Every Burner Working: Cooktop Repair in Silver Spring
Each kind of cooktop fails in its own spot. Say gas, glass or induction on the phone, and the tech starts where yours usually goes wrong.
A gas burner that clicks and never lights
Silver Spring Appliance Fix sets up cooktop repair in Silver Spring kitchens and across Montgomery, Prince George's and Howard counties, for gas, radiant glass and induction tops and for the microwave mounted above them. Turn a knob on a gas cooktop and a small switch on the valve stem closes. That switch tells the spark module under the top to fire, and on most models it fires every igniter at once.
So all the burners ticking while you light one is normal. Trouble starts when the ticking won't stop, or when the spark never catches.
Clicking with every knob off usually means water from a boil-over or a wet sponge has reached a knob switch or the module. Sometimes it dries out overnight; when it doesn't, the switch that's stuck closed gets replaced. A burner that sparks but won't light points elsewhere: a cap sitting crooked, ports packed with food, or a cracked ceramic igniter sparking to the wrong spot.
Some clicking is by design. Thermador's ExtraLow simmer cycles the flame and relights it about once a minute, and the igniters on Wolf's dual-stacked burners tick until the flame catches. The Thermador repair page and the Wolf repair page cover where normal ends on each.
Radiant glass and induction zones that stop heating
Smooth tops look alike from above. Underneath, a radiant cooktop and an induction cooktop have almost nothing in common, so the brand and the model number help the tech bring the right parts.
A radiant zone stays dark
Each zone under the glass has a ribbon element and a limiter that cuts power if the glass gets too hot. The tech tests the element first, then the infinite switch or touch control that feeds it. A zone stuck on high usually traces to that switch or a relay on the board.
A crack or chip in the glass
On many models the glass is a part on its own, priced separately from the elements. A crack that runs into a zone or reaches an edge means the cooktop stays off until the top is replaced.
An induction zone won't see the pan
Induction heats the pan itself through a magnetic field, so the pan has to be magnetic. When a pan that worked last week now gets a no-pan signal, the tech looks at that zone's coil, its sensor and the power board driving it.
Induction shuts off or throws a code
Induction electronics run hot and depend on a cooling fan and open vents under the top. A fan that's quit, or a drawer packed tight against the vents, can trip an over-temperature code. Wolf numbers its induction codes, and the Wolf page explains them.
Stop using the cooktop if
- the glass is cracked across a zone or at an edge. Switch the cooktop off at the breaker.
- a zone keeps heating with its control off. Switch it off at the breaker.
- you smell gas. Leave the house and call 911 from outside; the oven and range page has the full steps.
- Once it's safe, phone us with the cooktop type and the brand.
Over-the-range and drawer microwaves
An over-the-range microwave doubles as the vent hood, so a call about one is as likely to be about the exhaust fan or the cooktop light as about heating. It hangs on a mounting plate on the wall and bolts up through the cabinet above. Most repairs inside it mean taking it down, which makes it a two-person job on the visit.
Microwave drawers sit below the counter, usually in an island or a base cabinet, and slide out on a motorized drawer. The heating side fails the same way as any microwave, and the drawer motor and the switches that confirm it's closed can fail on their own.
A microwave that runs, spins the plate and lights up while the food stays cold has lost its high-voltage side: the magnetron, the diode, the capacitor, or a door switch that's half working. One that blows its fuse the moment the door closes points to a door interlock switch.
Microwaves have one of the shorter expected lives in the kitchen, and the repair or replace guide lists it. A built-in or drawer model costs more to replace and has to fit its cabinet opening, so the case for repair holds up longer on those. The cost guide explains what moves repair prices here.
Cooktop and microwave questions callers ask
Is a cracked glass cooktop worth fixing?
Which pans work on an induction cooktop?
A gas burner flame is yellow or uneven. Is that a repair?
Can the light or vent fan on an over-the-range microwave be replaced on its own?
My microwave drawer won’t open. What should I check first?
Pan sitting on a burner that won't heat?
Start by naming the top, gas, glass or induction, and the zone that's out. Within a couple of minutes we're asking your ZIP and offering a visit time.