September 3, 2020 - New Igniter Installed in Homer's Stove

Today the new igniter arrived for the stove in Homer. The old one is a Piezo sparker and it only threw out a spark about one out of ten times it was pushed. It also makes a very loud popping sound when it is pushed. We always had to push it multiple times to get the flame to light. Here is a picture of it after I took it out. It's a pretty simple piece of equipment.

I replaced it with an igniter like the ones used on outdoor BBQ grills. The new one creates a spark via a AA battery. Here is a picture of it with the push button and battery removed before I installed it.

The BBQ igniter is much larger than the Piezo with the bulk of it being to the right of the mounting threads. This put it under the gas manifold. I had measured the area before I ordered it to make sure it would fit. I still had to take the manifold loose to maneuver the igniter into place. The diameter of the threads on the new igniter were larger so I had to enlarge the hole on the front of the stove to mount it. Here is a picture of the mounting hole before I enlarged it. Luckily I had a metal router bit to use in my drill for this purpose. It proved a lot easier than enlarging the hole with a hand file.

Here is a picture of the new igniter installed. It continuously fires as long as you hold in the button. This is a nice improvement over the old one which only sparked once and then you had to push it again, and again, and again.

Another 27 year old part replaced and improved.  Homer loves all the attention.