Oven Not Heating: Bake Element, Igniter, and Temperature Sensor

An oven that will not heat, with a cooktop that still works, usually has one failed part in the oven itself. Before you open anything, rule out the settings that make a working oven look dead.

Before you open anything: unplug the range or switch off its breaker, and let the cooktop and oven cool completely. An electric range runs on a 240-volt circuit; a gas range also has a gas line — close the gas shut-off valve behind it before you move it. If you smell gas, do not work on the range: leave the house, do not touch light switches, and call your gas utility from outside. Gas valves, regulators and gas lines are a job for a licensed technician in many areas.

Check the controls first

• Control lock, delay start, or Sabbath mode. Any of these can leave the oven idle while the display looks normal. Check the manual for how your model shows them.
• The clock. On some older ranges the oven does not run until the clock has been set after a power outage.
• Bake vs broil. Try both. Which one works narrows down the fault below.

Electric ovens

• Broil works, bake does not. Look at the bake element on the oven floor (on hidden-element ovens it is under the floor panel). A break, a blister, or a burnt spot means the element has failed. A good element has continuity end to end with the power off.
• Neither works. Check that both sides of the breaker are on — an electric range needs both. Then look for a thermal fuse (some models have one) and at the control.
• It heats, but slowly or to the wrong temperature. That points to the oven temperature sensor, the thin probe at the back of the oven cavity. Its resistance at room temperature should match the value on your model's tech sheet (often behind the kick panel or inside the back panel).

Gas ovens

The most common gas oven failure is a weak igniter. The igniter has to glow hot enough, and draw enough current, to open the oven's safety valve. As it ages it still glows, but not enough to open the valve.

Watch through the broiler drawer or the floor slots after you start a bake:

• The igniter glows, but no flame after 90 seconds — the igniter is weak. This is the classic case.
• The igniter does not glow at all — the igniter is broken, or it is not getting power from the control.
• The flame lights, but the oven never reaches temperature — check the temperature sensor, as above.

The gas valve and gas lines are a job for a licensed technician in many areas; the igniter and sensor are not gas connections.

Before you order the part

Range parts are model-specific, and gas and electric versions of the same range take different burners, elements and controls. The model plate is your only reliable source. On most ranges it is on the frame behind the storage or broiler drawer, or around the oven door opening. If you are not sure where to look, our model number guide shows each spot.

Ask before you install. Not sure it fits? Check your model number for free before you buy. Our fit check is optional; if it does not come back as a clear match, send us the full model number through Contact us before you order. Once a part has been installed we can only take it back if it arrived defective, we shipped the wrong item, or the listing was wrong on our end, and it has to come back in the condition it went out in. Checking first is faster than returning.