- Burner base and orifice
- Burner cap
Gas supply to the burners · Finn Hill
Wolf Burner Orifice
The burner orifice is a small brass fitting with a sized hole at the base of a Wolf surface burner. Gas from the valve passes through it, so it sets how much fuel the burner can take, and it is made for one gas: Wolf's conversion kits change the orifices when a range moves between natural gas and propane.
Greg Lindqvist Cooking-appliance technician — gas ignition and burners · 18 years in the trade
What We Usually Find · Finn Hill
- Most often
The orifice is innocent. Flames that run weak on several burners at once are being starved further back, by low supply pressure or an extra regulator outside the range, and changing orifices would only disguise it.
- Sometimes
A boil-over that dried around the burner base and reached the orifice, so one burner burns small, lopsided or noisy while the rest behave normally.
- Rarely
Orifices that do not suit the gas the house supplies, which tends to follow a range moved in from another house. The flame is then either far too lazy or far too large.
What it means for the repair
We read the flame on every burner before one is taken apart. Weak everywhere sends us to the supply and the regulator first; weak on a single burner sends us to that burner’s base. Wolf lists orifice adjustment among the causes of a poor flame, so an orifice that is fouled or disturbed is cleared or renewed, and the flame is checked again at each setting afterwards. If the orifices turn out to be made for a different gas from the one your house supplies, we explain what that involves before anything else is agreed.
Before you call
Look at the flames with the caps seated and everything dry, and note which burners run weak and whether they stay weak on Hi. Then look around the range’s serial tag for any label saying it has been converted to the other gas. If you find one, or the range came from another house, tell us when you ring.
On Finn Hill
Many Finn Hill kitchens were moved or opened up during a remodel, and the gas line was lengthened to follow the range to its new spot. Every extra run of pipe and every added fitting is somewhere pressure can fall away, which is why, on the hill, a weak flame on more than one burner points us at what the line delivers long before any orifice is blamed.
What it costs to put right
- Burner valve or orifice service $240 to $580
A flat $89 pays for the visit and the whole diagnosis; approve the repair and that $89 comes off its price.
Asked about this one
What colour should the flame on a Wolf burner be?
On natural gas Wolf expects a blue flame with a deeper blue inner cone and no yellow in it; on propane a little orange at the tips is normal. A humidifier running in winter can also tint it orange. Steady yellow on a clean, dry burner is worth a visit from Wolf Repair Kirkland, (425) 699-2400.
Can I clean the orifice myself?
Clean what Wolf lists for owners: the burner parts and the pan beneath them, dried fully before they go back. Leave the orifice itself alone. A pin or wire pushed into it can enlarge or burr the hole and change the flame for good. If a clean burner still burns small, the orifice is for us to check.
