Mount Vernon AE ignitor replacement

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BigJohnfromCT

BigJohnfromCT

Feeling the Heat
Dec 29, 2012
327
Danbury, CT
This last Monday my ignitor quit. It lasted almost 4 years of constant running so it owed me nothing. I bought a new one and, although I replaced it, it was quite a job getting the wires routed correctly. I searched this site but could find no threads on the subject. The new ignitor came with instructions BUT they were marginal at best and the illustrations were very blurry. Do any of you have any tricks you use? I tried to take off the small lower ash shelf in front of the stove so I could get my head a little closer to work area but to no avail. For those of you that don't have an AE a lot of the task is done by feel or with a mirror. Thanks for reading and thanks for any suggestions.
 
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john193 said:
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No I have not. Thanks John. I keep forgetting to use youtube for a lot of projects and if costs me dearly. One poster said he can change his ignitor in 15 minutes. Took me more like 90. Guess I have a lot to learn. Thank you again.
 
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So I watched the video and the first thing I noticed is that the tech had the stovexupxon a work bench AND it looks like the ash shelf was not on the stove. Both of those would make a huge difference IMO.
 
That was nothing, my first igniter lasted four years also at the end when it was marginal I would add a small piece of toilet paper to get it to light. When the season ended I attempted to remove the wing nut that holds the igniter in place. Turns out the wing nut was stripped when it was factory installed. I had the tech come to the house, he couldn't get it off either. He had to remove the pot and drill it out to replace it. A few hours later it was fixed.
 
PelletRat said:
That was nothing, my first igniter lasted four years also at the end when it was marginal I would add a small piece of toilet paper to get it to light. When the season ended I attempted to remove the wing nut that holds the igniter in place. Turns out the wing nut was stripped when it was factory installed. I had the tech come to the house, he couldn't get it off either. He had to remove the pot and drill it out to replace it. A few hours later it was fixed.
Click to expand...
I would think something else was wrong as the igniter either works, or it doesn't. It doesn't slowly fade away. kap
 
After you change a couple of them it gets easy. I take out the ash pan and lay on the ground get out the flash light. Take off the right panel so you can unplug the igniter. My first igniter lasted a long time and know I changed out my burn pot and the lower wattage igniter that came with it. Hopefully it will last longer.
 
smg64ct said:
After you change a couple of them it gets easy. I take out the ash pan and lay on the ground get out the flash light. Take off the right panel so you can unplug the igniter. My first igniter lasted a long time and know I changed out my burn pot and the lower wattage igniter that came with it. Hopefully it will last longer.
Click to expand...
Hopefully you saved your old pot to modify yourself for a spare. kap
 
kappel15 said:
I would think something else was wrong as the igniter either works, or it doesn't. It doesn't slowly fade away. kap
Click to expand...

I agree it should either work or not ...... but this was a slow fade away where it wouldn't get bright red then it would dump the pot because it didn't light in a certain period of time, hence the toilet paper. Once the new one was installed it functioned like new.
 
That is the first I've heard of one being partially warm. kap
 
kappel15 said:
That is the first I've heard of one being partially warm. kap
Click to expand...


It worked but was very dim. According to the tech that replaced it if the ash pan gets to full and the clinkers touch the igniter while it's heating up it causes a cold spot or a portion of the igniter that doesn't heat the same as the rest of the igniter.
 
Huh. Weird. Once again, I have never seen it. I have seen partially blocked igniter slits that would stop a fire from starting. kap
 
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