An Oven That Won’t Heat May Require a Call to Your Local Appliance Repair Company

It’s Sunday afternoon, and in a few hours your house will be filled with the chatter of relatives. You’ve carefully planned the menu for the evening, and at the moment you’re waiting patiently for your oven to reach 400 degrees, but the neon green numbers on your stove’s control panel are stuck at 200. You try pushing a few buttons and wait another 5 minutes, but instead of the temperature rising, it’s fallen to 150 degrees. You turn off the oven and wait for it to cool down. Once it’s safe, you open the door to inspect the inside, but to be honest you have no clue what you’re looking for.

Below are a few  common oven parts that can malfunction and cause your appliance to heat improperly. Unfortunately, fixing these conditions often requires a call to an oven appliance repair company.

The Bake Element

When your oven is heating normally, a black tube near the bottom of the appliance called the bake element will glow and become a reddish-orange. In a situation where your oven is not reaching the desired temperature, the bake element may be burned out. In some cases, you can tell the part is no longer functioning correctly by the emergence of blisters on the outside of the element. The appearance of holes in the element is another indication the part is malfunctioning.

Oven Thermostat

When you are experiencing issues with your oven’s temperature, a defective thermostat is a likely culprit. The thermostat in your oven regulates the temperature by indicating when the oven should heat and when it should stop heating. If the thermostat is not doing its job, your oven will not switch the heat on or off at the right times. Hiring a professional to replace or recalibrate the part will solve your heating issue.

Oven Igniter

Over time, the oven igniter in your appliance grows weaker which causes the gas valve to open at a much slower rate. When your gas valve does not open at the appropriate time your oven may drastically cool down, leading to large temperature fluctuations. If the burner does not relight before your oven drops 40 degrees or more, there is a good chance your oven igniter is worn out.

If you find yourself stuck with an oven that won’t heat-up or one that constantly overheats, please contact us, and we’ll send one of our trusted technicians to inspect and fix the problem.