proper wiring of stove igniter, I get no spark

[lloyd5641]

I have a Cramer/Dometic 3 burner stove in my little 13ft. fiberglass Trillium..The button that sets the spark to ignite the burners does not work. I look under it and found the white wire (hot I believe) was connected and the black one just hangs there and connected to nothing. Where would that black wire go? Is it a common or negative wire? If I knew where it goe, the spark might work...

thanks for your help...Lloydproper wiring of stove igniter, I get no spark

[opnspaces]

where is the other end of the black wire connected, does it go to the push button? Maybe get a long wire and connect it to the black wire and hold the other end near the electrode and see if it sparks. Don't bother turning on the gas as you're not trying to burn yourself, just seeing it you can get a spark working. If it sparks there then you know the igniter still works and you can start looking for a bare metal part of the stove to attach it the black wire to. unless of course the black wire is the one with the current on it. You can test that by holding a bare end of it near a burner but not near the electrode and see if it sparks.

[lloyd5641]

Wayne asked about my igniter...it's the push down, hold down button variety, until it lights the gas. It sparks pretty loudly when it works and all my electrodes are very clean since I ddin't use my rv very much in the ten years I owned. it sorry to say. I will try again and attach that black wire to the stove to ground it and see what happens..wish me luck....Lloyd

[George_H]

Fought that loose wire for years, kept coming loose from spade on back of switch.

[D_E_Bishop]

This may help, the manual igniter does require two wires, one should be attached to the steel frame of the stove and one should go to the end of the ceramic deviceelectrode) that has a faston type fitting on one end and a little rod that should be about 1/8" from the burner. The little rod is like the center of a spark plug and when you push the button or twist the knob, a spark will be created and pass through the gas coming out of the burner.

Stoves with multiple burners should have multiple sparkers, one at each burner and all in parallel and sparking at the same time.

Most propane devices in RVs have the igniters, home appliances now used elements that glow red hot and ignite the gas. BBQs use the same manual igniter systems although some are battery powered instead of the loud snapping type. I'm not sure but I don't think the igniter will work if the wires are reversed.

If your stove is wired correctly and the gap is +/- 1/8", it should be okay.

[WayneAt63044]

Let's start over. What type igniter do you have? My range originally had a knob that you turned. It would click loudly and create a spark at the electrode on the burner. It was so noisy that I replaced it with a battery operated one purchased at a hardware store that mounted in the same hole.

Never-the-less, any electrical device requires 2 contacts for current flow. In order for a spark to jump from the burner electrode to the burner casting, the spark generator has to be connected to the electrode and the burner base.

[lloyd5641]

I tried it but it didn't work. When you say the spark should jump between white and black, could you be more specific? Thanks

[WayneAt63044]

Try connecting it to the range surface (ground). The spark should jump between white and black.

To clarify, I'm thinking you have one with the rotary knob that creates the sparks and the white wire is going to the burner electrodes.