Cooktop Burner Not Heating

Checks you can do safely before you call

1. Turn every knob or zone off and let the surface cool. Coils and glass hold heat for a while after use, so start every check on a cold cooktop.
2. Check the breaker. Look in your electrical panel for a tripped cooktop breaker and reset it once. If it trips again, switch it off and leave it off.
3. Swap the coil on a coil cooktop. With the breaker switched off, lift the cold coil and pull it straight out of its receptacle. If the receptacle or the coil's terminals look scorched, pitted or melted, stop here and leave the breaker off. Otherwise plug in a working coil of the same size from another position, push it fully into the receptacle so it sits level in its drip bowl, switch the breaker back on and try it. A swapped coil that heats means the original element has failed; one that stays cold points to the receptacle, the wiring or the switch.
4. Check the pan on an induction cooktop. With the zone switched off, hold a fridge magnet to the bottom of the pan. If it doesn't hold firmly, the pan won't work on induction. Try a magnetic pan at least as wide as the ring marked on the glass, set in the center.
5. Watch a radiant element heat. Skip this step if the glass is cracked. With nothing on the glass, set the cold burner to high for about a minute and look at it from above without touching the glass. An element that stays dark points to the element, its limiter or the switch, and a dark outer ring on a dual element points to that ring's circuit or its switch position. Turn it off once you have seen it and keep your hands off the glass while it cools.

When to call a technician

• A working coil heats in another position but not in this receptacle, or the receptacle looks scorched or pitted.
• A burner stays on high with its knob turned off. Keep the breaker off until it has been repaired.
• A radiant element stays dark on high, or the glass above it is cracked.
• An induction zone stays cold with a magnetic pan of the right size, or the cooktop shows an error code.
• The breaker trips again after one reset.

What happens at the diagnostic visit

The technician confirms which burner or zone has failed, tests the element for continuity, measures what the switch or control sends to it, and inspects the receptacle, terminals and wiring for heat damage. On an induction cooktop the power board, the cooling fan and the pan sensing are tested as well.

The diagnostic visit is $89 for a standard residential appliance and $129 for a built-in unit or commercial equipment; a premium brand on its own doesn't make an appliance built-in. The repair is priced for you before the technician starts on it. Read more about our cooktop repair service.

Brand and model notes

• Thermador: Freedom Induction cooktops sense a pan anywhere on the surface instead of in fixed rings, so on those models the cookware matters more than where it sits. See Thermador and Thermador range, oven and cooktop repair.
• Bosch: induction models with FlexInduction can join two zones into one long cooking area. On a model without it, a long pan that bridges two zones can heat unevenly or go undetected, because each zone needs enough of the pan over its own coil. See Bosch.
• Wolf: Wolf builds radiant electric and induction cooktops. On a radiant model, a burner that never glows has its element, limiter and control tested; on an induction model, a zone that still flashes with a magnetic pan of the right size points to the coil under that zone or the induction board. See Wolf.
• GE, Whirlpool and Frigidaire: these brands make coil and radiant glass cooktops, and many radiant models have dual or triple elements with their own switch position for the outer rings. See GE, Whirlpool and Frigidaire.