10 Reasons Your Electric Oven Isn't Heating Up

An inadequate power supply, a break in wires, a broken bake element or a bad electronic control board are some of the most common reasons why your oven is not heating up.

Of course, there are other reasons as well. All of which we will cover in this comprehensive troubleshooting guide for an oven not heating.

Basic Troubleshooting Steps

1. Control Panel is Locked

If none of the buttons on the oven control panel work, the control panel may have the child lock enabled. On many ovens and ranges, “Loc” will appear in the display when the keypad is locked.

Press and hold the control panel key that has the lock icon in its label for 3 deliberate seconds or until the control beeps.

After the electronic oven control board unlocks the control panel and oven door, you should be able to set the oven temperature and begin the preheat mode.

2. Tripped Circuit Breaker or Lack of 240-volt Power

You can set the oven temperature and start the oven in the bake mode but the oven won’t heat if the L2 leg of electrical power is missing because of a tripped circuit breaker.

If the oven is in a range with electric surface elements, turn on a surface burner to see if cooktop elements work. If the cooktop element works, you know that the range has 240-volt power so you can move on to the next troubleshooting step.

If you’re troubleshooting a wall oven or the surface burner fails to heat, check the house circuit breaker for the range. Reset both circuit breakers and see if the oven will heat. If not, continue with the more advanced troubleshooting steps outlined below.

Checking the Bake Element Circuit

This DIY troubleshooting video shows how to safely check the bake element and its circuit:

3. Broken Bake Element

Unplug the range or oven, or shut off the house circuit break to disconnect electrical power.

Examine the bake element for visible damage. Replace the element if it’s obviously broken.

If you see no visible damage, check for continuity through the bake element using this procedure:

1. With electrical power still disconnected from the oven or range, remove the back panel. For a wall oven, you’ll need to carefully pull the oven out of the cabinet to access the back panel.
2. Set your multimeter to measure ohms of resistance.
3. Touch the bake element spades with the meter probes to measure resistance through the bake element.

If you measure OL (open load) of infinite resistance through the bake element, an internal break in the element is causing the heating failure. Replace the bake element.

Here’s a video that shows how to replace the bake element:

4. Wiring Failure in the Bake Element Circuit

Remove the upper back panel. Unplug the element wires from the electronic control board.

Use a multimeter to measure the resistance through the yellow and orange wires that go to the bake element. Your meter should read about 16 ohms of resistance through that circuit. If you measure around 16 ohms of resistance, then the bake element circuit wires are okay.

If you measure infinite resistance through the bake element wiring circuit, find and repair the broken wire in the bake element circuit.

5. Defective Electronic Oven Control Board

Look for burn marks or burnt electronic components on the electronic oven control board. If the electronic control board is damaged, replace it.

Here’s a video that shows how to replace the electronic oven control board:

6. Tripped High-Temperature Safety Switch or Fuse

Some wall ovens and ranges use a high-temperature safety switch to prevent the oven from overheating when a temperature sensor, control board or element goes bad and the bake element turns on constantly.

Sometimes this switch can trip during the self-clean cycle. That uses high heat to burn off spills and residue inside the oven cavity. Resetting the high temperature limit switch can fix an oven heating problem.

Here’s a video that shows how to reset the high-temperature limit switch:

Oven Temperature Sensor Problems

A bad oven temperature sensor or a problem with the oven temperature sensor wire harness can prevent the oven from heating.

7. Error Code

You’ll likely see an error code when the sensor or its wiring is bad. The oven won’t heat until you resolve the cause of the error code.

Many ovens will display the F10, F30 or F31 error code to indicate an oven temperature sensor problem.

Here’s a video that shows how to resolve the problems causing an F30 or F31 oven temperature sensor error code:

If you see a different error code on your oven or range, look up the meaning of the error code on our error code charts and follow the troubleshooting described to fix the problem causing the error code.

• Range Error Code Charts
• Oven Error Code Charts

If you’re unable to fix the cause of the problem and clear the error code on your own, schedule oven repair service and we’ll send a Sears Home Services technician to your home to fix the problem.

8. Defective Oven Temperature Sensor

When you check the resistance of the oven temperature sensor as shown in the above video and sensor resistance is way off, you’ll need to replace the oven temperature probe.

Here’s a video that shows how to replace the oven temperature sensor:

9. Wiring Failure in the Oven Temperature Sensor Circuit

When the resistance measured directly at the sensor is okay but you don’t measure the same resistance through the sensor wiring harness that plugs into the electronic oven control board (with the sensor connected) then you’ll likely need to repair or replace the oven temperature sensor wire harness.

Power Cord Wiring Failure

The final reason for an electric oven heating problem that we’re covering in this article is a power cord wiring failure.

10. Power Cord Wiring Failure

Check the power cord wiring connections. The image above shows the typical power cord connections for an electric oven or range. With the range or oven unplugged, check those connections and reconnect any loose wires.

While these 10 reasons why your electric oven won’t heat cover most problems and solutions, there are other issues that can prevent an electric oven from heating. When you’re unable to resolve an oven heating problem on your own, schedule oven repair service and we’ll send a technician to your home to fix the issue.