Oven on Atwood Stove, electrical issues

olsejoh · 07-13-2008, 02:57 PM

Still new at this trailering thing, have only been out three times thusfar, but hey, we are trying.

1) We have a 2363, with the Atwood stove. We are having so much trouble getting the oven to light, we have pretty much given up. The pilot light will ignite, but as soon as you release the knob, it goes out, and the burner does not ignite. We had it working 3 weeks ago, but it took us 45 min. to get it lit, and now this weekend nothing after almost an hour of trying, and I have no idea what I am doing wrong.

2) One of the circuit breakers in the bathroom plug will not reset. Is the answer just to replace it, or is there another trick I am not aware of?

3) When using battery power only should the electrical outlets function? The lights function, but the outlets do not. My assumption is that the electrical outlets do not function because all electric power is coming from the battery. I am guessing if an appliance was plugged in, it would drain the battery pretty quickly, even if running through the inverter.

Any help would be appreciated.

Bobo · 07-13-2008, 05:37 PM

The "circuit breaker" that you describe is a GFI outlet. Either something is not wired proper on that circuit or you have a bad GFI protector.

The power outlets will not work on battery. You must be plugged in on shoreline to get the 110 volt outlets to work. You probably have noticed that your A/C and microwave do not work when running on battery. If you do run these appliances, it is best to run on a 30 amp service. Do not try to run on a 15 amp service. It will draw too much on the circuit and cause a brown out condition. That causes your A/C to die. I suggest a volt meter that plugs into an outlet and shows the online voltage you are receiving. You can find this at Camping World for a cheap price. I already have been to 2 campgrounds, using the 30 amp service and have shown inadequate voltage to run the A/C. The lights work on battery only power because they are 12 volt.

As for the gas problem, I do not know, but someone with that expertise will chime in.

Bobo

**JohnB** · 07-13-2008, 07:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by olsejoh

Still new at this trailering thing, have only been out three times thusfar, but hey, we are trying.

1) We have a 2363, with the Atwood stove. We are having so much trouble getting the oven to light, we have pretty much given up. The pilot light will ignite, but as soon as you release the knob, it goes out, and the burner does not ignite. We had it working 3 weeks ago, but it took us 45 min. to get it lit, and now this weekend nothing after almost an hour of trying, and I have no idea what I am doing wrong.

Any help would be appreciated.

Hi John and Kim

Bobo helped you out on the electrical part, which is the most likely cause, OR you actually have a wiring problem. Before I go down the electrical trouble-shooting road, are you electrically friendly? And do you have a volt/ohm meter?

Or do you have a buddy who is?

Now to your gas stove. What you are describing sound like the thermocouple is not working right.

Tell me where I go wrong in what you are seeing.

You push the oven knob in to light the pilot, the pilot actually lights. But then when you let go of the knob it goes out?

If you look in the stove next to the pilot there is what we call a thermocouple. It is a safety sensor device that once the pilot is lit, it heats up, expands inside and sends an OK I'm lit signal to the pilot gas valve to stay open when you release the knob. That way if the pilot blows out the safety shuts the gas down.

Either that sensor got bumped and is not touching the pilot flame or it stopped working. Some times we store pots/pans etc in the oven. They move around and may have bumped it.

Hope this helps.

John

**Tweety** · 07-14-2008, 06:34 AM

Concerning your oven. Our ignition (clicker lighter) doesn't work, so I just light it with a match every time. When I light it, I have to hold the knob to "lite", BUT to keep it lit I then turn the knob to the temperature I want the oven to be. If I just let go it will go out. Also, it is much easier to light my oven if the gas has already flowed to the unit, so I usually light a burner first. Even if I then turn the burner off. I find it quite tricky.

olsejoh · 07-14-2008, 06:29 PM

Thanks for all the tips, this is great. I am going to try these tomorrow nite, and see what works.

Once again, thanks for taking the time to reply. I will let you know what happens.

**JohnB** · 07-14-2008, 09:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tweety

Also, it is much easier to light my oven if the gas has already flowed to the unit, so I usually light a burner first. Even if I then turn the burner off. I find it quite tricky.

Oh my goodness I forgot the simple stuff.....

olsejoh, Pam is dead on.

FIRST purge the air out of the gas lines by lighting the stove burners. It takes a while. Open a window to vent fresh air and use a lighter next to the burner while purging. When the burner lights, the gas has purged the air out and filled the line to the gas valve.

If you are trying to light the oven with out purging the lines......... it could take a really really really long time to have the pilot stay lit and to purdge it with the pilot.

You where talking pilot and I thought the rest of the camper was already up and working. Bad assumption....

Let us know how it goes.

John

PS Need to purge before doing the HW heater too and furnace. It helps them start faster too.

Sunline1 · 07-15-2008, 06:34 AM

If I might put my 1 1/2 cents worth in. I use the oven quite a bit in the winter. First as indicated light a burner or two on top to make sure line is purged. Next right or wrong, i hold the pilot light postion in on the dial for 1 minute, I set the timer on the overhead microwave (1 min), Then I light the pilot lightt, I have to tell you getting to the pilot light is pretty award for me, I use a regular lighter. I still have a little trouble getting it to light but I always suceed. Good luck Sunine1

olsejoh · 07-15-2008, 07:12 PM

Well, a big thanks to you all. We have managed to light the pilot and ignite the burner. This was done by moving the thermocouple over about a sixteenth of an inch, so that it was sitting directly over the pilot flame. We are now turning the burner on first as suggested.

The hardest part of this so far was putting the oven door back on as we took it off to make it easier to reach inside. This is not a good idea, as it took us a half hour and vice grips to get it back on.

The electrical issue I can resolve with a trip to CTC (Canadian Tire) to buy a new plug. I do intend to buy a volt meter as suggested, as this seems like something that would be really handy to have.

Once again, thank you all for coming to our rescue, it is nice to have access to this forum and nice folks such as you.