XT Appliances · Warren
Oven won't heat, gas or electric
On a gas oven it's usually an igniter that still glows but is too weak to open the gas valve; on an electric oven, usually a burnt-out bake element.
When you set a bake temperature, a gas oven first heats a small igniter on the oven floor, and only once that igniter is hot enough does the gas valve open and the burner light. An electric oven just sends power to the bake element along the bottom. So the first question on any oven that won't heat is which kind you have.
Gas ovens
The igniter is the usual cause, and it's easy to misread. The igniter and the gas valve are wired together, and the valve opens only when the igniter draws enough current. As an igniter ages it keeps glowing orange but draws less, until it can no longer open the valve. You see the glow, so it looks fine, but no flame ever comes. A healthy igniter glows close to white and lights the burner within about a minute and a half.
A weak igniter can also light late. Gas collects while it slowly heats, then catches with a whump. A smell of gas just before the oven lights is the classic sign, and a reason to stop using the oven until it's fixed.
The gas valve fails far less often. We replace it only after the igniter has tested good and the burner still won't light.
Electric ovens
Most electric ovens that won't heat have a burnt-out bake element. Some show a blister or a split, but one that looks clean can still be open inside. If broil still heats and bake doesn't, the bake element has failed, because the two elements are wired separately. If it bakes but won't broil, it's the top element.
An oven that died right after a self-clean has usually blown its thermal fuse, a one-time safety part that opens when the oven gets too hot. A new fuse alone isn't the whole repair. Something let the oven overheat, and unless we find it, the next fuse goes the same way.
If half the range quit, say the oven won't heat but the cooktop works, the range has lost one of its two power legs. Either one half of the breaker has tripped or the connection where the power cord lands on the back of the range has burnt. A burning smell from back there means stop using it.
On the visit we measure the igniter's current draw on a gas oven, or test the elements, the fuse and the incoming power on an electric one, before we name a part.
What it usually turns out to be
- PartGas oven igniter (glow bar)An aging igniter keeps glowing but gets too weak to open the gas valve, so no gas reaches the burner. The tell: it glows for minutes and never lights, or lights late with a whump.
- PartBake element (electric)The element at the bottom of the oven burns open, often at a blister or split. The tell: broil still heats but bake doesn't.
- PartBroil element (electric)The top element fails the same way. If the oven bakes but won't broil, this is the one.
- PartThermal fuseA one-time safety fuse that opens when the oven runs too hot, most often during self-clean. The tell: the oven quit right after a clean cycle.
- PartBurnt terminal block or tripped breakerAn electric range runs on two power legs. Lose one, from a tripped half of the breaker or a burnt connection where the cord lands, and half the range goes dead: the oven quits while the cooktop still works, or the reverse.
Try this first
- On an electric range, check the breaker: a range uses a double breaker, and one half can trip on its own.
- On an electric oven, try broil and note whether the top element heats when the bottom one doesn't.
- On a gas oven, set it to bake and look through the window: note whether the igniter glows and whether a flame follows, then turn it off.
- Note the error code if the display shows one.
Stop using it and call now if
- If you smell gas, leave the house and call your gas company from outside. Don't switch lights or appliances on or off.
- The oven lights late with a whump, or smells of gas just before it lights.
- Sparks or arcing from an element, or a burning smell from the back of the range.