Top Tips on How to Repair a Broken Electric Oven

If your electric oven has stopped working, don't rush out and replace it. Ovens are quite simple devices and you may be surprised at how easy they are to repair.

Electric ovens are simple devices. They are designed with quick assembly and disassembly in mind and problems are usually easy to diagnose and fix. If your oven suddenly stops working, there is a good chance that it can be easily repaired. Before you spend a lot of money on a new cooker, take a moment to try to diagnose and fix the problem with your old one. It may be possible to safely and cheaply repair the fault.

Common Oven Malfunctions
The most common issues with electrical ovens are problems with the door seal, the thermostat or the heating element. The good news is that you can find inexpensive Electrolux parts, Electrolux oven spares and non-branded parts to replace all of these things.

When a door seal becomes worn or damaged, the oven will still heat up, but you will find that food takes longer to cook and you will be wasting energy because so much heat is lost through the broken seal. The good news is that a new seal is one of the cheapest electrolux parts, Electrolux oven spares sell them for just a few pounds and replacing the seal is a simple process.

Elements and thermostats are more expensive, but they are still a fraction of the cost of buying a new oven. Usually, replacing an element is simply a case of removing the back cover, unscrewing the old element and putting the new one in. Thermostats can be a little more complicated to replace, however, you should be able to do it with the help of your oven's service manual. Most stores don't provide service manuals with white goods when you buy them but you can download those manuals online in PDF format quite easily and the instructions, part numbers and safety advisories are quite clear.

Safety First
Before you attempt to repair your electric cooker, make sure that it has been unplugged or that the electrical supply to the oven has been cut off at the cooker's panel or the main circuit breaker. If your oven has a grounding wire attached to it, be sure to disconnect it.

If your oven breaks down whilst you are cooking, give it plenty of time to cool before investigating the problem. Even if the inside of the oven feels fairly cool, the element may still be hotter than you might expect.

Most repairs are fairly simple and can be carried out by anyone with a little electronics knowledge and a copy of the service manual for their cooker in front of them. If you are unsure of how to proceed with a repair, however, contact a qualified electrician. It is never a good idea to guess when working on electrical equipment.

AUTHOR BIO

James Masters is a Scottish electrician and handyman. He runs his own appliance repair business and takes joy in salvaging Electrolux parts, Electrolux oven spares and old circuit boards to breathe life into old appliances. When James is not taking electronic goods to pieces or repairing old appliances, he likes to blog about emergency preparedness and DIY.