When it comes to keeping your cooker running one of the most important things is to be able to diagnose faults. By being able to diagnose faults, you’ll be able to spot and rectify them sooner – keeping your cooker working to its full potential for longer.

As with all kitchen appliances, the list of faults which can (and do) occur with cookers is extensive. But there are a few faults which are more common than others and below we’ve outlined (in no particular order) the ten most common cooker faults.

1. Display flashing, grill works but main oven doesn’t – 9 times out of 10 this is a simple fix of resetting the clock on the appliance.
2. Noise from fans (either the cooling or circulation) – usually noise emitting from the fans is due to worn or dried out bearings on the motor. The fault can be rectified by replacing the fan motor as necessary.
3. Cooker hotplate control switch tripping electrics – if your cooker is tripping the electrics and you’ve checked that the element is ok, then there’s a good chance that the hotplate control switch is to blame.

   Find out how to repair the fault within our “How to Replace a Cooker Hotplate Control Switch” advice centre article.

4. Door won’t close properly – if the door on your cooker won’t close properly, the appliance won’t be performing efficiently. A Common cause for the door not closing is a faulty hinge, which will need replacing.
5. Bulb has blown – as with changing any bulb within the house, replacing the bulb within your cooker is a quick and easy fix. Remember to use a bulb designed for ovens, as it’ll need to withstand heat.
6. Heat keeps escaping – the most common causes for heat escaping your oven will be a faulty / worn gasket or door seal. These will need replacing to bring your cooker back to its former glory.
7. Oven constantly overheating –more likely than not this will result in burnt food. A likely cause of an overheating oven is a faulty thermostat. You can find out how to replace an oven thermostat by reading “How to Replace an Oven Thermostat in an Electric Cooker”.
8. Hob ring doesn’t work correctly – your hob not working correctly is likely to be caused because of a fault with the selector switch or the ring circuit offering no heat. If there are no obvious signs of damage, check the resistance of the ring with a multi-meter – you’ll be looking for a reading between 30 and 60 ohms.
9. Blown oven grill – if your oven grill is blown it may not turn on. Find out how to fix the faulty grill within our “How to Replace a Grill Element in an Electric Oven” article.
10. Control knobs / door getting hot – if your oven doesn’t have a cooling fan you may have noticed that the control knobs or door on your cooker get hot, due to cool air not being able to be blown out. Unfortunately, there is no real solution to the issue, but in the majority of cases the appliances do comply with the relevant BSI standards.

Along with being aware of the common faults which occur with cookers, another step which can be taken to ensure that your cooker continues to stay running is to provide your appliance with a thorough clean.

From the hob and door glass, through to the cooker’s control panel and the oven wall – each part of your cooker should be cleaned; and within “How to Clean Your Cooker” we explain in detail the best way to clean each part.

Taking the time to be aware of common faults with appliances and how to fix them, as well as cleaning your cooker, will keep the appliance performing for longer, which has the added benefit of saving you money in both the short and long term.

Tags: Cooker Cleaning, Cooker Spares