The Most Common Causes
Ranked by how often this kind of fault turns out to be each one. A list isn’t a diagnosis — that takes someone looking at your specific machine — but it’s worth knowing what’s on the menu before anyone quotes you.
Burned-Out Element
On a coil range the element itself burns through; on a smooth top the radiant element beneath the glass fails. Either way the circuit is broken and no heat is produced. On coil ranges this is confirmed in about a minute by swapping the suspect coil with a known-good one of the same size — if the fault follows the coil, you have your answer.
Burned or Loose Receptacle (Coil Ranges)
The block the coil plugs into. Heat and repeated plugging cycles degrade the contacts, and they arc, discolour and eventually stop conducting. Often visible as browning or pitting when the coil is pulled. This one matters — a badly arcing receptacle is a fire risk and shouldn’t be left in service.
Failed Infinite Switch
The control behind the knob that cycles power on and off to set heat level. When it fails the element gets nothing, or gets stuck at full power with no control in between. A stuck-on burner is the more urgent version and should be shut off at the breaker until it’s looked at.
Broken Wiring or Connection
Wiring behind a cooktop lives in a hot environment for decades. Insulation embrittles, terminals loosen, and a connection eventually opens. Usually found by inspection once the cooktop is opened up.
Control Board (Smooth Tops)
Many glass cooktops route element power through a board rather than a simple switch. Board faults can kill a single element while leaving the rest working, which mimics a failed element closely. Testing the element directly is what separates the two.
Cracked Glass or Moisture Ingress (Smooth Tops)
A cracked ceramic surface lets spills reach the wiring underneath. This is a stop-using-it situation rather than a wait-and-see one — liquid and mains voltage under a hot glass panel is genuinely unsafe.
A Note on Gas Cooktops
Everything on this page describes electric cooktops. Kodiak services electric appliances — gas ranges involve gas valves and supply work that requires gas-fitter certification we don’t hold. If your cooktop is gas, tell us when you get in touch and we’ll point you to a gas-certified shop rather than waste your time and your service call.
Before You Call
Worth ruling out first. If one of these is the answer you’ve saved yourself a service call, and if none of them are, the diagnosis starts from a better place:
- Swap two coils of the same size. The single most useful test on a coil range, and it needs no tools. Cooktop cold, pull both, swap them. If the dead spot moves with the coil, it’s the coil. If it stays put, it’s the receptacle or switch.
- Look at the receptacle when the coil is out. Browning, pitting or melted plastic means the receptacle needs replacing, not the coil.
- Check whether the burner is stuck on rather than off. An element that won’t turn off is more urgent than one that won’t turn on. Shut it off at the breaker and book it.
- Confirm it’s genuinely one burner. Two adjacent elements failing together often points at a shared switch or a partially tripped double breaker instead of two coincidental failures.
- Stop using a cracked smooth top. Not a wait-and-see fault. Liquid reaching live wiring under the glass is a real hazard.
In Edmonton
Worth noting for edmonton homes: coil-top ranges are still common in rental units and in older Glenora, Crestwood, Highlands and Bonnie Doon houses, while newer builds in Windermere, Laurel and Heritage Valley mostly have smooth glass tops. The two fail in genuinely different ways and the diagnosis differs accordingly — a coil range gives you a free swap test that a smooth top simply doesn’t offer. If you’re a landlord with coil ranges across several units, the receptacle is the part worth knowing about, because it’s the one that quietly degrades and gets misdiagnosed as a dead element.
Why a Real Diagnosis Matters
Several causes on the list above produce an identical symptom, and they sit at very different price points. That’s the whole argument for testing rather than guessing — a wrong part fitted confidently still leaves you with a broken appliance and a smaller bank balance.
What a Proper Diagnosis Does
- Uses the swap test before selling anything. On a coil range this settles element versus receptacle immediately, and it’s free. There’s no reason to guess.
- Checks the receptacle, not just the coil. Fitting a new element into a burned receptacle gives you a working burner briefly and a repeat fault shortly after — plus an ongoing arcing risk.
- Distinguishes element from board on smooth tops. They present identically and cost very differently. Testing the element directly is the whole difference.
- Flags the safety cases plainly. Arcing receptacles, stuck-on elements and cracked glass are hazards. You should be told that clearly rather than quoted a part and left to it.
What the Repair Typically Costs
Kodiak quotes labour as a flat rate per repair type, after diagnosis but before any work begins. Parts are quoted separately on your invoice. Typical labour ranges:
Electric Cooktop Burner Repairs
Standard repair: Coil elements, receptacles, infinite switches, radiant elements and wiring repairs fall in the $220–350 range for labour. Parts quoted separately — coil elements and receptacles are typically inexpensive, radiant elements for smooth tops less so.
Cracked glass tops are a replacement conversation. The glass panel on many ranges costs enough relative to the appliance that repair often isn’t the sensible call. We’ll price it honestly and tell you what we’d do.
Service-call fee: $119, applied toward the repair if you proceed.
Your firm quote comes from your tech after diagnosis, before any work begins. You approve before we touch anything. Full pricing details.
Related Reading
- Oven Not Heating — Cooktop and oven are separate systems — one failing doesn’t implicate the other.
- Stove & Oven Repair Edmonton — Main range service page.
- Find Your Appliance Model Number — Elements and switches are model-specific; the number decides the part.
Ready When You Are
One dead burner is usually a small, contained repair. An arcing receptacle or a stuck-on element is worth dealing with sooner. Kodiak launches in Edmonton October 2026 — join the waitlist for day-one priority booking.