Built-in electric oven stopped working

[BoBoo]

Our oven stopped working last night, which is going to be a bit of a problem.

The oven was here when we moved in (about 10 years ago) and it's getting to the point where I was starting to think we're going to need to replace it soon as feels like it's showing it's age. Grill is still working, so am guessing either the element or the fan. So the options are a) try and work out what's wrong and fix it or b) replace it.

Option A - There's no cooker point (big, red switch) so no obvious way to turn the oven off, which obviously I should do if messing around with parts. I have never attempted to fix an oven before, but can be reasonably handy if I need to be. Think maybe we should just suck up the cost of replacing now if this will only be a temporary fix.

Option B I've looked into new ovens on AO and under the fitting option it says if there isn't a cooker point (big red switch) in place, which there isn't, then they won't install, but there has to be an electricity supply in place as the oven is already there. So thinking it would be safer to get electrician rather than just delivery guy contracted to AO who might just turn up and say 'nope'. Presumably this will bump the cost up. Also worried about measurements being out and it not fitting in the space that's there, as draws and cupboard either side and hob on top.

Sorry for rambling, just unsure about what to do. Any words of wisdom? TIA.

are you sure there isn't a switch hidden inside/above/behind units somewhere? no isolator switch sounds unlikely, how old do you think the oven is?

I got an engineer (specific company dealing with appliance repairs, don't think regular electrician would be interested) out to look at our oven that has stopped working this week - cost £45 for him to inspect and diagnose the problem and they quoted for repair. That would probably be best and they could trace the cables to confirm whether definitely no switch.

Just had my kitchen done, and they don't do the big red switches any more. All of my new sockets are inside cupboards and "accessible" (if I use a step ladder!). The old one sounds a little older than yours and the switch was in the services void behind the units, so totally pointless. I had to switch off at the consumer unit / fuse box. If you get it replaced, you'll probably need a new switch fitted to meet regs.

There's definitely not a switch that's accessible. I would think it's behind the panels where the kitchen drawers/cupboards are so would mean some dismantling. It's actually typical of how things have been installed in this house, and is fine until something goes wrong.

I think the oven itself is from maybe 2007.

Google appliance repair in your area. I bet it’s an element gone, so around £75 to fix. If it’s a single oven, it may just be plugged into a normal wall socket behind itself.

The oven should slide forward out of its housing to see behind-May or may not have small retaining screws into the housing.

Its probably worth working out how its wired , even if you have to take a few drawers and panels out to follow the wires. Then you can get a installation quote from an electrician and just get a new cooker delivered. At that age its probably not worth repairing

should couple screws on each side, once you open the door, slide it out.
plug at the back or turn off everything if it is imbedded in the wall.
most likely the fan, before fixing it give a very little push not with finger.
it may start spinning, however it could the coil fan motor exhausted.

As you have power to your oven, and the other feratures work, it is probably either the element (easy repair) or the clock or timer need to be reset (common after a power cut).

if it is a single oven (no separate grill or top mini-oven) it may use less than 3kW so can be supplied from a socket circuit, but that is poor practice.

If you look at your consumer unit ("fusebox") it may show a Cooker Circuit, probably B32 or B40. There should certainly be one if there has ever been an electric cooker or hob. If not, sooner or later you will need an electrician to fit one. Often the cable can be concealed under the worktop.

A cooker circuit should indeed have a "big red switch" though you can have a white or gold one if you prefer. Modern ones need not include a plug socket because modern kitchen usually have plenty of sockets, so need not be huge. They are usually fairly big because the cables inside are thick and difficult to bend.

The switch should be visible and its purpose should be obvious. For example if something on your cooker is on fire, you don't want to be rummaging in cupboards and pulling out all the contents to look for the switch.

Hello @PigletJohn. It's been a long time since I posted here, so glad to see you're still around doling out sensible advice.

The clock/timer has not worked for a long time so don't think it's that and the fan seems to be working so must be the element. It is a single oven and investigations show it's under 3kW, but would likely replace with something 3kW or more. Can't see a cooker circuit as you describe. Have attached pic of fusebox.

I feel like we're probably on borrowed time replacing the element and should probably sort out the cooker point.

Option C - get a professional domestic appliance repair person to have a look at it.

Yes, getting someone in to look is the sensible option but at this point I'm reasonably confident it's the fan element, which would be about £15 to replace. I'm in London, so it would likely cost around £60 for a call out which I would rather not spend unless going for new with installation and rectifying cooker point option.

you have a 32A breaker marked "spare"

Turn that off, see if anything happens. It would have been suitable for a cooker circuit when it was fitted. It might subsequently have been repurposed for something else, or it might still have nothing connected to it. Old labels can be misleading.

You do not appear to have any RCD protection and I think Square D M9 are discontinued now so it may be impossible to get an RCBO to fit, so it would be awkward to try to add a new cooker circuit if one does not already exist. It is a brand now owned by Schneider. If your house was built in the 1990s or later there might be a compatible product. A new circuit is Notifiable Work and must be installed, tested and certified to current standards.

It could be done by starting a new consumer unit to current standards just for the cooker, with spare capacity to change over the others when funds permit; or this could be the trigger to update all the house electrics.

It looks like your CU is recessed into a wall box, perhaps with the meter, and there are still modern units being made to fit. I don't know if you have room in your box for two.

Try to get personal recommendations for a local independent qualified electrician whose advice you would follow. A paid-for listing on an advertising website is not a personal recommendation, even if it pretends to be. They must be a member of a Competent Person Scheme - ask them which and look them up on the scheme website to verify.

this is one example of a scheme.

The spare did nothing, but it is on the 'sockets up and kitchen' circuit. Eeek.

The house was built in 1925.