Magic Chef Oven Troubleshooting
I have a Magic Chef oven as original equipment in my 1969 Overlander. After a couple of years of non-use, I am working on the oven. I have some questions that i'll appreciate the forum's help with.
First, the oven had one problem when I last used it: the pilot would light OK, and the oven would come up to temperature and then start to cool. When I opened the door, there'd be a small gas explosion and the pilot would be out. I never figured out what was going on, although I thought at the time that the oven was starved of air until I opened the door.
Anyway, I have now dismantled the gas lines etc. The left knob (labelled Pilot but actually the main gas switch works fine. The right hand knob (Temperature setting) also seems OK. The Gas Control valve seems to be OK, and will open the supply to the main burner when the thermocouple tube gets hot. But I cannot get the 'permanent pilot' to light.
I am attaching a photo of the pilot light assembly viewed from above.I understand that the oven is meant to work as follows. The 'permanent pilot' (upper in the photo) is meant to be alight whenever the trailer is parked. To light it, turn on the main gas switch and hold a match to the pilot. When you want to use the oven, turn the temperature control knob to the desired temperature. The temperature control knob supplies gas to the 'burner pilot' which is in turn lit by the 'permanent pilot'. The 'burner pilot' heats the thermocouple tube which then opens the gas control valve to supply gas to the main burner. The main burner is lit by the 'burner pilot'. When the oven reaches the set temperature, the temperature control valve turns off the gas supply to the gas control valve, which extinguishes both the main burner and the 'burner pilot'.
I think everything is working fine in my case, except that the 'permanent pilot' doesn't light. I cannot blow any air through the permanent pilot and it may be obstructed.
Here are my questions:
1. How can I clean the permanent pilot jet? I have been unable to get a fine wire into the hole. Would a solvent work?
2. Maybe the jet is clear, but the problem lies in the pilot tube. It looks as if this tube has a nail head sticking in the tube (right side of photo). Could this tube itself be temperature sensitive, designed to shut off gas if the pilot light goes out? I have tried heating the tube with a gas jet, but it doesn't seem to open. But it may be working OK, and my problem is really a blocked jet :-)
Thanks for hearing all this. I hope someone can help me to get the pilot to light.
Mike
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