When one burner on an electric stove goes cold, or refuses to come down from high, the cause is almost always one of three parts: the element, the connection that feeds it, or the switch that controls it. You can narrow it down with a methodical sequence before anyone opens a panel. Work through the steps in order and stop when you find the answer.
Safety before you start
Electric stoves run on 240 volts. Lifting a plug-in coil out with the burner off and cool is fine. For anything beyond that, including looking under a lifted cooktop or behind the console, switch off the double breaker for the stove at the panel. Do not rely on the knobs being off.
Step 1: Confirm it is one burner, not the stove
Turn on each burner in turn. If several burners are cold at once, or everything is dead, the problem is upstream of any one element. Check the breaker first: a double breaker can trip on one side and still look on, leaving half the stove powered. A blank display or clock along with dead burners points the same way. If only one burner misbehaves, continue below.
Step 2 (coil stoves): Swap the element
With the burner off and cold, lift the coil slightly and pull it straight out of its receptacle. Plug a working coil of the same size into the problem position, and put the suspect coil into a known-good position.
- Problem follows the coil: the element is bad. Replace it with one that matches the size and terminal style.
- Problem stays in the position: the element is fine. The receptacle, its wiring or the switch is the issue. Go to Step 3.
While the coil is out, look at its two terminals. Pitting, blackening or a melted spot means it has been arcing, and the receptacle almost certainly has matching damage.
Step 3 (coil stoves): Inspect the receptacle
Look into the receptacle with a flashlight. The metal contacts should be clean and grip the element terminals firmly. Signs of trouble:
- Scorched or melted plastic around the slots
- Contacts that are loose, spread apart or burnt
- An element that wobbles or drops when seated
A burnt receptacle should be replaced together with the element. Plugging a new coil into a damaged receptacle just starts the arcing again. Replacing the receptacle means cutting or disconnecting its wires under the cooktop, so do it with the breaker off, or leave it to a technician.
Step 4 (glass-top stoves): Look at the zone
On a radiant glass-top, the element sits under the glass and cannot be swapped by hand. Turn the cold zone on high and watch it for a couple of minutes in a dim kitchen:
- No glow at all: the radiant element may be open, the limiter may have failed, or the switch or control relay may not be sending power.
- Glows, then cuts out early and often: the limiter may be cycling too soon. Warped or very dark cookware that traps heat can also trigger it.
- Only the center of a dual zone heats: check the manual for how the outer ring is selected. If it should be on and is not, the selector switch or outer element circuit is suspect.
Before you blame the zone, inspect the glass. If it has a crack, stop using the stove at the breaker and read our cracked glass cooktop guide instead.
Step 5: Diagnose a burner stuck on high
An element that will not turn down, or keeps heating with the knob off, is a switch problem on nearly every stove. On coil and many radiant models, each burner has an infinite switch, which cycles power on and off at a rate set by the knob. When its contacts weld closed, the burner gets full power all the time. Touch-control stoves use relays on a control board, and a stuck relay does the same thing.
A burner that will not shut off is a hazard. Turn the breaker off, take pans away, and leave it off until the switch or relay is replaced. This repair requires removing the console and moving wires on a 240-volt circuit, so it is a technician job for most households.
Step 6: Consider what the burner has been through
A few patterns help explain why a part failed and whether it will happen again:
- Oversized pans on small coils overheat the receptacle and switch. Match the pan to the element.
- Foil drip-pan liners can trap heat or touch the terminals. The stove's own drip pans are the safer choice.
- Repeated boil-overs on a coil stove corrode the terminals. Clean spills once the stove is cool.
- Older houses in areas such as Seminole Heights or Ybor City sometimes have aged wiring at the stove outlet. If the cord plug or outlet is warm, discolored or loose, have an electrician check it.
What to have on hand before a service visit
Write down the model and serial number from the tag, usually found inside the storage drawer, on the frame behind the oven door or under the cooktop edge. Note which burner is affected, what the knob setting was, and whether the problem is constant or comes and goes. Those details let a technician bring the right element or switch, which makes a single-visit repair more likely.
Step 7: Decide whether to repair
A stove with one bad element, receptacle or switch is a straightforward repair, and the parts are common for brands such as Frigidaire, GE and Whirlpool. The math changes when the stove needs several things at once, such as a switch, a cracked glass top and an oven element, on a unit that is already old. Our electric range repair or replace guide walks through those trade-offs.
If the swap test points past the element, a technician can measure the receptacle, wiring and switch and pinpoint the fault. You will see the price before any repair starts. Details on what we fix are on the stove repair page.