Viking Range Repair
My wife's pride and joy is her Viking 6 top range. When we were building our house there were the inevitable holdups and set backs; when this happened, she would go to State Street Discount and "Visit" her kitchen. Now that we've been here a while, it's my responsibility to make sure it keeps running in tip top shape. The fact that I'm not an authorized Viking technician is of course completely irrelevant.
This December it got personal. She informed me that I would not be getting a chocolate cake for my 28 sobriety anniversary because the oven would not heat above 200ºF. So I did what any other nerd would, I googled the model number and started looking for parts vendors.
Nothing about the problem for vikings but a few blog hits on similar behavior for other ovens. Seems the most likely culprit is the thermostat assembly which houses the temperature knob. Another possibility is that only one burner is running. Yep, only one is lighting. Bother! But that's still 7500BYU. It explains why pre-heat takes longer than expected, not why the working burner shuts off at 200. So I bought two igniters and a thermostat for ~$700 (WTF!). In hind sight I should also have purchased a convection fan since it's not always starting when you flip the switch. but that's another task now.
The igniters are easy to replace. I'd already paid someone to do that a couple years ago. Unfortunately he's retired and no one will service my oven unless I take it to them. Yeaaaaa NO!
It's really easier if you remove the door. open it a bit then pull up and wiggle until it comes off. Easy Peasy even if you're pulling harder than you think you should. Two spring loaded hing flanges will snap back against the oven when the door comes off. To replace the door, pull the hinge flange out to ~30º and push down on a little metal button in the elbow. There's a little lock lever and pawl that keeps the hinge open. When you slide the door over the flange it pushes the lever back down releasing the pawl and door closes with spring assist.
With the door off remove everything from the oven so you can take out the pan on the bottom. This is a good time to do some spring cleaning even if it's not spring. Under the door hinge you'll find a couple small screws that hold the cover under the door in place. remove then and wiggle the cover off the oven. You'll find what's pictured above. Mine already had insulated tab connectors but according to that service guy some do not and you'll need to crimp some in to place. The key here is that this is a high temp area and nylon insulated connectors will melt and short Mains voltage to the oven. That's a shock and fire hazard so don't go cheap if you need to crimp in connectors.
In this picture you'll notice I've removed the metal bracket the burner hangs from. There is a small screw at the back of the fire box holding the other end of the burner in place. Now just slide the burner and igniter out the front of the oven. Trust me, this is way easier than trying to deal with the igniter by just stuffing your head in the oven and fighting with the little screws in a crampt fire box. Oh, and try not to touch the black sparkly surface on the igniters, finger prints will cause them to fail sooner. This is also a good time to do some dusting and de-greasing while you have the cover plate off.
Placing the burners on a towel makes it easy to replace the igniters and get them screwed firmly back on the burners. I don't believe the igniters have a polarity but I plugged them back in the way they were disconnected just to be on the safe side. This is why I take lots of pictures as I'm disassembling. Slide the burners back in and make sure they're set on the gas line before replacing that little metal bracket that they hang from.
Now let's replace the oven thermostat. Start by taking all the knobs off by pulling on them, they're held in place by spring friction. For each of the top burners, there's another small screw that holds the face plate to the frame and the ring to the face plate. All of these need to come off. On each corner of the face plate are four sice finish screws. Once all four are out the face place will fall off. I used the cleaning tray to catch it. I also took more pictures to remember where each wire went. Again, this is a good time to do some cleaning but DO NOT use an alcohol based cleaner on the face plate or you risk erasing all the printing. OOPS.
Here is where things get ugly and I stopped taking pictures so bear with me. First, I have no idea if those two red wires have a polarity so I put a piece of painters tape on one to tell them apart. Just don't forget to remove the tape when re-assembling. That flat tape covers a thin copper tube that runs all the way inside the oven box. It can't be detached from the thermostat without breaking it and the new part will come with one all coiled up. You will need to pull the oven away from the wall and remove two large sheets of metal covering the back of the oven to follow it's path inside the oven. Sorry, there is no easy way to do this. On the inside back wall of the oven you'll find the thin copper tube ends in a larger bulb about eight inches long and a quarter inch in diameter. it's fastened to the back of the oven with a small screw and metal clip. Unscrew and unclip the bulb and fish it back out of the oven.
While you're threading the new one back in, be careful not to kink the thin tube or bend the bulb. Also be careful not to bend the thin tube too often in the same place or you risk cracking it. Once the bulb is clipped and screwed in place, work you way back along the tube. Us a pencil stub or larger diameter as a bending radius and make sure the thin copper tube does not touch or rub on any other metal. the contact of two different metals will cause electrolysis resulting in the little copper tube eroding to make a hole. This is why my oven failed. The installer pinched the little tube between the Teflon coated propane line and the metal on the back cover of the oven. I was lucky it was the thermostat that failed and not the propane line. There was enough slack in the thermostat to allow me to route the tube away from the burners and drip pan.
