Gas stove servicing before Diwali: what a visit covers and why now

Diwali cooking is the heaviest load a home stove takes all year — all burners, for hours, for days. A stove that has been slightly wrong since August tends to fail properly in the second week of November, when every technician in the tricity is already booked.

What a pre-season service checks

• Every burner lit and watched for flame colour, shape and lift-off
• Jets cleared, caps and rings cleaned and seated
• Ignition tested on every burner, battery replaced if weak
• Regulator checked for the right output and no hiss at the joint
• The gas pipe inspected along its length for cracks, hardening or a date past its life
• All joints soap-tested for leaks
• Knobs and valves checked for stiffness or free play

What it usually finds

A pipe that has gone hard near the stove end. A regulator seal past its best. One burner running yellow that nobody noticed because it is the one at the back. None of these is dramatic on a normal Tuesday. All of them are a problem with four burners going for six hours.

If your rubber gas pipe is more than two years old, or you cannot remember fitting it, have it replaced during the visit regardless of how it looks. It is the cheapest part of the whole system and the one that fails worst.

Why the timing

Book in October, not November. Slots are open, parts are in stock, and if something bigger is found there is time to sort it before the festival rather than during it. The visit itself is under an hour.