Broken ovens can be a bit of a nightmare. Partially because you have to survive on takeaways and microwaveables for a little while, but mainly because, sooner or later, you'll have to bite the bullet and get the darn thing fixed.

But don't call the professionals in yet. Repairing your oven may be easier than you think - to help, here are a few commonly-asked questions that the Cooker Spare Parts team have attempted to answer.

Q: What’s wrong with my cooker?

A: That’s a very broad question, but there are a few diagnostic tricks you can use to narrow down the possibilities. Firstly, switch your oven on – if there’s no sign of life whatsoever, it’s likely to be an electrical issue, and you might need a new terminal block. If the lights are on but nobody’s home – that is, if your oven turns on but fails to heat up – you may have a broken element.

Bear in mind that oven elements can break without being faulty in themselves. If you have a malfunctioning thermostat, or if something else is awry in your oven, these problems can cause perfectly serviceable elements to kick the bucket. Don’t assume that you can simply replace a broken element and get back to business as usual – there could be another issue at work.

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Q: How do I find the right part for my appliance?

A: We appreciate that there are lots of different cooker parts that look more or less interchangeable. Instead of making you inspect every single product on our site, we’ve done our best to make finding the right part as easy and as streamlined as possible. 

For example, if you’re looking for a new oven timer on the Cooker Spare Parts website, you can select your manufacturer from the list on the left-hand side. For extra reassurance, we recommend entering your model number while you search as well.

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Q: I can’t find my model number! Where is it?

A: Our dedicated Help Centre page contains all the information you’ll need to find your cooker’s model number. Knowing your number will make the spare-buying process a whole lot simpler, so it’s definitely a good idea to track it down before you proceed.

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Q: Is there anything I should know before I attempt to repair my oven?

A: First of all, you must always unplug your oven at the wall before you begin any work on it. From there on out, it kind of depends on what you’re repairing – thanks to this wonderful thing we call the internet, specific advice is just a Google search away.

Finally, we should make it clear that it’s not a good idea to attempt oven repair work if you’re not sure what you’re doing. If you’ve taken a good hard look at the problem, read all of the articles online, and you’re still a bit fuzzy on how to fix it, then it’s always better to leave it to a professional. After all, you don’t want to make it any worse!

The Cooker Spare Parts website has only been live for a few weeks, but we've already received plenty of orders. You've kept us all very busy - not that we're complaining!

We've also received a fair bit of feedback, and happily enough, it's all been extremely positive. Take Clive from Yorkshire, for example; he purchased a new oven element from us, and he was exceptionally pleased with the service we provided. He emailed us to say that our customer support was “excellent”, and noted that the new part arrived the day after he placed his order.

Alan from North Wales was similarly satisifed with his Cooker Spare Parts Experience. “I would just like say thank you for such an excellent service,” he said in an email to our sales team. “Ordered on Friday morning, received Saturday, fitted in minutes.” Alan’s oven is now working perfectly once more, and he rounded off his review by adding that he “will not hesitate to recommend” us.

High praise indeed! We were thrilled to hear about how satisifed these customers were, and if you need a new cooker part, we will do everything we can to meet your own requirements. If you’d like to take full advantage of our Next Day Delivery option (like Alan and Clive did), don’t forget to place your order by 3.30pm!

Image by Vaikunda Raja (via Wikimedia Commons)

A broken oven can cause serious headaches come teatime, robbing you and your family of quite a few meal options. Of course, our wide range of oven spares makes it easy to get everything working again, but while you’re waiting for your replacement parts to arrive, here are a few delicious meals that you can do on the hob. No oven required!

• Spaghetti Bolognese
  An Italian classic that can be cooked entirely in saucepans. Boil the spaghetti in one pan, cook the sauce in another (recipes vary, but this is a good one), and slap them together for a yummy meal that everyone will enjoy. Vegetarians can use Quorn mince instead of minced beef, while vegans might swap the mince for peppers and use egg-free whole wheat spaghetti.
  
  
• Chilli Con Carne
  Spag bol’s Tex-Mex cousin, if you will. Here’s a recipe for you to follow – chilli con carne is a tasty mixture of mince, diced vegetables, red kidney beans, and sauce. Oh, and you can boil some rice to go with it, too. Again, veggies can replace the mince with something more suitable, although as ‘chilli con carne’ is Spanish for ‘chilli with meat’, you might want to call it something different.
  
  
• Fajitas
  Another one from down Mexico way. This one is simple; just throw some chicken, some peppers, and whatever else you fancy into a frying pan. Then, once everything’s cooked, spoon the mixture into flour tortillas, wrap ‘em up, and enjoy!

Oven failure is a nuisance, but on the upside, such occasions can give you an opportunity to broaden your repertoire a little. Still, if you just want to get your oven working again, bear in mind that we do offer a next day delivery option – your parts will be with you ASAP, and your oven will be up and running again before you know it.

Replacing your oven door seal is a pretty straightforward process: unhook the old one, replace it with new one, and you're pretty much done!

Of course, the part before that - finding and purchasing the right seal for your oven - threatens to be slightly more complicated. As with any cooker part, the wide range of brands and models on the market can make things very confusing, and then there's the question of whether you want a 3-sided seal or a 4-sided seal. Unless you own a triangular oven, you might well assume that you need four sides, but unfortunately that's not quite how it works.

The good news is that we're here to make it simple. Our snazzy search filters allow you to specify your cooker's brand and model number to make sure you're shopping for the right stuff. As for the 3/4 sides issue...well, we'll clear that one up for you right now:

• A 4-sided oven door seal will completely seal up the space around your oven door, keeping the heat in and making the whole operation a lot more energy-efficient. An oven with a broken door seal will take much longer to reach the designated temperature, and the longer your oven is on, the more energy you'll use and the higher your utility bill will be at the end of the month. With that in mind, it's not hard to see why you should seal up your oven! However...
  
  
• Some ovens aren't supposed to be sealed up completely. These appliances draw air in through the bottom of the oven door, and that's why the 3-sided oven door seal exists: for ovens (mostly gas ovens) that rely on that gap at the bottom. Oh, and don't worry - since heat rises, very little heat is lost through the lower, unsealed side.

Hopefully, this explains the importance of establishing whether your oven needs a 3- or 4-sided seal. If you're interested in ordering one of our universal oven door seal kits, please bear in mind that, while they are compatible with the vast majority of appliances, they are not suitable for:

• Ovens with curved corners
  
• Ovens with more than one hole at each corner

Check your appliance first to avoid disappointment!