It is quite easy to light a gas oven. Basically, there are three ways to light a gas oven: the Pilot Ignition System, Spark Ignition System and Hot Surface Ignition System. The later two ignition systems are called "Electronic Ignition System".

The Pilot Ignition System

In the pilot ignition system, the actual flame in the oven is referred to as pilot. Basically the pilot is lit all the time, and when the gas oven is lighted, the pilot flame gets bigger and the thermocouple bulb of the safety valve of the oven is lit. Now when the thermocouple senses heat, it automatically opens to allow gas to flow into the oven and finally the oven is lit. Make sure that the oven is lighted within 1-1 ½ minute. If it doesn't then there must be some problem.

The pilot should always stay lighted or the gas will not reach the oven. And you will never be able to light the oven for the gas pipe will get blocked with grease and cobwebs. So keep the pilot lit all the time, even when you are not using it.

Electronic Ignition Systems

To light a gas oven you can use the following two types of Electronic Ignition Systems.

Spark Ignition System
Through this system lighting a gas oven is very easy. Here you don't have to keep the pilot lighted all the time. The oven gets lighted with a "conventional" spark system. When you want to light the oven, you can just turn on the oven and gas will automatically start flowing into the oven. Once the pilot is lit, the gas valves get heated, and the gas flowing, lights the oven with a spark.

There is a new system recently discovered called the "Whirlpool Direct Spark Ignition System". In this system there is no pilot, but the "spark" ignites the gas burner directly and your gas oven is lighted.

Hot Surface Ignition System
This is the most popular and widely used "electronic ignition system". It consists of a thermostat or an electronic control mechanism, an oven gas valve and an oven ignitor.

In this system, the oven ignitor and the gas valves are connected in a series. When you light the oven, the power and heat is transferred to the gas ignitor and gas valves by the thermostat. Now, this power heats the ignitor and gas begins to flow to the open gas valve. If the system is correct then this heat will now be transferred to the oven burner, which will light the gas oven ultimately. The ignition system takes hardly 30-60 seconds to light the oven.