I’m doing the annual cleaning of my Ravelli Francesca. The igniter is original and running about 8 seasons or so now. Should I replace the igniter now while I have the stove open and out? It’s easily accessible to change, getting the stove positioned to access it is the difficulty once it’s reassembled.
Proactive replacement of igniter opinions
- Thread starter Manly
- Start date
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Whitenuckler
Minister of Fire
I wouldn't change it until it's broken. Depending on the quality of the new one the old one could be better. Is there some way you could change it without so much work? I'm in the same situation in away as my stove in tucked into a corner and I'd need to disconnect it and pull it out for anything major. My igniter is in the front, but all the wiring heads back. Can you light yours manually?
I am inclined to leave it in place. It could last as long as the stove for all I know. This stove is a corner installation so it’s tough to service most components when it’s in place. I have a castle Serenity in my garage that burns out an igniter in one or two seasons max. That requires the auger motor to be completely removed to change the igniter.
Whitenuckler
Minister of Fire
I'm not sure if you can use logic to decide unless an igniter had a predefined life. Even a new one could fail if it was dropped or some manufacturing issue caused it to fail. You could burn one in on the bench to prove it's OK, but it's not going to be in the exact placement like it would be in the stove. Just installing one could damage it. Might as well take a trip to Las Vegas and play the machines.
bogieb
Minister of Fire
My stoves still have original igniters, so my vote is run it till it breaks. I did get a spare a long ago, just in case.
I only replace them if and when they die. I do keep a spare on hand, along with several other parts in case something does fail mid-winter so I don't have to wait for replacements. I even have all three motors because as they got noisy, I picked up replacements and rebuilt the noisy ones with new bearings to keep as spares. Then I can do the same if an installed motor gets noisy.
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