Lighting the Pilot on a Gas Cooktop

Most modern gas cooktop appliances use electronic ignition to light gas, but some older range-style cookers use pilot lights. A pilot light is simply a small burner that is lit and remains burning. Manually lighting the gas cooktop is easy if you have the right tools.

Keep in mind that pilot lights have fallen out of favor because they continuously burn precious natural gas. For this reason, many consumers are more interested in choosing environmentally friendly options.

Step 1 - Finding the Pilot Light

Not all cooktops still have pilot lights; modern cooktops use electric ignition switches instead. If your cooker tries to click when you press the ignition button, this means that your cooker will not have a pilot light.

If your gas cooktop does have a pilot light, you will need to do some investigative work to find out where it is. The easiest way of doing this is to actually take the cover of your cooktop and then follow the gas line. You should notice a pipe similar to either a hose pipe or a metal pipe. Once you have found that, continue following it until you find the small pilot light.

Step 2 - Checking the Pilot Light

Once you have discovered the pilot light, it should be fairly easy to determine whether or not it is lit. If there is a blue flame, then it's lit properly; otherwise, it will need relighting. The pilot light may have accidentally been blown out, or there may be something wrong with the pilot light itself. Check that there's nothing blocking the flame.

Step 3 - Relighting the Pilot Light

Use your long lighter to light the flame. Find a button or knob to press down and release the gas. There is a safety feature to all gas appliances that prevents gas from escaping if the flame isn't lit. Press the pilot button down first to allow the gas to flow, and then touch the flame on the lighter to the spout or nozzle. Remember to be careful when dealing with naked flames.

Step 4 - Troubleshooting

If you can light the pilot light again and this stays lit then you probably don't have a problem. However if the pilot light keeps on going out then there are actually a few different things that you might like to try. Firstly the pilot light may be too small, it's important that the flame is just right. If the flame is too big then it will cause damage to your cooktop, however if it's too small then it will often get blown out too often.

It should also be possible to adjust the air/gas mix for the pilot light, there should be a knob somewhere which will make it possible to make the pilot light much more reliable.