Oven won't heat but the cooktop and clock still work

Tell a dead element from a dead control in five minutes

1. Press Bake and set 350. Watch the display for a set temperature or a preheat message.
2. Hold the Lock or Clear button for 3 seconds. Control lock blocks every oven button and leaves the clock and cooktop working.
3. Switch the range breaker off for 5 minutes, then back on. A control board that hung on a power blip often wakes up from this.
4. Start a bake cycle again and wait 5 minutes. Look for an orange glow at the bottom element, or listen at a gas oven for the click and the whoosh of the igniter.
5. Write down any error code on the display, exactly as it shows, letters and digits.
6. Turn on a cooktop burner. A cooktop that also died points at the range power supply, not at the oven.

If the oven buttons respond and the element never glows, you need a part: the bake element, the igniter or the temperature sensor. If the buttons do nothing after a lock check and a power cycle, the touchpad or the control board has failed. Both need a technician, because the terminals behind the panel carry 240 volts.

Repair or replace

What it costs

Runhome contractor estimates for this job, including the trip and assessment.

Can I do it myself?

Sometimes. The control lock check and a 5-minute breaker cycle are safe for anyone, and they fix more no-heat ovens than people expect. A bake element on an electric range is four screws and two wires, and confident owners do swap them with the breaker off and the wires tagged.

Hire for this if the range runs on gas or LP, if the fault is the control board or the touchpad, or if you cannot confirm the breaker is off. The terminals behind an oven panel sit at 240 volts, and a gas igniter sits in the same cavity as an open gas valve.

What a contractor will ask you

Have these ready and you skip the back-and-forth.

• Brand and model. Frigidaire, GE and Whirlpool ranges take different boards, and the plate sits on the door frame or behind the storage drawer.
• Gas or electric, and on a gas range whether it runs on natural gas or LP.
• Whether the clock and the cooktop still work while the oven does not.
• What the display does when you press Bake: shows the set temperature, flashes and beeps, or stays exactly the same.
• Any error code on the display, written down exactly.
• Roughly when it stopped heating.
• Whether some oven buttons still respond or none of them do.
• A wide photo of the whole range, showing the controls, the door and how it is installed.

Related questions

My oven stopped working but the stovetop still works.

That splits the fault for you. The range is getting power, so the problem sits in the oven's element, igniter, sensor or control. The cooktop runs on its own circuits inside the range.

Oven will not heat at all, but clock and touchpad still work.

The controls are alive, so look at the heating side. On an electric oven that is usually the bake element or the temperature sensor. On a gas oven it is usually the igniter.

None of the oven buttons respond at all.

Check the control lock first, then cut the breaker for 5 minutes. If the buttons stay dead after both, the touchpad or the control board has failed.

Is an oven that won't heat worth repairing?

Usually yes. An element, an igniter or a sensor is a cheap part and a single visit. Weigh it again only when the quote names the control board on a range over 15 years old.

My gas oven won't bake or broil right and I don't think it is safe to use.

Stop using it and get a gas technician out. A gas oven that heats poorly or lights late has an igniter, valve or burner fault, and none of those are homeowner repairs.