly. 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 because the spark is occurring on another surface burner, creating an explosion danger. Since all of the burners are designed to spark at the same time, this eliminates the possibility of a gas accumulation in the room that the spark can ignite if miswired. 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 all of the ignitors to prevent the explosion hazard. 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 re-established between the chassis and all of the parts connected in turn to the burner base. This is so chassis ground will be electrically provided to the burner base for the spark module to sense the presence of the flame and will eliminate the sparking. We hope this information helps you in your repair and thank you for your inquiry.