Your oven isn’t working! What a bummer. We have some good news; chances are that the problem can be narrowed down to a handful of common oven repair parts. So if you’re looking to diagnose your oven’s problem, this is a good place to start. Without further ado, here are the five most common oven repair parts:
5 Most Common Oven Repair Parts
- The most common oven repair part for a gas oven is the oven’s igniter. When the igniter is defective, it can cause a number of issues. The purpose of the igniter is to a) draw electrical current to open safety valve and b) get hot enough to ignite the gas in the burner. Therefore, if the igniter takes longer than usual to open the safety valve, your oven won’t bake evenly. If it doesn’t open the safety valve at all, your oven won’t heat. It’s also possible that your oven will have issues with its temperature accuracy and not turning on with a faulty igniter. The igniter is likely the culprit of your oven troubles if you observe it glowing for 90+ seconds without igniting the gas flame.

Oven igniter
- The first place to examine an electric oven is it’s bake element. When it’s working properly, it should be red hot. When it’s not, the damage to the element is usually easily detected by blisters or holes. Even if it looks ok, it is a good idea to check it for continuity when your electric oven won’t heat, won’t bake evenly, won’t turn on, or the broiler won’t work.
- An oven’s broil element is also a common oven repair part. This is the first part to check if your oven broiler isn’t working. If it’s malfunctioning, it can also cause your oven to not bake evenly (as only the bake element is heating the oven). Like the bake element, it glows red hot when it’s functioning properly and should be tested for continuity when it appears damaged.

Oven Broil Element
- If the above parts have been ruled out as the issue, the problem could be with the bake or broil spark electrode (in a gas oven). These parts are similar to a spark plug. When one of these electrodes is worn out or broken, your oven won’t heat or your broiler won’t work.
- Another possibility is your oven’s temperature control thermostat. This is especially true if the oven broiler isn’t working or the oven’s temperature is not accurate. When this thermostat isn’t working correctly, your oven won’t cycle heat properly making the temperature too high or too low. This is a complex part to test, so it’s highly recommended you contact a professional technician if you suspect the temperature control thermostat is the problem.
Rhianna Hawk
September 25, 2018 3:20 pmI’m considering getting my oven repaired (it smells like gas every time it turns on, and it’s an electric stove!) Knowing what sort of parts the repairman may need to order, I figure, is good to look into, and from what I can tell, the element only partly lights up, so that may be the issue. Whatever is causing the smell, it definitely sounds like the element needs to be replaced as well, otherwise it won’t cook evenly, as you said.