Please help! Hosting tonight and the hob isn’t working!

[whatthen]

I’m having a few people over to watch the England match tonight. Last night I cooked a chilli and intended to heat it up and make the rice tonight. However, after cleaning the hob last night it will no longer turn on. None of the four rings will work. I can smell the gas, but there is no click to spark it.

What can I do? I’m at work till 5:30 and people are arriving at 6:30. The rice isn’t microwaveable packets, it’s uncooked rice that needs boiling in water.

Tbh this is the answer. Although OP might not be a wet blanket- if she’s yr 2k born onwards this has probably never been an issue. But knickerless is right about matches

Whenever the electricity is out I use the stove gas by lighting with matches. Done it loads of times.

Whenever the electricity is out I use the stove gas by lighting with matches. Done it loads of times.

This is why I opted for a gas hob when having my kitchen refitted - so that I can still get a cup of tea in a power cut.

Yep, same! I’m an analogue soul.

Check the power switch for the hob ignition. Thats what I have usually turned off.

If you’re worried, just knock on a neighbour’s door and beg 25 minutes of their cooker.

Listen, you’re not unreasonable to have asked this question or to have been a bit panicky about your stove, but the first person wasn’t being mean telling you to cop on, they included it with helpful advice, and it was just a friendly nudge to not catastrophise. Gently, you look a bit silly now calling a second person rude for pointing this out. Objectively It’s true that the only person being rude is you, telling people to fuck off. Please take this in the spirit it’s intended and Hope you sort the chilli!

YouTube is useful for stuff like this. There usually is a 'How to...' for everything!

Did you get it sorted?

@whatthen my mum used to light cigarette off the gas burner when I was little

You do have to get the gas burner lit first though.

I am genuinely surprised that there is someone who doesn't know that you can light a gas hob burner with a match or firelighter (if the ignition doesn't work.) I thought it was common knowledge. I can only assume the OP is quite young. (Like, less than 25,) so hasn't got this little gem of information in her knowledge bank yet.

@Zov sometimes being " mature" does have advantages 😁

I’ve just looked and hobs were almost 100% fitted with fitted sparks by the 90s, so you’d have to be over 40 to stand a chance of remembering them lit with matches, more likely over 45.

25 year olds wouldn’t have been using hobs till, what? 2011? You’re missing 20 years of fitted sparks.

😆

Are you fairly young then? Sorry, I don't mean that in a condescending way, my 2 DC are around 30 now and they know this (because they've seen me light the gas hob with a match when we had a power cut so we could boil the whistle kettle,) but it's understandable that someone young-ish may not have picked this up.

.

Once it dries out the clicker will work again

Anyway, you know now OP. Use a match or lighter as shown upthread.

Mine can get a bit like this when it's cleaned. You just need to get the buggers going again. Mine sometimes light if you blow on them, but don't get long hair or anything in the way. Matches are perfectly safe if you're sensible. We did indeed use them back in the olden days. I think my mum's cooker had a spark ignition wand on the side of the cooker, and if that wasn't working, a match did the trick.

Tbf I’m not 40 and can at least remember broken hobs being lit with matches. And a quick Google tells me and PP it’s completely safe.

Check you haven’t got a switch underneath that has been knocked off. My gas hob has an electric spark thingy in the cupboard underneath and if I push the saucepans in too hard it can knock the switch up.

If you think it’s moisture then sometimes blowing hard on the gas ring (to dry it out and blow out any droplets) can sort it .

Yes, but gas hobs are fairly indestructible so there could well be ones installed in the 1980s that are still in use today, or at least have been until fairly recently.

So even if you're under 40, you'd probably remember your parents or other older relatives lighting the hob with a match or lighter. And it still seems a bit odd that you're seemingly unaware of how to light gas. Have you never been camping or used a bunsen burner?

I'm 45 and have been lighting the gas hob to cook in a power cut since I left home at 18.... I thought that was a life skill 😁

Gawd! What a drama (queen).
serve the chilli with jacket potatoes done in the microwave or oven, serve with crusty bread, garlic bread, flatbreads, chapatis….

Lateral thinking required!