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It's a whirlpool gas oven, model number SF315PEPB1. The burners work fine, the oven always preheats and works most of the time.

The problem is that sometimes once the oven preheats, it wont stay on. I'm assuming it turns off when it gets to the right temperature and then for some reason either doesn't sense that it needs to reignite or fails to reignite.

I notice that when this happens, if I ignite the burners the oven will also reignite. As a work-around I've been just clicking the burners every 5-10 minutes to make sure the oven stays hot.

What could be causing this, and what could I do to make it work correctly again?

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  • Can you post a model number?
    – ThreePhaseEel
    Jan 30, 2016 at 2:09
  • @ThreePhaseEel SF315PEPB1
    – Smern
    Jan 30, 2016 at 16:04
  • Is the igniter in the oven glowing when your oven refuses to reignite? Do you smell gas when your oven refuses to reignite, for that matter?
    – ThreePhaseEel
    Jan 30, 2016 at 21:06
  • @ThreePhaseEel, I don't notice a gas smell. I don't know if the igniter was glowing, I don't even know where it is really... I figured it was just a spark like the igniters for the stovetop burners. Mostly I just noticed that food wasn't cooked and the oven wasn't as hot as it should be... then when I ignite the stovetop burners I would hear the oven start back up again and it would get warm again.
    – Smern
    Jan 31, 2016 at 3:20
  • Can you post a photo of the wiring diagram for your stove? Also, the igniter for your oven appears to be a hot-surface type. (You'll have to take the bottom of the oven cavity, or possibly the back panel, off to access it.)
    – ThreePhaseEel
    Jan 31, 2016 at 3:48

2 Answers 2

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I know that with my gas range, whenever an igniter is used for any of the burners, it sparks them all. By guess, this is probably a safety feature in case any burner was turned on without igniting it. What I'm getting at though is that if you are able to ignite the oven by the burners, then it might be the same feature and in which case - there is gas in the oven that can be ignited. Gas should be either burning or cut off - the burner ignition should not affect it.

So, my guess is maybe a bad igniter in the oven? It might have a secondary igniter specifically for the oven that is not connected to the burners - this one could be bad or disconnected. So that when you're primarily lighting the oven, it might spark the burners (all connected as a primary igniter) or vise versa. Then the oven could have it's secondary igniter that is used for keeping the oven heated when it needs to reignite - without affecting the burners. Again, it's just a guess and you might find something about this in the manual or documentation for the range. You might also be able to see within the oven if there were a second igniter, however this might not be the case as it could be an internal wiring control that specifically ignites only the oven as well.

I don't think it'll be an easy fix, but it's most likely the igniter or rather the controls of it.

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  • it was the igniter
    – Smern
    Sep 26, 2016 at 19:35
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The oven ignitor and the surface burner ignitors are not connected at all.

When you turn your oven on the electronic control turns on electricity to the ignitor. The ignitor glows orange hot. The ignitor is connected to the gas control valve and when enough current runs through it the valve opens allowing gas to flow to the burners and then it's ignited by the hot ignitor. Usually the ignitor works or doesn't work. I've never seen one that works intermittently.

I think your issue is the temperature sensor. If it's not working properly your control doesn't know when to turn the ignitor on.

You can access it from the back of the range and test it with a multi-meter.

Here's the temperature sensor for your model oven. There's also a video of how to test it.

http://www.repairclinic.com/PartDetail/Whirlpool-Range-Stove-Oven-Temperature-Sensor/W10181986/1394200?modelNumber=SF315PEPB1&ss=a13b5d634638&mr=1

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  • There has to be something connected, because when the oven doesn't reignite and starts to cool off.. 100% always as soon as I flick the surface burner ignitors I hear a "wewph" in the oven and it starts heating up again. I will try to check the temp sensor though, I'll need to get a multi-meter. But can a temp sensor work intermittently? I'd say the oven actually does re-ignite like 70% of the time.
    – Smern
    Mar 4, 2016 at 12:57
  • That sounds really odd to me. They share the same gas and electric supply, but that's it. I suppose possible for anything to work intermittently before failing. The one time I had to replace an oven temperatures sensor it caused an error code on the display, but I think my tenant was complaining about the oven before it finally failed completely.
    – Mysterfxit
    Mar 4, 2016 at 16:48
  • Is it possible the gas flow stopped for some reason, and turning the burners got it going again?
    – Smern
    Mar 4, 2016 at 18:05
  • I don't see how. If you open second gas valve, pressure should technically drop in the first. The top burner ignition spark module is in the back near oven control electronics and maybe some interference is somehow helping? I'm just grasping at straws here.
    – Mysterfxit
    Mar 4, 2016 at 20:18
  • One more thing to test is how long it takes your oven to turn on in the first place. Remove the broiler drawer and turn the oven on. You should see the ignitor start to glow orange. Time how long it's orange before the burners ignite. It shouldn't take longer than 90 seconds.
    – Mysterfxit
    Mar 4, 2016 at 20:21

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