Cooker - replacing thermocouple

[lewisnoble]

Hello everybody. I need to replace one of the thermocouples in my 2008 (pre-facelift) Cali - the burner will not stay lit however long the button is held in for. The items can be purchased via Van Centre (I think there are two different types), but I guess it is necessary to remove or lift up the hob / sink unit - not much room to get at it from inside the cupboards.

I will probably get my brother to help me with this - he is a gas fitter so can sort that out if the pipework needs dismantling - but how is the cooker / sink unit removed? Anyone know where the securing screws are?? Anyone done it??!!

All advice welcome!!

Have a good weekend at the meet, everyone.

Lewis - Sheffield

 

[gdg]

Did you manage to do this? Has anyone else done it? We have been quoted £800 (!!!) to replace the thermocouple but the part itself is cheap. Do we really need to remove the entire kitchen unit?

 

[lewisnoble]

Hello, sorry, been off line for a while.

I have just replaced this myself over the weekend, with help from my brother who is a pretty handy fella.

We removed the cooker, not difficult but very fiddly. Good set of small tools helpful. We did not find a way of replacing thermocouple without removing cooker - not enough space to get up from below. It may be possible with very small / flexible fingers, but we decided to go ahead and remove the cooker.

All done now, back together and works fine. Total time taken - about 1 hour - plus time to empty cupboards.

I am happy to write up detailed instructions and tools needed - email me on

lewis@lewisnoble.f9.co.uk

Lewis

 

[sebking]

Good stuff!

 

[lewisnoble]

Me again. . .

£800 is clearly ridiculous. I can understand van centres being reluctant to look at this - for most it will be an unfamiliar item, and the need to disconnect / reconnect gas piping leads to GasSafe and similar issues. But thermocouples can and do fail, on domestic appliances as well as camping type cookers, and are a pain if not sorted out.

My local van centre (Gilders, Sheffield) acknowledged that they had not done one before but estimated they could do it in about 1.5 hrs - not bad for an unseen estimate. They have always looked after me well.

The job is straightforward but very fiddly, and a good range of small tools and ability to figure out alternative ways of using them is a help.

Lewis