It looks like the pressure is too high on mine. Turning the knobs down from full results in not much change until you get to the last 1/4 of the travel, then it goes down but the lowest setting is still too high to gently simmer some things.

Is there some kind of adjustable regulator for the whole thing?

*tick

*tick +1

the last two i’ve had have been adjustable. Not that i needed to adjust them, but the installation manuals were left with the hobs and there were details in those about how to adjust the flame properley.

Have a look on the manufacturers website and see if you can download the installation manual rather than just the owners instruction manual

Mains or bottled gas?

Hobs are typically supplied with the appropriate restrictors for mains gas installed. If you are using bottled gas, the pressure is much higher and you will get 12″ high yellow flames! (trust me, I’ve been there!).

A new hob should come with different sets of restrictors, swapping them is an easy job, just takes a few minutes with a spanner or screwdriver.

Some hobs will have 3 sets of restrictors supplied – one for mains and then two for different types of bottled gas.

EDIT: There is also usually an internal flowrate adjustment for fine tuning, usually located underneath the normal knob.

Mains. I don’t think we had any gubbins supplied with the house. I’ll check the manuf, cheers. Are these restrictors changed from the top for each burner?

Restrictors are usually changed from the top. You might have to remove a panel to get access. Sometimes they’re under the burner, sometimes by the control knob.

you should have about 25mbar from the outlet of your meter. Any higher and the gas man will have to come and trim it down. Try half closing the gas tap to the hob if there is one.

Try half closing the gas tap to the hob if there is one

Is that safe/wise?

great post great advice… you and everyone advising are of course qualified to work with gas?
the reason some people are is so that you dont get advice like ” half close the gas tap” gas taps are designed to do two things.. be open or closed NOT be half open/ closed..
the pressure of the gas at the burner is critical along with the volume of gas being burnt.. not critical in a ”it ll be alright mate” but in a ”your dead .. sorry” kind of way.

the answer is yea restictors for under the hob are available but please seek the advice of a competant person who has personally examined your installation/ hob…

The gas tap thing I can understand as being dodgy, but is changing restrictors still a qualified job?

the pressure of the gas at the burner is critical along with the volume of gas being burnt.. not critical in a ”it ll be alright mate” but in a ”your dead .. sorry” kind of way.

shit how do i turn the gas hob down now it is on as it is unsafe to be anywhere between fully on and fully off 😯

Please help the chip pan is starting to smoulder QUICK

Not to say I would follow the advice here either but you get my point.

Is that safe/wise?

It’s not going to make any more gas come out is it? but it will cut down the supply to your hob and give you better control.

gas taps are designed to do two things.. be open or closed NOT be half open/ closed..

But then they’re designed for domestic installation so they should be pretty idiot proof and not prone to leaking from the valve stem. It’s not like you’re going to erode the valve internals away with the fast flowrates you can generate. It’s just like turning down a bunsen burner, only with a better tap.

Of course if you turn it down too far, you could struggle to get ignition, but I’d imagine you’d notice…

It’s probably not the best a long term solution but it’s a good indication if your pressure is a bit on the high side.

Or pay someone an exorbitant callout to tweak the needle valve in your hob, which essentially does the same thing.

Mine only came with different sized jets for mains or LPG (one in each burner and one in each controller) I don’t remember any other adjustment.

The correct thing to do is get someone qualified to take a look at it.

Me, I’d look for a manual online and consider my options from there.

I’m fairly confident with DIYing but I’d rather not leave a gas valve half open to solve a flow problem, partly because that’ll affect your boiler too.

Do it properly or don’t do it at all.

gas tap to the hob

It’s probably not the best a long term solution but it’s a good indication

We use bottled gas on the hob and when the burner is on low it’s still a little too high (depends what’s in the pan) – so I just turn the control knob clockwise as if to turn it off and this allows the burner to be turned down very low – just before it switches of completely

I have the opposite problem. the big burner just doesn’t get the oil in the wok hot enough to ignite the oil so that I can flambé my eyebrows.
do I need a bigger burner, or can I somehow turn it up to 11?

As I said before, there should be a “fine tuning” valve in there somewhere.

No expert by the way, just installed a couple of my own hobs in the past!