Stove BurnerNot Working?
One burner stopped and the rest are fine. That’s actually useful information — it rules out most of the expensive possibilities immediately. Here’s how to narrow it down on an electric cooktop, and the one swap test that settles it in a minute.
What's probably wrong
On an electric cooktop, each burner is a small independent circuit: a switch that controls how much power flows, a connection, and an element that turns that power into heat. When one burner fails and the others work, the fault is almost always inside that one circuit — which is good news, because shared components like the control board and the main power feed are evidently fine.
If every burner is dead, that’s a different and larger conversation — usually power supply or a main control failure, and worth mentioning when you book so the right diagnosis happens first.
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.
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:
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.
Browning, pitting or melted plastic means the receptacle needs replacing, not the coil.
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.
Two adjacent elements failing together often points at a shared switch or a partially tripped double breaker instead of two coincidental failures.
Not a wait-and-see fault. Liquid reaching live wiring under the glass is a real hazard.
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.
On a coil range this settles element versus receptacle immediately, and it’s free. There’s no reason to guess.
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.
They present identically and cost very differently. Testing the element directly is the whole difference.
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
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.
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.
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.
Ready when you are
Kodiak Appliance Repair covers Edmonton and the Capital Region. Book a time online, or call with a question — we pick up.
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Honest, flat-rate appliance repair in Edmonton and the Capital Region. Run by a working tech who wants to do it right.