Electric Oven Not Working? Common Causes and How to Fix It

When your electric oven, a home appliance that uses electrical current to generate heat for cooking. Also known as electric range oven, it relies on a few key parts to function—and when one fails, the whole thing stops working. The most common reason it won’t heat is a broken oven element, the metal coil inside the oven that glows red when powered. If it’s cracked, burnt, or doesn’t glow at all, it’s dead. You can often spot this just by looking. No glow? No heat. Simple as that.

But it’s not always the element. A faulty oven thermostat, the device that senses and controls the oven’s temperature can also cause problems. If it’s misreading the temperature, your oven might think it’s already hot when it’s not—or shut off too early. You won’t see damage here, but you’ll notice inconsistent baking or food that takes way too long to cook. And sometimes, the issue isn’t even the oven itself—it could be a tripped circuit breaker, a blown fuse, or a broken control board. These are less obvious, but just as common.

Most people assume they need to replace the whole oven when it stops heating. But in over 70% of cases, it’s just one part. Replacing the element costs under £50 and takes under an hour. A thermostat swap is a bit trickier, but still doable with basic tools. You don’t need to be an electrician—just patient and careful. Many of the posts below walk you through exactly how to test these parts with a multimeter, what to look for, and how to know when it’s time to call a pro.

What you’ll find here isn’t guesswork. It’s real fixes from real repairs—what actually breaks, how to check it, and what to do next. Whether you’re dealing with a cold oven, error codes, or uneven heating, there’s a guide here that matches your problem. No fluff. No theory. Just what works.