Burner or element not heating (dead zone on the line)

You’ve got a range top where one burner won’t fire, or a flat top / griddle section that’s cold on one side, or an oven with one dead element so everything is taking forever to cook on that rack.
From the kitchen’s point of view: “This section doesn’t work.”
From my point of view: “We’ve lost heat in one zone. Why?”

When one burner / one bank / one section stops heating but the rest of the equipment still runs, it almost always comes down to one of these:

The heating part in that zone is physically failed (burner, element).
Power or gas isn’t getting to that zone.
The ignition / control for that zone isn’t doing its job.

Let’s go through how that shows up, what’s normal vs not normal, and how we fix it in the field.

What the kitchen usually tells me

I hear this a lot:

“Front-left burner is dead.”
“Left side of the griddle won’t heat at all.”
“Back oven element doesn’t glow anymore.”
“One fryer pot is fine, the other never comes up.”

If you’re working around a dead zone — shifting pans, doubling cook time, using only half your surface during service — that’s money walking out of the kitchen.

Case 1: Electric element failure

For electric cooking equipment (oven elements, griddle elements, holding cabinet elements, etc.), this is extremely common.

Here’s what happens in the real world:

Heating elements run at high load every day.
Eventually they crack, burn open internally, or overheat at a connection point.
That section just stops producing heat.

How it looks to you:

One rack in the oven is basically useless because the bottom or top element in that area doesn’t heat.
Half the griddle is hot, the other half is room temp.
A “bank” in a holding cabinet or warmer won’t hold temp.

Kitchen translation: “That part’s dead.”

Tech translation: “That element is open or not getting fed.”

What I do:

I test power to that element under call-for-heat.
- If power is there and it still doesn’t heat → bad element, replace.
- If power is not there → upstream issue (relay, wiring, control).
I check wiring terminals at the element. Burned, loose, or melted terminals can kill a section even if the element itself is still fine.
If it’s just a failed element, we swap it and you’re back.

This is a very normal repair. It’s not “the whole unit is dying.” It’s one failed heating strip / rod / coil.

Case 2: Gas burner not firing

On commercial ranges, ovens, broilers, etc. that run on gas, you’ll sometimes have one burner that just won’t light or won’t stay lit.

What you’ll notice:

No flame on that section.
Burner valve is “on,” you hear gas trying to come through or you smell gas briefly, but it never catches.
Or: no flame at all, totally dead, like that burner doesn’t exist anymore.

Common causes:

Igniter isn’t sparking or is out of position.
Pilot (on older style equipment) is out or weak.
Gas orifice / jet for that burner is clogged with grease/carbon.
Gas valve feeding that burner isn’t opening or is partially blocked.
Safety/limit is shutting that section down because it didn’t sense proper ignition.

How I handle it:

I check if that burner is even getting gas. If it’s not being fed, we’re looking at valve / manifold / blockage.
If gas is present but there’s no ignition, we inspect the igniter/pilot and the burner itself.
I confirm that the flame safety (flame sensor / thermocouple / ignition module) is doing its job. If the burner tries to light and instantly shuts off, that’s often a safety proving issue.

Important: if you smell raw gas from a burner that’s not lighting, shut that zone off and don’t keep trying to “force it” with a lighter. That’s how you fill the cookline with unburned fuel.

In most commercial cases, a non-firing burner is either a dirty/clogged burner assembly (clean/restore), a failed igniter/spark module (replace), or a gas valve that’s not opening correctly (replace).

Case 3: Control / relay feeding that zone is not switching

Sometimes the “dead zone” is not the burner or element at all — it’s the thing upstream that’s supposed to supply power or allow gas to flow.

Examples:

An electric griddle is split into zones, each controlled by its own thermostat and relay. If one relay dies, that whole zone never gets energized.
A convection oven has multiple elements controlled in stages. If one control leg or contactor drops out, that stage never powers.
A fryer bank: one tank heats, the other tank doesn’t even attempt, because that tank’s high-limit/thermostat/control board is locking it out.

