Viking Grill Will Not Light After a Wet Winter

Decide first

Call or wait

1. 1

   If you smell gas with every knob off — Close the grill’s gas shutoff, keep every flame away and call the gas utility or 911 from a distance. Call today

2. 2

   If nothing glows or clicks on any burner — Reset the outdoor GFCI outlet; on an older T-Series, change the ignition battery. Still nothing after that: book a visit. Book this week

3. 3

   If the igniter works but the burner will not catch — Knob off, wait five minutes, try once more. Gas is not reaching that burner: note which one and book. Book this week

4. 4

   If it lights, but the flame is tall, yellow and lazy — Turn that burner off, leave it off, and book. Book this week

Call today: ring Viking Appliance Repair Mercer Island at (206) 208-3377. Book this week: use the booking page.

A grill that sat under its cover from October to May and will not light on the first warm evening is rarely broken in any expensive way. The trouble is that “will not light” covers three different machines, and the check that finds the fault on one of them does nothing on the others. Start with which grill it is.

Three grills, three ways of lighting

Slide the drip tray out once the grill is cold. On most Viking grills the plate with the model and serial numbers is on the underside of the tray or near it, and the first letters of the model number sort the grill into one of three groups.

• 5 Series (model numbers starting VQGI5 built in, VQGFS5 freestanding). Hot-surface igniters that glow instead of sparking, powered from an outdoor GFCI outlet through a transformer under the grill. A 5 Series never clicks.
• Older T-Series. A push-button spark, powered by a battery held under the control panel. One battery on the 30-inch grills, two on the wider ones.
• Older E-Series. Plugs into an outlet, sparks as soon as a knob turns and relights a burner by itself if the flame blows out.

If the tag is missing or unreadable, say so when you call and describe what happens when a knob is pushed in: a glow, a click, or nothing.

Nothing happens at all

When no burner glows, sparks or clicks, the fault is almost never in the burners. It is upstream, in the part that makes the ignition work.

On a 5 Series or an E-Series that means power. Outdoor outlets are GFCI outlets, they trip, and a wet winter gives them plenty of reasons to. Find the outlet the grill is plugged into, often inside the island’s cabinet, and press its reset button. On a 5 Series the grill’s own lights are a quick test, and Viking’s manual makes switching them on the first step: no lights and no glow together say the grill is not getting power.

On a T-Series it means the battery. Viking’s manual puts it behind a round black cap inside the burner box, under the battery symbol printed on the control panel, and reaches it by sliding the drip tray out. A battery that spent the winter outdoors is worth changing before anything else is suspected.

If power is on, or the battery is new, and still nothing happens on any burner, stop there and book. The next step is behind panels.

The igniter works, the burner does not

This is the more telling case. On a 5 Series you can watch an igniter: take the grates and briquette trays off, hold the knob in while it stays at OFF, and look under the igniter’s cover with a small mirror. It should glow steadily. On a T-Series you should see a spark jump from the tip when you press the button.

If the igniter is working and the burner still does not catch, gas is not arriving where the igniter is. On the island that is usually one of three things: the grill’s gas shutoff was closed for winter and never reopened, a single burner is blocked, or the burner has shifted off its orifice after being cleaned. The first you can check yourself. The other two mean taking the burner out, and that is where the visit starts.

One burner out while the rest light is the clearest version of this. It is not dangerous, the other burners are fine to cook on, and it can wait for a booked slot.

What a lakefront winter leaves behind

The thing that turns up every spring on grills near the water is water in the drip tray. The tray has a drain plug, and Viking’s own advice is to check the tray after rain and to let the grill dry before the cover goes back on. A flame that comes up yellow and lazy is a different matter: stop cooking on that burner and book.

When it becomes a visit

Book when the power or battery checks are done and nothing lights, when one burner will not catch with a working igniter, or when any flame is yellow and tall. Call today only if you smell gas, and in that case close the shutoff first and make the call from a distance.

Before you ask

Should I keep pressing until the burner catches?

No. Viking gives a burner about five seconds; if it has not lit by then, turn the knob off and wait five minutes for the gas to clear before trying again. Tries without the wait leave unburned gas under the hood. After two honest attempts, ring Viking Appliance Repair Mercer Island on (206) 208-3377.

Can I light a Viking grill with a match?

Viking allows it, following the manual: every knob off, a five-minute wait, then a lit match in the lighting rod held at that burner’s lighting tube while its knob turns to LITE. On the 5 Series the ProSear and the right-most burner are lit another way. A burner that lights by match but not by igniter points at the igniter.

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