--- title: "Grill or teppanyaki not heating" description: "La Cornue grill or teppanyaki not heating — the lava-rock grill and the electric teppanyaki plate are optional modules, they are used less often than the…" url: "https://la-cornuemiami.support/symptoms/grill-or-teppanyaki-not-heating/" date_modified: "2026-09-03" Appliance type: "Cooktops and rangetops, Ranges" --- # La Cornue grill or teppanyaki not heating ### Which module, and what does it do now For the grill: does the burner light along its whole length, and are the rocks a loose bed or a single greasy crust? Saturated rocks do not recover and they are the cheapest part on the range. For the teppanyaki: does it get warm at all, does it reach one temperature and ignore the dial, or does it do nothing? No heat at all is usually the element; one temperature only is usually the sensor. ### 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. - **Lava-rock grill module** — A linear 14,500 BTU burner under natural lava rocks. Weak or partial flame along the burner is the usual finding, and saturated rocks are the usual cause of everything else. - **Teppanyaki module** — A 2,000 W electric plate specified to hold 140–482 °F. It fails electrically: element, sensor, control. - **Château and CornuFé** — The grill appears on Château configurations; a CornuFé does not carry these modules. ### Why the grill is mostly a maintenance job Lava rock is a consumable that absorbs fat and eventually becomes one sealed mass, at which point it stops radiating, starts flaring and smokes. Replacing the bed is inexpensive and it is the single most effective thing anyone can do for a grill module. Beyond that, the linear burner underneath needs clearing along its whole run and the drip tray needs to be able to drain — in a coastal kitchen the tray and grate are also where corrosion starts, because they live under fat and salt air together. ### Why the teppanyaki is a genuine electrical repair There is nothing consumable about it. A 2,000 W element, a sensor and a control that is expected to hold a solid plate anywhere between 140 and 482 °F. Those parts are specific to this make, there is no substitute plate element on a shelf anywhere, and the diagnosis is done with a meter: resistance cold, current under load, sensor output against temperature. Then the plate is verified at several points across its surface rather than at one, because a plate that is right in the middle and cold at the ends is a different problem from a plate that is uniformly wrong. Saturated or crusted lava rocks Consumable, cheap, and the cause of flare-ups, cold spots and smoke. A partly blocked linear grill burner It lights at one end and not the other. Cleared along its length. A failed teppanyaki element No heat at all. Measured cold and under load; an open circuit is unambiguous. A teppanyaki sensor or control One temperature regardless of the setting, or a plate that overshoots badly. A bowed teppanyaki plate It cooks unevenly and no control repair changes that. Checked for flatness as part of the job. Identify the module Grill and teppanyaki look similar under a cover and have nothing in common inside. For the grill, lift the grate A crust rather than a bed of loose rocks is your answer, and it is a cheap one. For the teppanyaki, feel for any heat Nothing at all versus lukewarm points at different parts. Test them before you need them A week before the dinner, not an hour. This is the module that surprises people. A module that has stopped working What it usually means The grill is gas and lava rock — mostly a consumables job The teppanyaki is an element, a sensor and a control Both are worth testing before you need them Which module, and what does it do now For the grill: does the burner light along its whole length, and are the rocks a loose bed or a single greasy crust? Saturated rocks do not recover and they are the cheapest part on the range. For the teppanyaki: does it get warm at all, does it reach one temperature and ignore the dial, or does it do nothing? No heat at all is usually the element; one temperature only is usually the sensor. 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. Lava-rock grill module — A linear 14,500 BTU burner under natural lava rocks. Weak or partial flame along the burner is the usual finding, and saturated rocks are the usual cause of everything else. Teppanyaki module — A 2,000 W electric plate specified to hold 140–482 °F. It fails electrically: element, sensor, control. Château and CornuFé — The grill appears on Château configurations; a CornuFé does not carry these modules. Why the grill is mostly a maintenance job Lava rock is a consumable that absorbs fat and eventually becomes one sealed mass, at which point it stops radiating, starts flaring and smokes. Replacing the bed is inexpensive and it is the single most effective thing anyone can do for a grill module. Beyond that, the linear burner underneath needs clearing along its whole run and the drip tray needs to be able to drain — in a coastal kitchen the tray and grate are also where corrosion starts, because they live under fat and salt air together. Why the teppanyaki is a genuine electrical repair There is nothing consumable about it. A 2,000 W element, a sensor and a control that is expected to hold a solid plate anywhere between 140 and 482 °F. Those parts are specific to this make, there is no substitute plate element on a shelf anywhere, and the diagnosis is done with a meter: resistance cold, current under load, sensor output against temperature. Then the plate is verified at several points across its surface rather than at one, because a plate that is right in the middle and cold at the ends is a different problem from a plate that is uniformly wrong. ### Can I use ordinary barbecue lava rock as a replacement? Mostly yes, and it is one of the few genuinely interchangeable things on this range — natural lava rock is natural lava rock, and the bed is meant to be a specified depth of loose rock rather than a proprietary cartridge. Two cautions. Use natural rock rather than ceramic briquettes, which behave differently over a linear gas burner, and get the depth and distribution right, because an uneven bed is what causes flare-ups on one side. If you would rather we did it as part of a service, the burner gets cleared at the same time. ### The teppanyaki works but smokes and food sticks. That is usually not a problem. A griddle plate needs to be at the right temperature for what is on it — too cool and food sticks, too hot and the fat smokes — and it needs to be genuinely clean, because carbonised residue both sticks and smokes at temperatures a clean plate handles happily. Check the reading against the dial first, though: a sensor that has drifted high will smoke at a setting that used to be right, and that is a repair rather than a technique. --- **[Read full article: Grill or teppanyaki not heating](https://la-cornuemiami.support/symptoms/grill-or-teppanyaki-not-heating/)**