If the flame on your gas stove appears abnormally or atypically orange, don't ignore it. Gas stoves are increasingly becoming antiquated sources of fire hazards in most homes. Most of these problems start minor and take on the shape of a health hazard when ignored for far too long.
How to Fix an Orange Flame on Your Gas Stove?
An orange flame on a gas stove is one thing most people tend to ignore. Therefore, we’ve dedicated an entire post to help you learn how to fix the orange flame on the gas stoves and stay safe in your home.
What Causes an Orange Flame?
There are several reasons your gas stove may emit an unusually orange flame. The standard color of your stove's flame should be a bright sapphire blue, and it shouldn't flicker too much. Note that blue flames are much hotter than orange flames, so if your stove emits orange flames, it is not as hot as it should be.
In most cases, the presence of an orange flame indicates excess combustion of carbon monoxide, which can happen due to the following:
- Excess Humidity: Do you ever notice the whoosh of orange fire that bubbles up whenever you accidentally spill liquids on your cooking flame? When water makes contact with your gas-powered flame, it causes blockage of the stove pathways. A similar effect may be achieved if the environment in your kitchen is too humid, e.g., you may be using a humidifier machine.
- Stove Getting Clogged by Soot Buildup: When was the last time you cleaned your stovetop? This means essential orifices are blocked due to the accumulation of soot or grease. In that case, it can reduce the oxygen available to the burner and cause it to emit cooler (orange/yellow) flames!
- Lack of Oxygen/ Partial Combustion: All of the scenarios above lead to the main culprit: lack of oxygen. This leads to insufficient combustion on your stove, which then causes it to emit these toxic flames.
This release of too much carbon monoxide is not at all healthy to breathe in for a long time. You will likely experience difficulty breathing and nasal irritation during the few minutes you stand in the room with the stove on.
How to Fix an Orange Flame on Your Gas Stove?
Before doing your own repairs, we suggest contacting a reputable gas stove installation service to investigate the problem. They'll be better equipped to take off your burners and figure out what's wrong. It's much safer than trying to fix a built-in, unstable appliance on your own.
Yet, there are two pretty safe solutions on how to fix orange flame on the gas stove you can try first:
- Thoroughly clean the stove. You may be surprised at the amount of gunk that resides in all the orifices of the gas burners. We recommend turning the burners off for at least 4-6 hours and then beginning to clean. Use a pipe-cleaner brush to get into the little crannies of your stove, and make sure to dry it thoroughly before you turn it back on! Use a non-flammable cleaning agent or one that doesn't contain alcohol to avoid any hazards.
- Turn off your humidifier. A humidifier device may be a great companion in the kitchen to make the atmosphere more pleasant and bearable when cooking. Still, it can kill off oxygen in the burners’ airways, leading to insufficient combustion and, thus, colder flames. Try using an exhaust/reversed fan in the kitchen to reduce the humidity if you live in a naturally precipitous area.
You might also want to check the igniter to see if that helps. Learn more about it here: https://houseofcoco.net/how-to-fix-a-stove-igniter/
If the problem persists, there is likely an installation or wiring issue. It may be tempting to pick up your stove's manual and get into the nooks and crannies, but remember that you are dealing with highly combustible and dangerously unstable gasses here. Leave this to the professionals.
Why You Shouldn’t Ignore an Orange Flame on Your Gas Stove
You should know that having a partially combustible flame emitting from your burner is very dangerous for you and the people with whom you share your living space. As you know, a product of partial combustion is excess carbon monoxide, which, in the world of gasses, is called a “silent killer.”
CO poisoning is the leading cause of miners’ deaths. We call it a silent killer because it is odorless and colorless, so you would be hard-pressed to detect anything amiss if there was a leak.
Breathing in carbon monoxide deprives your blood and, subsequently, your organs of essential oxygen. It is a good idea to get a CO detector installed in the vicinity of your kitchen to always be alert for CO levels in your house and prevent them at their source.
How to Prevent this from Happening Again?
With the question “How to fix an orange flame on your gas stove?” out of the way, let’s learn what you should do to prevent things like this from happening again. Here’s how to maintain your stove mechanism in good condition
- Regularly clean your gas stove and all its orifices. It is not sufficient to wipe a rag over them, too; you need to extract soot and food buildup inside the burner holes and the ignition chamber to avoid the problem of orange flames later on.
- Check the humidity levels in your kitchen from time to time and try to install a cost-effective exhaust fan in your kitchen area to prevent excess moisture buildup.
- Avoid spillage over the stovetop to ensure no grease buildup or fire hazard.
Signs of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
When you find out that there is a leak of CO in your house, it may be too late. To catch the problem early, it is important to remember the signs of CO poisoning. Here is what to watch out for
- Headache
- Dizziness
- Weakness
- Nausea or vomiting
- Blurred vision
- Shortness of breath
- Confusion
- Loss of consciousness
- Irritated throat and eyes
If you think you might be poisoned by CO, leave the house right away (after making sure there are no open burners) and call 911, preferably a poison control center if you live in a place that has one. Time is of the essence when dealing with a situation like this.
Bottom Line
We hope this guide helped you identify why your gas stove is emitting unusually orange flames and how to fix this issue and prevent it from happening in the future. Make sure you're safe when working with flammable appliances and materials, and if you're not sure, call a professional.
