3 Oven Temperature Problems that Can Be Repaired

The oven in a home is part of the house’s unique personality. Each of us learns to work with the oven we’ve got, as they often come with the house itself. Some ovens run a little hot or cool, some cook better on the right or left sides. These variations, while normal, are inconvenient. They can even throw off your ability to cook your favorite dishes or host large combination meals for family holidays. What most people don’t realize is how straight-forward it can be to fix a finicky oven. If your oven is displaying temperature problems, it might be easy to repair by knowing exactly what is causing the problem. Let’s take a closer look at the three primary temperature problems that are the simplest to identify and repair. 

1) Oven Too Hot or Cold

When you set your oven temperature, does it reach it by the preheat timer? You can tell by placing a metal oven-safe thermometer inside the oven. Simply set the temp take notes, and give it a few minutes to preheat.

Sign: Oven Always Under or Over Set Temp

If the temperature on your small thermometer is below the set temp, then your oven runs cool. This would also explain why you’d have to set the temp higher than recipes say or cook food for longer for it to be fully done.If the temperature is higher than you set it to, then your oven runs hot which would explain accidental scorching or needing to shorten your cook times.

Solution 1: Recalibrate the Oven

Your first option is to recalibrate the oven. Remove the knob and adjust the dial on a manual oven temperature setting. For a digital temperature setting, follow the manual directions to reset the software.

Solution 2: Replace Oven Thermometer

The second option is to replace the thermometer where the oven takes temperature. It may have fallen into the back of the oven or against the edge of the aperture. Remove the old thermometer and replace it with a new one – be careful not to drop the wires during this exchange. Then your oven should accurately know the temperature again. Be sure to recalibreate the oven back to zero. 

2) Oven Not Working

Another option is that your oven is scorching with only one of the two cooking elements. Your food may be consistently overcooked on top or burnt to the pan on bottom if your oven’s elements no longer match up and burn with unequal intensity.

Sign: One Element has Failed

Turn on your oven to Bake and look at both element. Both should light up glowing red, is one out?

Solution: Replace the Element or Bake/ Broil Correctly

When one oven element starts to go, there only way to keep them cooking evenly. Remove the dim element and install a new one. 

3) Oven Baking Unevenly

Finally, there’s the trouble of your oven baking unevenly from one side to the other. Your oven should bake evenly across but you may have one half of the oven hotter or even experience hot and cold spots in the oven. This causes seriously uneven baking wide dishes.

Sign: Oven Elements Look Splotchy

Take a look at your oven elements when they warm up. You should be able to see a pattern of dark and light spots matching your trouble with uneven baking.

Solution: Replace Splotchy Heating Element

When a heating element goes splotchy, you can try cleaning it and resetting it. But if these two preliminary methods don’t work, the usual solution is to replace the faulty heating element.