Jennair downdraft leaking gas from rt. side burners

[hotrodder]

We have a Jennair downdraft propane cooktop in our kitchen (model # JGD8348CDP  mfg. Oct 2007).

Last night I smelled propane. Shut off the shutoff valve under the cabinet. In an attempt to narrow down the problem, I turned the propane back on and relit the LF front and rear burners. They lit and burned at correct hight flame,etc. When I lit the right hand front and rear they lit and burned with a flame about a foot high each. I shut everything down.

I called Jennair and there is a recall on this cooktop, but only the earlier 2004 EA and ER models.

I'm guessing that the regulator is okay or the left side burners would have had issues?
Is it possible that both right hand gas valves have failed simultaneously (!) or is there something mutual that has caused this condition?

The valves look to be about $60 each. I don't want to replace them if a (inexpensive) faulty regulator might be all that is needed.

Thanks, Brian

[Bailey]

All of the burner valves are mounted on the same manifold. So the gas pressure would be the same to all. There is a tube then from the valve out to each burner. There is an air adjustment on each tube. If it were just one burner there wouldn't be much to consider, however the interesting part is why both burners. Did this just happen all at once? To both at the same time?

[Bailey]

Was rereading your post. The troubling thing is that you smelled gas. As a technician I would be looking for the source of that first. That may lead to an explanation of the out of size burner flame.

[hotrodder]

Thanks so much for your reply and info.

To answer your question; Yes, this happened all at once. Smelled a faint propane odor while standing next to the cooktop-which had never previosly happened.
In an attempt to logically divide and conquer this, the following day (yesterday);

1) I reopened the cooktops shutoff valve and monitored for leaks=no leaks.
2) fired and ran all the burners repeated times=no high flames/all were normal.
3) shut down the shutoff valve and have not used the cooktop since.

In thinking back. The last to use the cooktop prior to the event was the kids warming up soup earlier in the evening. I was in the kitchen monitoring and there were no issues. A couple of hours later was when we smelled a slight propane odor.

My thoughts are;

Could the Rt. Frt. burner valve they were using not been fully closed? Could this have caused a bit of propane to settle in the right side burner tubes and blast out both right burners upon our initial start up after smelling propane?
Or could the rt frt valve slowly be going bad and need repalacement?

I'm guessing that if the regulator fails, it fails for good rather than intermittently. Therefore I believe the regulator is okay?

Now that everything seems to be back to normal, should we cook on it a few times closely monitoring, then shutting off the propane valve after each use, then see how everything goes after a few uses? Should I replace the rt frt burner valve as a precaution? It seems really odd that both right side valves failed simultaneously.

I'd hate to start throwing parts at this if it isn't needed. (This was an expensive unit and I didn't foresee having issues with it this soon but I guess that's a whole other topic)!

Thanks,  Brian
 

[Bailey]

The regulator controls pressure to the entire stove so I can't see it being the problem. It seems like the problem would have to be the valves, although that still doesn't account for the big flames. This is the kind of call technicians hate. You show up and its working. I think you will just have to monitor it for a while.

[hotrodder]

I'll monitor/use it cautiously and shut off the supply valve after each use for awhile.
Is it a waste to replace the rt valves at this time?

I agree that it shouldn't be the regulator or all 4 burners would have had an issue.

When you say a bad valve wouldn't account for the high flame, would that mean that the high flame could only be accomplished by my above hypothesis of a slightly open valve loading gas into the tube then igniting at the later initial startup?
I've seen this happen on outdoor BBQ's when the pushbutton starter takes repeated strikes to finally ignite the propane. This results in a large initial starting flame which can be hazardous to your eyebrows.