One dead burner on an electric range is one of the most DIY-friendly appliance faults there is, because coil ranges let you diagnose by substitution in about thirty seconds and without a single tool. Smoothtops take a little more work but follow the same logic. The three suspects are always the same: the element itself, the receptacle or wiring that feeds it, and the infinite switch that controls it.
Read this first
- Switch the range off at the breaker before removing any element, receptacle or switch — surface elements run on 240 volts.
- Let the cooktop cool completely; a radiant element under glass stays dangerously hot long after the indicator light goes out.
- A burnt or arced receptacle means heat damage has already occurred — replace the receptacle and its pigtail together, never just the element.
- Do not use a cooktop with cracked glass. Water entering the crack reaches live components underneath.
Step by step
Swap-test the coil element
On a coil range, this is the whole diagnosis. Let the cooktop cool, lift the dead element out of its receptacle — they pull straight out like a plug — and swap it with a working element of the same size and wattage. If the dead element now works in the good position, the element is fine and the fault is in the original receptacle or switch. If it stays dead in a known-good position, the element itself has failed. No tools, no meter, no guessing.
Inspect the receptacle for arcing
Look into the receptacle the dead element came out of with a flashlight. Blackening, melted plastic, a pitted or discoloured contact, or a terminal that has lost its spring tension all mean the connection has been arcing and overheating. This is genuinely important: a bad receptacle burns out the new element you just fitted, and it is a real fire risk. Replace the receptacle and its pigtail wiring as a kit, and check that the element prongs are clean and not burnt.
Test the element for continuity
With the breaker off, measure across the element's two terminals. A typical surface element reads somewhere in the 15 to 60 ohm range depending on its wattage — a 2,100-watt element on 240 volts calculates to roughly 27 ohms. An open reading means the element has burned through internally. Also check for continuity between either terminal and the element sheath: any continuity there means it is shorted to ground and must be replaced.
Check the infinite switch
The infinite switch is the control behind the knob, and it cycles power on and off to set the heat level. It fails in two ways: stuck off, so the burner never heats, or stuck on, so the burner only runs full blast. With the breaker off, get behind the control panel and test the switch for continuity between its line and load terminals as the knob is turned. Look for burnt or discoloured terminals here as well — the same arcing that kills a receptacle kills a switch.
Separate a dead burner from a weak or intermittent one
These are different faults and they point in different directions. A burner that never heats at all is an open circuit — element, receptacle or switch. A burner that heats but never reaches full output, or that works for a few minutes and then fades, is almost always a connection problem rather than a dead part: a receptacle contact that has lost its spring tension makes just enough contact to conduct when cold, then heats up, oxidises further and drops out under load. That fading-under-load behaviour is the classic signature and it is why the receptacle deserves the same attention as the element. Many surface elements also contain two separate coils, and one of the two opening leaves a burner that lights and glows but cannot boil a pan.
Work a smoothtop from underneath
Radiant smoothtop elements sit in an insulated dish under the glass and are reached by lifting the cooktop, which is usually hinged at the back or held by clips at the front. Confirm the range is off at the breaker, lift the top, and test the radiant element for continuity the same way as a coil. Check the ribbon connections and the limiter switch — many smoothtops include a thermal limiter that cuts the element if the glass overheats, and a failed limiter reads as a dead burner.
Check the selector on dual-ring and bridge elements
Smoothtops often carry expandable elements — a small inner ring with a larger outer ring around it, or a bridge zone that links two elements into one long oval. Each of those extra sections is switched separately, either by a second control on the panel or by a further position on the same knob, and the sections are wired as separate circuits under the glass. So an inner ring that heats normally while the outer ring stays cold is not a dead burner: it is one open circuit out of two, and the fault sits in that ring, its own connection, or the selector switch. Confirm you are actually selecting the outer ring before testing anything, because on some panels the expansion control is a small unlabelled touch pad that is easy to miss.
Check for a lost 240-volt leg
If two burners on the same side died together, or if every burner is weak and the oven will not heat, this is not an element fault. You have lost one of the two 120-volt legs feeding the range. Switch the double-pole breaker fully off and firmly back on. If that does not restore it, the problem is at the breaker, the terminal block behind the range, or the range cord — and burnt terminal-block screws are common on ranges that have been moved.
What this repair costs
Doing it yourself
$15–$110
Hiring a technician
$150–$400
Prices are general estimates for typical US jobs, not quotes. What you actually pay depends on your appliance's brand and age, the part required, your region, and each shop's labour rate. The DIY figure assumes you supply the labour and buy the part yourself.
Parts you may end up buying
| Part | Install | Typical price | Typical lifespan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bake Element | easy | $15–$40 | 10–15 years |
| Oven Temperature Sensor | easy | $15–$30 | 10+ years |
| Broil Element | easy | $20–$75 | 10–15 years |
| Oven Igniter | moderate | $25–$90 | 5–10 years |
| Surface Burner Igniter | moderate | $20–$95 | 8–15 years |
| Radiant Surface Element | moderate | $25–$100 | 10–15 years |
| Infinite Switch | moderate | $20–$70 | 10–15 years |
| Oven Door Gasket | easy | $20–$80 | 8–15 years |
| Oven Door Hinges | moderate | $30–$120 | 10–15 years |
| Electronic Control Board | moderate | $90–$380 | 10–15 years |
Still not fixed
When to call a pro
Bring in a professional if the terminal block or range cord shows scorching, if the breaker trips as soon as an element is switched on (that is a short to ground and it needs proper fault-finding rather than parts swapping), or if a smoothtop's glass is cracked — the glass is a single sealed unit and its replacement is often close to the cost of a new range. Control board faults on touch-control smoothtops should be confirmed by measurement, not by buying a $200 board on a hunch.
More oven & range guides
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- Oven Door Won't Close Properly — Hinges, Springs and Gasket45–120 minutes
- Oven Broiler Not Working — Electric and Gas Diagnosis30–75 minutes
- Gas Burner Burning Yellow — What the Flame Colour Is Telling You45–90 minutes
- Electric Burner Stays On High — Welded Switch or Stuck Relay45–90 minutes
- Oven Control Panel Not Responding — Keypad, Ribbon or Board45–90 minutes