A radiant glass cooktop has no way to run an element at half power. It reaches the set temperature by switching full power on and off, so what you see at a medium setting is an element glowing, fading, and glowing again. That is the design, not a fault.
Normal Behaviour
- Cycling on and off at anything below maximum, with the pattern changing as the pan heats.
- Faint ticking or clicking as the switch operates.
- A residual heat indicator staying lit for several minutes after the element is off.
- Slight expansion noises from the glass as it heats and cools.
Genuinely Faulty Behaviour
- An element that only works at full power, with no cycling at all, which usually means a failed switch or a relay welded closed.
- An element that never heats while the others do.
- An element that comes on by itself, or stays on with the knob off. Switch the cooktop off at the breaker and stop using it.
- Touch controls that ignore presses, respond to the wrong zone or trigger on their own, often caused by a wet or greasy panel, and sometimes by a control fault.
- Any crack, chip or pitted area in the glass.
Cookware Matters More Than People Expect
A warped or heavily domed pan touches the glass in only a few places, so heat transfer is poor and the element cycles more than it should. Flat, heavy-based pans sized to the element work best. On induction models, a pan that is not ferrous will not heat at all: a fridge magnet sticking firmly to the base is the quick test.
A Note on Cracks
A cracked ceramic top is not a cosmetic issue. Spills can reach live components underneath, so stop using the cooktop and switch it off at the breaker. That applies even if the elements still appear to work normally. Book a Maytag cooktop repair for any crack, for an element stuck on, or for controls behaving on their own.