Why is my oven so crap?

[SlinkyB]

Moved into new house a few months ago, which came with a built-in electric Zanussi fan oven.

The element had gone in it, so dp fitted a new one. The thermostat must be completely wrong, as have learnt I never need to put it above 150 otherwise stuff instantly burns. The worst thing though is how unevenly it bakes things; most things come out burnt on one side/raw on the other, or it just burns things on the top which are still frozen in the middle after 35 mins

Anyone know if it's fixable? Is it the fan do you think?

Bump

Any tips appreciated please!

a fan oven should be of even temperature throughout. Can you feel the fan blowing air out of the slots in the back casing?

If he replaced the element, it is (probably) next to or around the fan, so it might have been disturbed. If you take the grease filter off the back wall you should be able to see the fan spinning, and you should hear it start up when you turn the oven on.

Is it just an oven, or is it part of a cooker?

Don't think we can access back casing as it's built-in? But will have a look tomorrow at the fan - thanks! It's an electric oven with gas hob, we do hear a fan when it's turned on, and then it gets louder when we switch it off (and stays on for aaaaages).

There's a vent thing between the top oven/grill and the main oven (problematic one) which kicks out a lot of cool air, but guess this is normal with built-in appliances?

I have a dual-fuel Zanussi cooker, with an electric fan oven and gas hob. On mine, after removing the oven side-runners, and the top and side internal panels (as for cleaning) it is possible to remove the back plate of the inside of the oven, which enables you to see the oven heating element and the fan. AFAIK, on mine you would have to do that to replace the oven heating element. AFAIK you don't do it from behind the appliance.

However I know that on some different models, there are also elements under the floor of the oven, which can be used "not in fan mode" for conventional baking, and there is a selector knob to turn on different oven elements.

It sounds to me like your oven fan is not going. On mine there is a shiny grease-sieve centre back inside the oven, which you take off to clean, and you can see the fan behind it. It sucks oven air in through the fan, and there are slots in the back wall inside the oven that the heated air blows out of.

If yours is built-in, there might be an additional fan for cooling the casing