Gas hob repair advice sought

[The Night Tripper]

Hi all One of the four controls on our (oldish, cheapish) gas hob has stopped working. It's the style where you press down on the knob to allow you to turn it away from the 'off' position. It's not allowing me to do this (press down), and so I can't turn it on.

I've levered the knob off and cleared the obligatory debris from underneath. There's now nothing obvious preventing the shaft from moving. I'm not too familiar with the controls used on hob so not sure what to look for next. Any suggestions or pointers to general maintenance info before I get too stuck in? Ta.

(Apologies for lack of info re. make and model etc., I'm writing way from home. More info tomorrow if required)

Cheers Jon N

[Skipweasel]

On ours I had to take it apart and grease the spindle. Careful dismantling of the valve made it simple enough - used silicone grease, IIRC, 'cos I had some around. It's not done it again and this was about three years ago.

Before that, however, you could try pulling the spindle gently up and down with some WD40 or similar on it to see if it'll come free.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Was it getting stiff before (grease gunged up), or is this a unexpected sudden failure (such as a mechanical part obstructing movement, possibly internally)?

You should be using gas c*ck grease. You can get it from BES, and possibly from a local plumbers merchant.

After squirting WD-40 in, you really are committed to disassembly, cleaning, and correctly regreasing, as WD-40 will wash out the grease which forms part of the gas seal.

[The Night Tripper]

Not a sudden failure AFAIK (see below)

OK, Ta.

[...]

Now you tell me! ;-o

Have just given it a squirt of WD40 etc and with a bit of judicious riving, it seems to be 'mostly sorted' - although it's not as smooth in its travel as the rest. It'd probably be worth me taking the whole thing apart and having a look sometime anyway.

I've never fitted or demounted a hob - how are they fitted to the worktop below? Is the enamelled (white, in this case) 'fascia' just siliconed on, or something (ie can be prised off, leaving the 'sub-frame' visible), or are there eg. screws that I'd have to undo from below?

Thanks Jon N

[Huge]

Heh, he said "c*ck grease", Bevis.

[Skipweasel]

They're supposed to have screws from underneath - usually. Though often they're omitted 'cos they can be a right sod to do. Have a good look underneath first.