Q Ignitors

[Kyle in Woodstock]

Currently have 3 Q200s and I thought only one had a working ignitor.

I cleaned up the other two "broken" ignitors and noticed that they are still producing a spark. When the old school red button style ignitors start to go bad, do they just produce a weaker spark?
Or do you think the little metal conductor thing where the spark made close to the burner tube wears out?

I tried swapping around the ignitors and burner tubes on the two grills with what I thought had bad Ignitors and I got a set to work. Strangely enough the old dirtier looking ignitor matched with the older dirtier looking burner tube works like a charm.

Glad I didn't buy new ones. Still need to figure out if I can get the third one working again.

 

[Bruce]

Those old piezo igniters are sooo much better than the newer electronic ones. I would think that if they are producing spark, then they are good. YOu can test for how powerful the spark is by holding the wires apart at varying distances and pushing the button to see how wide of a gap it will jump. It should be over a half inch or more. Just be careful because those little buggers can put out a bit of current and you will feel it if you are not careful.
On the Q grills, sometimes the contact with the white insulator gets broken or misaligned and causes problems. Buying a whole new igniter for a Q grill is kind of expensive, but if you just need the peizo button, you can use one off a Genesis or other gas grill. You can by them off Amazon for about $8

 

[A Lee]

If you're seeing a spark, but burner isn't lighting, I would assume fuel isn't coming out near the electrode. Try cleaning your burner holes.

 

[Kyle in Woodstock]

If you're seeing a spark, but burner isn't lighting, I would assume fuel isn't coming out near the electrode. Try cleaning your burner holes.

I’ll take another look at the holes near the ignitor. I know on one of them after the gas lights the flame seems to really flame up a lot near the igniter.

 

[Bruce]

You will get a larger and usually yellow flame right at the igniter because it has extra holes in the burner at that spot for ensuring enough gas to light it. It is normal. It should not be excessive however.