Magic Chef cooking appliances have been around for decades. There are many components that are common to the different models produced over the years, here are some of them.

One of the most uniquely Magic Chef items in the uni-burner. The uni-burner is a double surface burner assembly that can easily be replaced when it fails to function properly or it's appearance deteriorates with use.

What not everyone knows is that some of the individual components of these burners may be available separately.

If only certain parts of the burner have deteriorated to the point of replacement, you may be able to replace just those and keep the better part of the old burner out of the land fill.

The most common burner component needing replacement is the burner cap itself. These will discolor with age and look unsightly. They can also become plugged and produce an uneven flame making cooking with them difficult.

Another component is the uni-burner's 'flash tube'. These will often rust over time, separating from the burner causing unpredictable lighting conditions and a possible safety hazard.

Replacement drip pans can make your existing range look more presentable. Magic Chef makes this easy by packaging 4 replacements in a single replacement kit.

Replacement burner grates are also available to help beautify your existing range. These however do vary by model and should be ordered for your specific appliance.

The bake or broil ignitor is a frequent cause of delayed oven ignition or total oven failure. On electronic ignition models this part will usually need to be replaced every 3-4 years over the lifetime of the appliance.

Maycor (Magic Chef's parent company) uses a single style of ignitor to replace just about all 'flat type' Magic Chef oven ignitors, regardless of physical size. The actual color of the ignitor's ceramic base can vary from time to time and will usually be white or a light brown.

An ignitor that has a rounded body or has a blue colored ceramic base is special and needs the proper replacement.

If an older model range originally used a longer 7¼" oven ignitor, an exact replacement for that size is still available but now only from other manufacturers. It is up to the individual whether to use the shorter OEM replacement or use an exact size replacement from an alternate supplier.

When handling these particular components, extreme caution should be used. Besides becoming very hot during and after use, the ignitor's carborundum tip is extremely fragile and can be broken with the slightest mishandling. The carborundum tip should also not be touched any time with bare skin.

Used in conjunction with an oven ignitor on an electronic ignition oven is the bake/broil valve. These are electrical and wired in series with the ignitor. This is the actual device that physically opens to allow gas to flow to the respective burner. Some models may use a combination valve that controls gas to both the bake and broil burner.

Oven valves vary widely from model to model and should either be ordered for your specific appliance by model number or by the part number that may be present on the original component.

Gas valves are be very sensitive components and should never be struck during testing in an effort to try to force them to operate. Bake and broil valves contain several internal components that can easily be damaged by such force.

It may surprise you to know that the most likely cause (~75-80%) of delayed burner ignition or gas not flowing at all, is caused by a faulty oven ignitor (even if the ignitor still appears to glow) and not the oven valve. See below for additional informational links.

On pilot ignition models, a safety valve is used instead of a bake valve. This control contains a capillary tube that senses the pilot flame and assures it is lit before allowing gas to flow to the oven burner.

Although there are numerous physical designs for these safety valves, most Magic Chef ovens use the same Robertshaw^© safety valve as a replacement.

Electronic ignition gas ranges will usually also have a 'spark module'. Depending on the design of the range, it may be used for just ignition of the surface burners (blue illustration) or for both surface and oven burner(s). On this latter design, instead of an oven ignitor, a spark electrode would be used as the oven's gas ignition source.

On digitally controlled ranges, a faulty oven sensor is usually the cause of F3 and F4 failure codes and sometimes F2 as well. This parts is not usually expensive to purchase and is usually fairly easy to replace when required. One of two different lengths of sensor may be used depending on the model.

The control panel on these digitally controlled ranges can fail generating F7, F10, F0 and possibly F1 fault codes. On most models if the keypad causes the problem, the whole console panel will need to be replaced. These components attach to the actual electronic control by a ribbon connector.

On some models you may get lucky and be able to replace just the keypad itself (as illustated).

The electronic controls themselves are another story. When they malfunction they can generate an F1, F2, F5, F8, F9 or other fault code. These can be difficult to diagnose and are usually fairly expensive to replace.

Magic Chef was one of the brands that believed in continuing support for their older products still in use. In many cases functional parts were available even for 20-30+ year old appliances! Unfortunately, Whirlpool (the current owner of the Magic Chef brand) doesn't feel the same way. Parts for Magic Chef, Maytag, Caloric and other legacy brands are being discontinued quickly. If there are any parts you think might be needed in the near future, I suggest you get them now before they're gone!

In order to get other replacement parts for Magic Chef range products, you will need to supply both the complete model and serial number as it's printed on the appliance itself.

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