Once everything was hooked up and working I replaced all the metal plates and covers. This was my fatal mistake. I neglected to test the convection fan first and only found out a week later it was not always running. Now I have to take everything apart again to replace that. Oh Well. Life goes on and a honey do list is never completed.
This December it got personal. She informed me that I would not be getting a chocolate cake for my 28 sobriety anniversary because the oven would not heat above 200ºF. So I did what any other nerd would, I googled the model number and started looking for parts vendors.
Nothing about the problem for vikings but a few blog hits on similar behavior for other ovens. Seems the most likely culprit is the thermostat assembly which houses the temperature knob. Another possibility is that only one burner is running. Yep, only one is lighting. Bother! But that's still 7500BYU. It explains why pre-heat takes longer than expected, not why the working burner shuts off at 200. So I bought two igniters and a thermostat for ~$700 (WTF!). In hind sight I should also have purchased a convection fan since it's not always starting when you flip the switch. but that's another task now.
The igniters are easy to replace. I'd already paid someone to do that a couple years ago. Unfortunately he's retired and no one will service my oven unless I take it to them. Yeaaaaa NO!
It's really easier if you remove the door. open it a bit then pull up and wiggle until it comes off. Easy Peasy even if you're pulling harder than you think you should. Two spring loaded hing flanges will snap back against the oven when the door comes off. To replace the door, pull the hinge flange out to ~30º and push down on a little metal button in the elbow. There's a little lock lever and pawl that keeps the hinge open. When you slide the door over the flange it pushes the lever back down releasing the pawl and door closes with spring assist.
With the door off remove everything from the oven so you can take out the pan on the bottom. This is a good time to do some spring cleaning even if it's not spring. Under the door hinge you'll find a couple small screws that hold the cover under the door in place. remove then and wiggle the cover off the oven. You'll find what's pictured above. Mine already had insulated tab connectors but according to that service guy some do not and you'll need to crimp some in to place. The key here is that this is a high temp area and nylon insulated connectors will melt and short Mains voltage to the oven. That's a shock and fire hazard so don't go cheap if you need to crimp in connectors.
In this picture you'll notice I've removed the metal bracket the burner hangs from. There is a small screw at the back of the fire box holding the other end of the burner in place. Now just slide the burner and igniter out the front of the oven. Trust me, this is way easier than trying to deal with the igniter by just stuffing your head in the oven and fighting with the little screws in a crampt fire box. Oh, and try not to touch the black sparkly surface on the igniters, finger prints will cause them to fail sooner. This is also a good time to do some dusting and de-greasing while you have the cover plate off.
Placing the burners on a towel makes it easy to replace the igniters and get them screwed firmly back on the burners. I don't believe the igniters have a polarity but I plugged them back in the way they were disconnected just to be on the safe side. This is why I take lots of pictures as I'm disassembling. Slide the burners back in and make sure they're set on the gas line before replacing that little metal bracket that they hang from.
Now let's replace the oven thermostat. Start by taking all the knobs off by pulling on them, they're held in place by spring friction. For each of the top burners, there's another small screw that holds the face plate to the frame and the ring to the face plate. All of these need to come off. On each corner of the face plate are four sice finish screws. Once all four are out the face place will fall off. I used the cleaning tray to catch it. I also took more pictures to remember where each wire went. Again, this is a good time to do some cleaning but DO NOT use an alcohol based cleaner on the face plate or you risk erasing all the printing. OOPS.
Here is where things get ugly and I stopped taking pictures so bear with me. First, I have no idea if those two red wires have a polarity so I put a piece of painters tape on one to tell them apart. Just don't forget to remove the tape when re-assembling. That flat tape covers a thin copper tube that runs all the way inside the oven box. It can't be detached from the thermostat without breaking it and the new part will come with one all coiled up. You will need to pull the oven away from the wall and remove two large sheets of metal covering the back of the oven to follow it's path inside the oven. Sorry, there is no easy way to do this. On the inside back wall of the oven you'll find the thin copper tube ends in a larger bulb about eight inches long and a quarter inch in diameter. it's fastened to the back of the oven with a small screw and metal clip. Unscrew and unclip the bulb and fish it back out of the oven.
While you're threading the new one back in, be careful not to kink the thin tube or bend the bulb. Also be careful not to bend the thin tube too often in the same place or you risk cracking it. Once the bulb is clipped and screwed in place, work you way back along the tube. Us a pencil stub or larger diameter as a bending radius and make sure the thin copper tube does not touch or rub on any other metal. the contact of two different metals will cause electrolysis resulting in the little copper tube eroding to make a hole. This is why my oven failed. The installer pinched the little tube between the Teflon coated propane line and the metal on the back cover of the oven. I was lucky it was the thermostat that failed and not the propane line. There was enough slack in the thermostat to allow me to route the tube away from the burners and drip pan.
Once everything was hooked up and working I replaced all the metal plates and covers. This was my fatal mistake. I neglected to test the convection fan first and only found out a week later it was not always running. Now I have to take everything apart again to replace that. Oh Well. Life goes on and a honey do list is never completed.