Series guide · On the deck
Older Viking Outdoor Grills: The T-Series and E-Series
- Series
- Viking Older T-Series and E-Series grills
- Where it lives
- On the deck
- Status
- No longer made
- Model numbers start
- No prefix in Viking’s manual. Buttons and a 9-volt battery: T-Series. Plugged in, clicking as a knob turns, lights under the hood: E-Series.
- Where the tag is
- Under the drip tray, in the rear left corner next to the gas inlet pipe. Slide the tray out once the grill is cold.
Decide first
Call or wait
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If a T-Series gives no spark when you press its button — Put a fresh 9-volt battery in the round black cap behind the drip tray. No spark on any burner after that: book a visit. Book this week
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If an E-Series stays silent when you turn a knob — Silence means no power. Make sure the plug is in and that the outlet and breaker have not tripped. Still quiet: book. Book this week
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If it sparks, but the burner has not caught after four seconds — Knob back to OFF and a five-minute pause before trying again. Several misses in a row: book. Book this week
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If the rotisserie burner dies each time you let go — Hold the knob in about five seconds longer once it lights; skip it on windy evenings. Still dropping out: book. Book this week
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If the flames turn yellow or orange and you smell gas — All knobs off, the grill's gas shutoff closed, and no relighting until it has been checked. Call today
Call today: ring Viking Appliance Repair Mercer Island at (206) 208-3377. Book this week: use the booking page.
What fails on this series
- T-Series: a press of the button, no spark Usually a flat 9-volt battery. A 30-inch grill has one, under the left end of the control panel; wider grills have two, one at each end. A greasy ignitor tip is the next suspect. Book this week
- E-Series: no clicking from any burner The grill has no power: cord out, outlet tripped, or a breaker or fuse gone. Each knob is a gas valve and an electrical switch in one, so without power nothing sparks. Book this week
- The infrared rotisserie burner will not hold a flame A thermocouple kinked or bent away from the burner, a knob released too early, or wind across the back of the grill. Black spots on the infrared screen point at the burner itself. Book this week
- Yellow or orange flame and a smell of gas The burner is getting the wrong amount of air, from an air shutter out of adjustment or something lodged in the burner inlet. Stop cooking on it until it has been opened up. Call today
- Weak heat with the knob on HIGH A kinked gas hose, a dirty orifice or burner if only one runs low, a misset air shutter, or a low gas supply that other appliances in the house would show too. Safe to wait
Two lines in one manual
Viking covered both grills in one older use-and-care manual, and the line you own decides where a lighting fault begins. The T-Series sparks from a 9-volt battery in a round black cap inside the burner box, below the battery symbol on the control panel; slide the drip tray out to reach it.
The E-Series carries no battery. It runs from a grounded outlet, and turning any knob sets the igniters clicking; a flame that blows out while gas still flows relights by itself.
Viking points its discontinued 24-inch outdoor rangetop, the VGRT244T, to this same manual, which has no rangetop chapter, so this page gives no steps for it. If one sits in your island, ask when you call and read out the full model number.
What these grills usually need
Most faults on a grill this age are one part, not the whole grill: a spent battery, a greasy ignitor tip, a thermocouple knocked out of the flame, a blocked burner inlet. Viking asks for the burners and their tubes to be inspected at least yearly, and at once if the flame turns yellow with a gas smell, the heat drops or goes patchy, or a burner pops.
Two habits from the manual protect those parts: never scrub the infrared rotisserie burner, which cleans itself, and keep foil out of the drip pans and off the racks, since trapped heat melts control knobs.
Read the full number off the tag before you call; on a discontinued grill, that is where any part search starts.
Questions about the older T-Series and E-Series grills
How can I tell a T-Series from an E-Series without the tag?
Watch how it lights. A T-Series has an ignition button for each burner, fed by a 9-volt battery. An E-Series has no battery: it plugs in, clicks as soon as a knob turns, relights a burner that blows out, and has lights in the canopy. Tell Viking Appliance Repair Mercer Island which you have at (206) 208-3377.
Can I light a burner with a match while the ignition is out?
The manual allows it. Knob off and a five-minute wait first. Then pass a lit paper match through the grid beside that burner's flash tube and push and turn the knob to HIGH, face well back. No flame: knob off, wait again. A burner that lights by match but not by spark points at the ignition.