Cooktop Sparking

Checks you can do safely before you call

If you smell gas, stop: don't light or start the appliance or work any switch or plug, leave the home and call your gas utility or 911 from outside.

1. Gas cooktop: turn every burner knob off. Keep them off for the checks below, and never take apart the gas valves, the burner switches or anything under the cooktop.
2. Stop the clicking at the power. Switch off the cooktop's breaker, or unplug it where the plug is easy to reach under the counter. That pauses the sparking while the parts dry.
3. Let it dry out. With the power still off, lift the caps and burner heads that come off and leave them, the burner bases and the knob area to dry for several hours or overnight. Don't turn any knob while the caps and heads are off, and don't let crumbs or water fall into the small gas opening under each head.
4. Reseat the caps. With every knob still off, put each head and cap back flat and centered, then restore power and try one burner at a time.
5. Electric cooktop: switch off the breaker after any arcing. Once the coil is cool, lift it and look at its plug-in end and the receptacle. Burned, pitted or melted terminals mean the cooktop stays off until it is repaired. On a glass cooktop, leave the breaker off after any flash under the glass and don't try to look underneath.

When to call a technician

• Clicking continues with all knobs off after the cooktop has dried overnight.
• One burner keeps sparking once lit, even with a dry, centered cap.
• The spark jumps somewhere other than the burner, or the igniter porcelain is cracked.
• An electric coil has flashed or popped, or shows a blister.
• The receptacle, the wiring or the area around a knob shows scorch marks, or the breaker trips.

What happens at the diagnostic visit

On a gas cooktop the technician tests each burner switch with its knob off and on, checks the spark module, the electrodes and their wires, and the flame sensing on models that relight on their own, including the outlet's polarity and ground, which flame sensing depends on. On an electric cooktop they check the element and inspect the receptacle, the terminals and the wiring back to the switch for heat damage.

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. Any repair waits until you agree to its price. See cooktop repair for the gas, electric and induction cooktops we fix.

Brand and model notes

• Thermador: on burners with the ExtraLow setting, the flame cycles off and relights to hold a very low simmer, so a click at that setting can be normal. Clicking at other settings, or with the knobs off, needs checking. See Thermador and the Thermador service page.
• Wolf: dual-stacked burners relight on their own when a flame goes out, so a Wolf burner that keeps clicking once lit points to a wet or cracked igniter, a cap out of place or the spark module. See Wolf.
• Viking: after a boil-over, a Viking burner can keep sparking until the cap, the base and the electrode are completely dry. Sparking that goes on after everything has dried points to a burner switch or the spark module, which a technician tests before anything is replaced. See Viking.
• Whirlpool and GE coil cooktops: a scorched receptacle is replaced together with the coil, because a burned receptacle damages the terminals of a new element. See Whirlpool and GE.