Gas oven - safety valve thingy broken?

[HotPhil]

With the winter now here and my desire to cook a lot of casseroles, roasts etc my gas oven has inevitably broken. It's one of these where you push the knob in, ignote the gas and have to hold it in for a bit before it "takes". Problem is that mine won't stay lit. I guess that whatever the safety device is (bi-metallic strip/thermocouple?) has broken.

It's a cheap oven that I'm not too attached to and certainly wouldn't want to spend too much to repair. Anyone any idea how much it should cost to get fixed? Recommendations on who to do it/qualifications they should have (does CORGI cover it)? I'd be particularly interested in someone who won't charge a call out fee just to have a look and tell me it's uneconomical to repair....

[Bilge]

Mine has this problem too. I wondered if the gas outlet might be gunged up with grease, so cleaning it might fix it? I haven't got round to this task yet as it works most of the time and oven-cleaning isn't exactly fun.

 

I once fixed a portable gas heater with a similar problem by simply prodding a bit of wire down the pipe (where the flame would be when lit) to dislodge the blockage.

[HotPhil]

It could well be dirty, but a steady stream of gas does seem to come out when the knob is held pressed. I'm not too keen on poking around with it though - I'd only end up gassing myself!

[Gavbriggs]

tis the season too be jolly and all that! so would pop in on my rounds and tell you if its safe to keep using it and point you in the right direction of a qualified repair engineer. give me a call on 07988891400 and would gladly give a bit of advice between jobs! hope this is of some help!