Given their lower cost of installation, ease of use, and even cooking temperatures, electric ovens are popular kitchen appliances. But like any other electric appliance, the electric oven will at some point require repairs and maintenance. As a rule of thumb with home appliances, the faster you identify a fault, the quicker you can hire a high-quality appliance repair professional and avoid hefty repair costs because often, minor issues can turn severe pretty quickly. These are the four most common electric oven problems:
1. Oven Not Heating Up
If your food is routinely coming out cold or raw, it means the oven is not generating heat. This is a common problem with many possible causes: Could be the thermostat fuse has failed and can therefore not start the oven. Or, the heating elements have burnt out hence they are non-functional. Functional heating elements glow red when the oven is on, so it’s easy to tell if they are the issue or not. The good thing is that defective elements are easy to replace even without technical help. A faulty thermostat, on the other hand, needs replacement from qualified repair personnel.
2. Oven Won’t Turn On
If your oven won’t turn on yet it’s receiving power, the most likely cause is a blown fuse. Electric ovens have many internal fuses connected to certain components which makes this problem a complicated fix. If you suspect your oven has a fuse problem, it’s better to leave the troubleshooting to a repair technician, otherwise, you risk exposing yourself to electric shocks. Other reasons why the oven won’t turn on could include a wrong amount of power coming to the unit or a bake or broil element malfunction. The technician will help ascertain the cause.
3. The Oven Emits Abnormal Odours
Your oven should whet your appetite with smells of freshly baked cupcakes and mouth-watering roast chicken. If your oven does the opposite and emits peculiar odours, it’s calling out for your attention. The culprit could simply be food stuck on oven racks so when the oven is on, these particles start smoking and emit bad odours. The remedy to this is to simply clean the oven regularly and thoroughly. A more serious cause of the unpleasant smells would be warped wiring. Smoldering or smoking wiring in an electric oven can cause unpleasant odours and can cause a fire. If you’ve cleaned the oven but it still emits bad odours, warped wiring is the next possible cause. Ignoring the problem will eventually lead to the appliance’s malfunction.
4. Strange Noises
The oven features an automatic cooling fan that emits some humming sounds as it operates so some minor sounds are perfectly normal. The control relays also make some noises as the oven works to accurately maintain oven temperatures. On this note, it’s normal to hear more relay noise in older ovens compared to new ones. However, when you hear some strange buzzing, ticking, whirling or scratching noises, you have a reason to worry. The cause could be faulty or broken parts and calls for an inspection.
The oven is the heart of any kitchen – one that a modern kitchen can’t live without. But even with their remarkable conveniences, electric ovens will break down at some point. A cautionary thing is to be keen to notice minor issues before they become too severe and too costly as a result.