How you see it:

One side of the unit acts totally normal.
The “dead side” doesn’t even try to heat. No click, no glow, no flame attempt.
Sometimes you’ll see an indicator light that never comes on anymore for that side.

How I deal with it:

I verify call-for-heat. When you turn the knob / press Heat / set temp, does that zone’s control even send the signal?
I test the output device (relay, contactor, gas valve coil). If that doesn’t pull in, the heat source will never come on.
I check safeties (high-limit, over-temp cutoff). If a safety is open, the control will refuse to energize that section at all.

If the relay or control is toast, we replace that component. You get that side back without replacing the entire machine.

Case 4: Safety lockout

On fryers, combis, steamers, etc., certain safety conditions can totally shut down one burner / one tank / one bank of elements.

This is by design. The equipment is saying, “Something about this section is unsafe, so I’m not letting it heat.”

That can be:

High-limit tripped (oil got too hot previously, and the unit refuses to fire that vat again until it’s reset properly).
Overheat sensor triggered near an element.
Ignition failure lockout on one side of a multi-bank gas unit.

When that happens, the zone is “dead” because the appliance is protecting you from a fire, flash boil, or runaway heat event.

If I see that, I don’t bypass it. I find out why it tripped, fix the root cause, then clear/restart that zone safely.

Why running with dead zones is actually expensive

A lot of kitchens just “work around it.”

That sounds like: “Yeah, that left half of the flat top is cold, we just cook everything on the right.”

Here’s why that’s costing you:

You lose capacity → slower ticket times → angry front-of-house → comps.
You overwork the remaining zones → those elements/burners run hotter and longer than designed → they fail sooner.
You start stacking pans, improvising, cooking unevenly → quality drops.

In other words, “we’ll live with it” turns into lost product and stressed staff.

If you’re paying for a full-size piece of commercial equipment but only half of it works, you’re wasting money every shift.

What we do on a service call for ‘one section not heating’

When you call and say “this burner/zone is dead,” here’s the normal workflow:

Identify which zone is out
Front-left, left half of griddle, upper element in bake cavity, right fryer pot, etc. The more specific you are, the faster I can isolate it.
Check for power or gas delivery to that zone
- For electric: is that element getting voltage under call-for-heat?
- For gas: is that burner getting fuel and trying to ignite?
Test the heating component itself
- Electric element continuity, physical damage, burnt terminals.
- Gas burner condition, igniter, flame sensor, orifice blockage.
Check the control chain
Thermostat, relay, contactor, ignition module, safety limit. If that link is dead, nothing downstream will ever heat.
Replace the failed part and verify recovery under load
We don’t just power it on empty and say “looks warm.” We test it doing real work, because restaurants don’t cook air.

When we’re done, that zone should heat on command, stay on, and hold temp without you babysitting it.

FAQ: One burner / element not working

Why is only one burner dead instead of the whole range?
Because each burner or zone is basically its own circuit. One can fail while the rest of the unit still runs.

Can I just keep using the other burners and ignore it?
Short-term, yes. Long-term, you’re losing capacity and putting extra stress on what’s left. That usually turns one small repair into two or three bigger ones.

If an electric element doesn’t glow, does that mean the whole oven is dying?
Not necessarily. Very often it’s just that one element or its feed connection. We replace it and you’re fine.

Why won’t this one gas burner light, even though the others are fine?
Likely ignition (spark/pilot) or that burner’s gas path is clogged. Could also be a safety lockout for that section.

Is it dangerous to keep trying to light a gas burner that won’t fire?
If you smell gas and it’s not lighting, stop. Turn that section off. You don’t want unburned gas hanging around the cookline.

Final word from a tech

When you’ve got one dead burner, one cold section of a griddle, or an oven element that just never heats, that’s not “end of life.” That’s a zone failure.

What we do is simple and targeted:

We check if that section is getting power or gas.
We test the actual heating part (element, burner, valve, igniter).
We make sure the control and safety chain for that zone is doing its job.
We replace what’s failed and bring that zone back into service.

The goal is you having full surface, full rack, full capacity — not “don’t use the back left, it’s dead.” That workaround costs you every single shift.

‍