- “One burner out is that burner — not the module”
- “All of them out is ignition or supply, and it is quick to tell”
- “Never hold the knob in while it clicks”
Symptom
La Cornue burner will not light
One burner dead while the others work is a different problem from a whole top that will not light, and the two are worth separating before anybody calls anybody. On brass burners in a humid kitchen the single dead burner is nearly always the electrode or the ports; a whole top points at the ignition module or the gas supply.
- From $95 diagnostic, credited to the repair
- 59 cities and neighborhoods covered
- OEM parts available on order
- In writing the price, before anything is opened
Five ordinary causes
What this usually turns out to be
Cheapest and commonest first, which is also the order we check them in. They sit hundreds of dollars apart, and only the unit settles which one is yours.
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A wet or dirty electrode
Water from cleaning, or cooking residue bridging the gap. It arcs to the wrong place or not at all.
Surface burner and igniter service from $155 -
Blocked burner ports
The flame cannot travel around the crown to reach the spark. Cleared properly rather than poked at.
Surface burner and igniter service from $155 -
A cracked ceramic insulator
The electrode leaks its spark to the burner body. Visible once it is out, invisible while it is in.
Surface burner and igniter service from $155 -
The ignition module or its supply
The cause when every burner has stopped sparking at once, and only then.
Cooktop control and wiring repair from $295 -
A gas valve that no longer opens
The knob turns, the spark is there, and nothing arrives. Safety-critical, and it comes out.
Gas valve and thermocouple repair from $265
In five minutes
Before you call anybody
None of it needs tools, and all of it makes the visit shorter.
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01
Count the dead burners
One, or all of them. This single answer decides everything that follows and it takes ten seconds.
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02
Check the gas is on
At the appliance shut-off. Worth ruling out before a technician rules it out for you.
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03
Look at the electrode
Dry, intact, and pointing where it should. A cracked ceramic is the problem you can see.
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04
Do not keep clicking
Every unlit attempt is gas into the room. Two tries, then stop and book it.
How it shows up
What people describe when they call
A shortcut
Narrow it down before anybody arrives
A description of the behaviour leaves a few possible causes. A code names the subsystem before anybody opens anything, which is why it is worth photographing before it clears.
If there is no code at all
On a range, the data plate is behind the kick panel or on the frame under the oven door. On a rangetop, the data plate is under the deck or behind the kick panel. On a cooktop, the data plate is under the front edge. All models
In more detail
About La Cornue burner will not light
The two checks that cost nothing
Count what is dead. If every burner has stopped, look first at whether the gas is on at all — a shut-off valve knocked during cleaning is a real and embarrassing cause — and then at whether the electrical supply is live, because on a spark-ignition range no power means no spark. If it is one burner, take the cap and the crown off and look at the ports and the electrode. A wet electrode after a cleaning is the single most common finding on this call, and it dries out.
What it usually means, by the kind of La Cornue appliance
La Cornue sells one appliance in several forms, and the same behavior points at different things on each of them. A built-in side-by-side and an integrated column are not the same service situation, and a dual-fuel range and an induction range fail in different halves.
- Château gas and dual-fuel — Mechanical valves and a spark electrode per burner. A dead single burner is a local problem and reachable from the front.
- All-induction Château and CornuFé induction — There are no gas burners to light. If a zone is dead, that is the induction page, not this one.
- CornuFé 90 and 110 dual fuel — Five gas burners on a factory-built manifold. The parts are more standardised than a Château's, which usually means a shorter wait.
Why moisture matters more here than the age of the range
A brass burner assembly comes apart for cleaning, which is one of the pleasures of owning one, and it goes back together wet. In a kitchen at eighty per cent humidity a spark electrode that has been splashed can take a day to dry, and in the meantime the burner clicks and does nothing. This is why we ask on the phone whether anything was cleaned recently — it is the difference between a visit and a conversation.
What we bring, and what we do not
Electrodes, ceramics, burner caps and crowns for the current line are stocked, and a single dead burner is normally a one-visit job. What is not stocked is a made-to-order enamelled drip tray or a valve specific to one configuration, and if the diagnosis lands there we say so with a lead time rather than leaving the range in pieces.
This article is based on:
- Official manufacturer documentation
- Internal repair procedures
- Technician repair history
- Company quality standards
Before you book
Questions about La Cornue burner will not light
It lights with a match but not with the spark. Is that useful to know?
Very. It tells us the gas train, the valve and the burner are all doing their jobs and the problem is purely in the ignition — the electrode, its lead, or the module. It also means the burner is usable in the meantime, though we would rather you lit it with a long match than leaned over it. Say that sentence when you book and it often decides which part comes with us.
Is it worth cleaning the ports myself first?
Cleaning the cap and crown with hot water and a soft brush is ordinary maintenance and it fixes a proportion of these calls, so yes. What we would ask you not to do is push wire or a pin into a port — an enlarged or deformed port changes the flame permanently and turns a free fix into a part. And let everything dry completely before you put it back, or you will have created the problem this page is about.
Where we do it
Across Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach
Same terms everywhere we go: an on-site diagnostic first, the price agreed in writing, and the exact figure confirmed once we have seen the unit.
Neighborhoods people ask for by name