Tenant says oven not working properly

[Jen H.]

Hi Landlords, My tenants have complained that their oven seems to have stopped working correctly. They said It turns on and produces some heat but not enough to actually cook anything. Also a couple of the burners won't light without holding a lighter to the gas. Any one know what this could be and how to remedy? Or time for a new oven all together? Thanks!

[Stephen E.]

@Jen H. Combining your post's title and the text it seems you are saying that the oven comes on but does not get hot enough to cook, and that the burners do not automatically light. My bet is that these are two separate problems and two separate repairs. The oven has an electric igniter that has to remain on while the oven is on. These things can begin to fail and light but then go out hence the oven starts up but then starts switching on and off, never getting to the desired temperature. The parts are fairly cheap and they are on the easier end of things to install but you may not wish to do this.

On the burners there is a device that looks like a rectangular box called a spark module and it generates a spark to light the burners. These can fail also. The burners could be the individual igniter electrodes but those are relatively cheap. This would be a bit more involved to change I think. I have replaced oven igniters but never a spark module. Both of these items going at once causes me to think that this stove could be fairly old. In which case I would get quotes on a replacement basic model from the appliance stores as well as get a repair tech in there ASAP to give you  a quote on repair. If it is 5-7 years old and repair costs are $200 then I would consider repair. Any more than that either on age or on repair cost and I would probably replace. FYI spark modules are on Ebay for $30-$60 and gas oven igniters for $20-$50. Labour would be more and the repair guy is going to be marking up parts. I just looked at Home Depot's site out of interest and they have a Whirlpool stainless steel gas stove at 34% off for $458! A white Hotpoint model is $409. You have to pay tax, and costs to deliver and haul away old so that could be $125 or so but replacement does look pretty good, even though the repairs are likely relatively simple.

Whatever you do I would get it done soon unless you want tenants leaving early. The stove is going to be important to tenants and it is a quality of life issue. The last stove I had go out I replaced within 48 hours. I have good long term tenants and I want them to stay that way.