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Safety & Risks

A Gas Smell at a Dacor Burner: What To Do in the First Minute

Two situations wear the same symptom and they are not the same. A brief smell while a burner is being lit, which clears once the flame catches, is unburnt gas from an ignition that took a few attempts — an igniter cracked by salt air, a cap seated wrong after cleaning, or a burner still damp. That is a repair and it can wait for an appointment. A smell that is present with every knob fully off, or that persists after the room has been aired, is not an appliance question: turn the supply off at the valve behind or beneath the range if you can reach it safely, leave the property, and call the gas supplier before you call a repair company. On the professional rangetops there is a relighting system that can mask the first case, because a burner that goes out and comes back will release gas each time without anybody noticing the flame had failed.

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The full guide

Safety & Risks By Appliance Content Team Last checked 2 minute read

Most pages on this site are about saving somebody a call-out fee. This one is not.

A gas smell as a burner lights, and a gas smell with everything off, are two different situations The question is when the smell arrives, not how strong it is. A faint smell for a second or two as a burner lights, gone once the flame is established, is unburned gas from the moment between the valve opening and the spark taking, and it is ordinary. A smell with the appliance off and nothing lit is not ordinary at any strength, because nothing should be releasing gas when nothing is burning, and that places it on the supply side: the flexible connector behind the range, the shut-off valve, or a burner valve that is not seating. What follows is done in order and from outside the house: touch no switch either way and light nothing, open a door on the way past, get everybody out, and call the gas utility or the fire department from outside. An appliance company is who you call after the supply has been declared sound, not before. NOT HOW STRONG. WHEN. WHEN DOES THE SMELL ARRIVE? AS A BURNER LIGHTS A second or two, then gone once the flame is established. Unburned gas from the pause between the valve opening and the spark taking. WITH EVERYTHING OFF Nothing lit, nothing running, and still a smell. Faint counts. Nothing should release gas with nothing burning. That is the supply, not the oven. FOR THE RIGHT-HAND BRANCH, IN THIS ORDER, AND FROM OUTSIDE ONE No switch, either way. No flame. TWO Open a door on the way past. THREE Everybody out. Nobody stays. FOUR The gas utility or the fire department. An appliance company comes after the supply has been declared sound. Not before, and not instead.
Strength is the measure people reach for and the one they cannot trust: a nose stops registering the odorant after a minute or two in it, while the timing of the smell stays true all evening.

Dacor gas cooktop igniter problems: the two situations, and the line between them

A burner that takes three clicks to light releases a little unburnt gas each time it fails. You smell it, the flame catches, and thirty seconds later the kitchen is normal again. That is an ignition problem: the appliance is doing something it should not, and it can wait for an appointment.

A smell that is there with every knob off is a different thing entirely. It does not clear, it is not related to cooking, and it is not ours to diagnose over a telephone.

Why the ignition version happens here

Salt air. The ceramic body of an igniter cracks, and a cracked body sparks to the nearest earth rather than across the gap where the gas is. It still clicks. It looks perfect. And the burner takes several attempts, releasing gas on each one.

The other reason is the week after a deep clean: a cap seated a fraction off its pins, a head not quite home, or a burner still damp. That version fixes itself overnight and comes back the next time the hob is scrubbed.

The thing the pro burners hide

The sealed brass burners on the rangetops relight themselves after a draft or a boil-over. That is a good feature and it has a side effect: a burner that keeps failing and relighting is releasing gas each time, and the cook never sees the flame go out.

If a burner on a rangetop sounds like it is re-igniting during cooking, that is worth mentioning when you call.

What we do about it

Reseat and inspect every cap and head, test the ignition path — igniter, lead, switch and earth — and set the flame at both ends of the burner's range. On a hob where several burners misbehave, the supply pressure is measured rather than each valve adjusted to compensate.

