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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!