Answers · Ignition and gas
Why does a gas oven smell of gas for a moment at startup?
A brief whiff as the oven lights points to gas reaching the burner before it catches. A smell that stays: get outside, then call 911 or the gas utility. Viking Repair Redmond, (425) 585-2373.
A cooktop burner with its cap lifted off. The oven burner lights out of sight below, so late ignition is smelled before it is seen.
- 01Burner with its cap off
- 02Convection fan cover
Check, in this order
-
Note when the smell comes: only in the first seconds of light-off, or all along?
pass first seconds only: switch the oven off and book an ignition check fail it lingers or grows: leave the house now and call from outside
-
Listen as the oven lights: does the burner catch quietly, or with a pop or thump?
pass quietly: say how often the whiff comes when you book fail a pop or thump: stop using the oven until ignition is checked
-
Still failing? Stop there and call Viking Repair Redmond on (425) 585-2373 — $89 diagnosis, credited to the repair.
Why gas can arrive before the flame
On Viking free-standing gas ranges that light the oven with a glow-bar, the igniter, gas valve and thermostat share one circuit. Viking’s service manual says the valve opens only once the hot igniter passes about 3.2 to 3.6 amps.
A worn igniter passes less, so the valve opens part way. The manual lists gas odors, a flame on one side of the burner and a falling oven temperature among the signs.
Self-clean Viking gas ranges light the oven by spark instead. With no flame proven, the control shuts the gas, waits, retries, then ends in an ignition lockout.
When the smell is sharp, not gassy
A pungent smell while the oven runs is another fault. Viking’s manual ties it to lazy flames burning incompletely, and says it almost always travels with carbon monoxide, which has no smell.
Stop and call if
- Gas hangs in the air after the burner has lit, or after the oven is off: go outside before phoning anyone.
- A sharp, stinging smell comes with a lazy, yellow-tipped flame.
Cost Every repair band is printed on the homepage price table, quoted and agreed before any work.
- Checked by
- Hollis Yamada
- Bench role
- Service technician — refrigeration and cooking
- At the bench
- 21 years in the trade
- Revised