The paragraph we would rather you read than the rest

If the smell is present with every knob off, stop. Do not look for a cause, do not run the extractor, do not switch anything on or off beyond the gas itself. Leave, and call the supplier. We would rather lose the job than have somebody investigate that in their own kitchen.

What we check, and in what order

Every cap and head off and back on its locating pins first, because that resolves a real share of these before any part is named. Then the ignition path end to end — igniter, lead, switch and earth — with a meter rather than by eye, since a cracked ceramic body looks perfect and sparks to the wrong place.

Then the flame itself, set at both ends of the burner's range. And where several burners misbehave at once, the supply pressure is measured rather than six valves adjusted to compensate for it — that is the difference between fixing a hob and hiding a supply problem.

If it turns out to be a repair

Every job on this site is priced the same way: an on-site diagnostic first, the figure agreed in writing before anybody starts.

  • A spark igniter and a burner head lying apart on a folded towel beside the empty burner base
    from $155

    Gas burner and igniter repair

    A burner that clicks without lighting, lights and goes out, or will not come down to a simmer. In Miami the usual culprits are salt air and humidity on the igniter, and a cap or head that went back slightly wrong after a clean — which is why so many of these calls date from the week the hob was scrubbed. The professional burners on the rangetops complicate it pleasantly: they are built to relight themselves after a draft or a boil-over, so a burner that keeps going out may be that system rather than the burner at all.

    • Most of these problems begin the week the hob was deep-cleaned
    • Salt air and humidity are what actually kill igniters here
    • On the pro burners, repeated flame-outs may be the relight system
    What this involves
  • An open-ended spanner on the thermocouple nut at the back of a brass gas valve body, seen behind the removed front rail of a range with the valve manifold exposed along the frame.
    Sparking at the burner and no flame

    Burner clicks but will not light

    In this climate the two ordinary causes are salt air on the igniter and a cap that went back slightly wrong after a clean — which is why so many of these calls date from the week the hob was scrubbed. The professional burners on the rangetops complicate it pleasantly: they are built to relight themselves after a draft or a boil-over, so a burner that keeps going out may be that system rather than the burner. Neither is a code problem; the rangetops have no display to show one on.

    • Most of these begin the week the hob was deep-cleaned
    • Salt air and humidity are what actually kill igniters here
    • One burner or all of them is the question that splits the diagnosis
    What it usually means
  • Two hands setting a cleaned brass burner cap back onto its crown on a stainless rangetop with three more brass burners beside it
    from $195

    Rangetop service

    The professional rangetops are 36 and 48 inches of sealed brass burners, illuminated knobs and a griddle or wok ring in place of grates, and they are worked harder than any other appliance in these kitchens. Service is mostly about restoring the range of the burners rather than fixing failures: simmer settings that have drifted, ports partially blocked by years of boil-over, knob illumination that has died on one burner, and the griddle plate's surface. It is a heavy appliance and a satisfying one to bring back.

    • Six sealed brass burners built to sear and to genuinely simmer
    • Illuminated knobs fail one at a time and are a separate small repair
    • The griddle and wok ring are accessories that live where grates would
    What this involves

Questions people ask about this

Can I light it with a match meanwhile?

On most of these burners yes, carefully, once any smell has cleared. It is a reasonable short-term measure and it also tells us something useful: a burner that lights by match and not by spark has an ignition problem rather than a gas one.

The clicking never stops, even after it lights.

Continuous clicking after the flame is established usually means a wet or contaminated electrode somewhere on the hob — often not the burner you are using. It is worth having looked at, because a spark module firing continuously does not last.

Should I turn the gas off at the meter?

If the smell is present with every knob off and does not clear with ventilation, yes, if you can do it safely — and then leave. That is the one scenario on this site where the instruction is to stop reading and get out.

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Tell us the model number and what it is doing.

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This article is based on:

  • Official manufacturer documentation
  • Internal repair procedures
  • Technician repair history
  • Company quality standards
Call (305) 363-6067