Cooktop Not Working? Induction, Ceramic and Gas Faults Explained

Cooktops fail in ways that map neatly to how they work: induction models sulk electronically, ceramic radiants lose zones one element at a time, and gas burners develop igniter theatrics, the endless clicking, or the click that never comes.

Here is the fault map for all three types: what you can safely check yourself, what each symptom usually means, and where the line sits between a reset and a repair. Two safety notes apply throughout: anything behind the cooktop’s surface involves mains power and is not DIY territory, and in Western Australia all work on the gas side of a gas cooktop must be done by a licensed gasfitter, which is what our technicians are.

Find your cooktop type below and start there.

Induction cooktop not working: start with the two famous false alarms

Induction is the type where ‘broken’ most often is not. Two behaviours account for a remarkable share of call-outs.

First, the pan. Induction only heats magnetic cookware, and a zone that flashes or shows a pan symbol with your favourite aluminium or thin stainless pan is refusing the pan, not failing. If a fridge magnet will not stick to the pan’s base, the cooktop cannot heat it either. Test the zone with a cast-iron or proper induction pan before assuming a fault.

Second, the control lock. Nearly every induction cooktop has a child lock, a key or padlock symbol, that survives power cuts and mystifies households. Holding the lock symbol for three to five seconds releases it. Alongside those two: spilled water or a wet cloth on the touch controls will freeze or randomise them until the glass is dry.

Induction faults that are real

Once pan and lock are ruled out, real induction faults look like this:

• ✓Completely dead, no lights → power supply: check the circuit breaker, and whether the isolating switch (often on the wall or in a cupboard) is on
• ✓Error code on the display → note it exactly; codes map to specific faults like overheating, voltage issues or a failed sensor, and knowing the code speeds the repair
• ✓One zone dead, the rest fine → that zone’s coil or its board connection
• ✓Cuts out mid-cooking → usually the cooling fan or a blocked vent underneath causing thermal shutdown; also worth checking a pot hasn’t boiled over into the vents
• ✓Trips the safety switch → internal electrical leakage: stop using it and book, the same logic as an oven that trips the power

Ceramic and electric coil cooktops

Radiant ceramic and old-style coil cooktops are electrically simple, and their faults are correspondingly blunt: a zone that stops heating is almost always its element or the switch feeding it, and a cooktop that is entirely dead is the breaker, the isolator or the main terminal connection.

The one symptom worth urgency: a hot-surface light that stays on permanently, a zone stuck on full regardless of the knob, or any cracking of the glass surface. A stuck-on zone means a welded switch contact and should be treated as a switch-it-off-at-the-breaker situation, and cracked ceramic glass is both an electrical and a boil-over hazard, repairable, but not usable in the meantime.

Gas cooktop: the igniter that clicks forever

A gas cooktop igniter that keeps clicking after the burner has lit, or clicks endlessly without lighting, is the most common gas cooktop complaint there is, and the usual cause is wonderfully mundane: moisture or gunk around the igniter and burner parts.

After a boil-over or an enthusiastic clean, water sits in the burner wells and shorts the igniter circuit, clicking away until everything dries. So: burners off, parts lifted off, everything dried thoroughly, burner caps and crowns refitted exactly in their keyed positions, because a cap sitting one notch off keeps the clicking going and stops the burner lighting. A toothbrush-clean of the small pin (the igniter) and the slots in the burner crown finishes the job.

If the clicking continues with everything bone dry and correctly seated, the igniter, its switch or the spark module is failing, which is a straightforward repair visit.

Gas igniter not clicking at all, or flame that won’t stay lit

No click anywhere points at the ignition system’s power, many gas cooktops plug into a powerpoint for ignition, and that plug, often behind a drawer or kickboard, works loose. Check that before anything else. No click on one burner only is that burner’s igniter or switch.

A burner that lights but dies the moment you release the knob has a failing flame-failure device, the thermocouple that cuts gas when it cannot sense flame. That is a genuine safety component doing its job with a worn sensor, and replacing it is licensed work.

And the non-negotiable: if you ever smell gas with the burners off, do not troubleshoot. Turn off the gas at the bayonet or meter, ventilate, keep switches and flames out of it, and get a licensed gasfitter involved immediately. Everything on the gas side of a cooktop, in WA, is legally theirs, and ours.

What’s worth fixing

Cooktop repairs are mostly component swaps: igniters, spark modules, thermocouples, radiant elements, zone switches and induction fans are all standard parts fitted in a visit. Induction power boards are the expensive end, and on an older cooktop that is where repair-versus-replace deserves honest numbers, which is exactly what we will give you.

CAI Appliance Services repairs induction, ceramic and gas cooktops across Perth, with licensed technicians for the gas work, over 25 years in Perth kitchens, and all major brands covered, including Smeg, Blanco, Westinghouse and Bosch. Details on our cooktop repair page, and if the oven under the cooktop is misbehaving too, our oven repair page has that covered.

Cooktop not working: the quick version

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