Stove
Burner Not Working
One burner stays cold or will not light while the others work, or it heats only part of the time and a pot on it never comes to a boil.
Mon–Sat, 8am–8pm
- 5 checks before you book
- 5 questions that narrow it
- 6 causes, cheapest first
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What it
usually means.
When one burner fails and its neighbors are fine, the problem is almost always in that burner's own parts, because power or gas reaches all of them the same way. On a coil stove the coil plugs into a socket and is fed by a switch behind its knob, and any of the three can fail. Under a smooth glass top the element is fixed underneath, often with a small limiter that cuts it out if it overheats. On a gas stove each burner has its own cap, ports, igniter tip and valve, and the cap simply sitting crooked after cleaning is one of the most common reasons it will not catch. Swapping a coil into another socket, where your model allows it, tells you quickly whether the coil or the socket is to blame.
The 6 causes, cheapest first
Answer these first
Is it a coil burner, a burner under glass, an induction zone or a gas burner?
On a coil stove, does the coil work if you move it to a socket of the same size?
Does the burner not heat at all, or heat for a while and then stop?
On a gas stove, do you hear clicking at that burner, and is its cap sitting flat?
Did it stop after cleaning, a boil-over or a pan being dropped?
Check these
before you book.
Stove burner not working: 5 checks, and none of them costs anything.
Turn the burner off, let it cool, and make sure the coil is pushed fully into its socket or the gas cap sits flat.
If you smell gas at the burner that will not light, turn its knob off, leave the house and call the gas utility from outside.
On a coil stove, with everything cold and off, try the coil in a socket of the same size to see whether the problem moves with it.
Also worth checking
- On a gas stove, lift off the cap and burner head, wash off any spill, and let them dry completely before putting them back.
- Tell us which burner it is, what type of stovetop you have and what you already tried.
How soon does it need a visit?
One burner that does not work is not urgent, and you can cook on the others meanwhile. Stop using the stove if the burner sparked, smells of burning or of gas, or if the socket looks scorched.
The causes,
cheapest first.
6 things stove burner not working turns out to be, from coil or burner cap not sitting right to element under the glass has failed.
The cost guide-
01 no repair
Coil or burner cap not sitting right
A coil that is not pushed fully into its socket makes no contact, and a gas burner cap that is off center will not light evenly. Seat the coil firmly or set the cap back so it cannot rock.
-
02 low
Burned-out coil
Coils wear out, often with a visible blister or break. If the coil works in another socket, the socket or switch is the problem instead.
-
03 low
Burnt coil socket
A socket with scorched or loose contacts makes a coil work only when it is jiggled, or not at all. Replace the socket with the coil if the coil's ends are pitted.
-
04 low
Clogged gas burner
Boil-overs can fill the small ports of a gas burner, so it lights on one side only or not at all. Washing the burner head and drying it fully often fixes it; a burner base damaged by heat needs replacing.
-
05 low to moderate
Failed burner switch
The switch behind the knob decides how much power reaches the burner. When it fails, the burner may stay cold on every setting or work only on high.
-
06 moderate
Element under the glass has failed
The element beneath a smooth glass top, or its limiter, can break so that one zone never glows. The glass is lifted to reach it.
What else
it could be.
Most often confused with stovetop not heating, then gas stove won't light.
All problems
The makes
it happens on.
32 makes on this site; stove burner not working can show up on any of them. Each mark opens that make's own page.
All 32 brandsStove Burner Not Working,
where we come out.
9 metros, each with its own page.
All service areasTampa BayFL · 31 areas
Miami / South FloridaFL · 47 areas
New York MetroNY · 75 areas
HoustonTX · 36 areas
ChicagoIL · 50 areas
Los AngelesCA · 95 areas
San DiegoCA · 31 areas
Questions about
stove burner not working.
Can I buy a new coil myself?
Why does my burner work only if I wiggle it?
One gas burner lights only halfway around. Is that the same problem?
Is it worth fixing one burner on an old stove?
Back to your everyday
Still seeing stove burner not working?
Book with what you checked above — 5 answers save the technician the first part of the visit.