Your kitchen appliances are essential because they allow you to prepare your meals after a tiresome day at work. Specifically, your oven is the star of your kitchen. Whether you have a gas or electric unit, you depend on your oven to cook meal after meal. It also allows you to experiment with new recipes.
Some benefits of having an oven in your home include:
- You can cook multiple meals at once
- Your family has less wait time
- You can customize any recipe for dietary restrictions
- A large oven can improve your kitchen’s aesthetic
As you can see, having an oven will have multiple benefits in your home. Sometimes your kids will come home from school hungry, and you can prepare a simple meal within minutes.
Unfortunately, problems occur when your oven stops cooking right or it doesn’t distribute heat evenly. This is a common problem that many people encounter. To be on the safe side, should know what causes oven problems so you know what to do if it happens.
1. Poor Placement of Oven Racks
Sometimes your oven could be failing to cook right due to a simple problem, such as misplaced oven racks. This problem happens when you don’t know where the racks should be appropriately placed. Just because your oven has four racks, that doesn’t mean you should always use all four. Placement can vary for each use.
You have to read through the instructions so that you can ensure the racks are properly placed. If your food is burnt on the top side but partially cooked on the bottom, you need to lower your rack and rotate your food regularly to heat it evenly.
2. Improper Oven Calibration
Generally, your oven is supposed to cook evenly because there is an even distribution of heat. However, this is not always the case; your oven could be burning some parts of the food while leaving other areas completely uncooked.
In this situation, your oven has improper calibration. The accuracy of your calibration device might not work as expected, which causes improper heat distribution. Having an oven thermometer to test the unit’s actual temperatures is the ultimate solution for this problem.
3. A Faulty Temperature Sensor
Just like poor oven calibration, a faulty temperature sensor is another common reason why your oven might not be cooking as expected. Sometimes your oven might only be cooking food partially because heat is unevenly distributed. You might set your oven to bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit but it heats at a much higher or lower temperature.
This problem is very concerning because your oven can overcook food or take much more time to cook. To determine if your oven is displaying the wrong temperature, you need to check the temperature sensor. A faulty sensor will prevent your oven from heating correctly.
4. Broken Oven Elements
Every system has essential elements that control its operations. If any of the elements is broken, there is no way that system will operate as required. An oven is known to have two significant elements that are essential for its cooking capability. These elements are broil and bake elements, and most of them tend to show wear and tear with time.
If either of these two elements is broken, your oven’s functionality will be very limited. If you start your oven and these elements fail to glow red, chances are they’re broken. Even though replacement parts can be found online, you should call a professional to replace worn parts.
If you realize that your oven is not cooking and suspect any of the problems above, don’t watch DIY videos and try to tackle the problem yourself. Calling an oven repair service for any model of oven is the best strategy that you can implement. With professional service, your oven will be back in operation in no time.
