rvancott wrote:

I have a kenmore stove. Inconsistantly after the stove is turned on after several minutes I heard a boom from the stove. The kitchen smells like gas, but the stove is on. I would assume from your trouble shooting guide that the ignitor was the case. Do you have any insights/surgestions….Master

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This is caused by delayed ignition of the gas. You didn’t include a model number so I can’t be sure of who the real manufacturer is (RE: Who made my Kenmore?) But this was a known problem with the ignition ports on the bake burner tube in some Whirlpool-built gas ranges, including some of the ones made for Kenmore.

The ignition ports are special holes in the burner that line up with the hot-surface ignitor (the “glow plug”). When the valve opens, gas gushes through the ignition ports and hits the ignitor where it ignites. The ignition flashes back into the burner tube and ignites the gas in the remaing burner tube holes.

The problem was a manufacturing defect with the gas ignition ports on the bake burner where the ignition ports where offset just enough that it delayed the efficient ignition of the gas; instead, the gas had to flow for a few moments before it finally found the ignitor. The result was a BOOM when all that extra gas outside the burner tube ignited.

The fix was to install the new, corrected burner tube, which you can acquire here.