Ovens give plenty of warning. The trouble is that most of the warnings are easy to work around, so people do.
Food browns on one side
Uneven cooking points at the convection fan, a partly failed element, or a door that no longer seals square. Rotating the tray hides it; it does not fix it.
The oven runs hot or cold
A drifted temperature sensor. It is measurable, and it is inexpensive to correct, but it will not correct itself.
Preheat takes much longer
A weakening gas igniter no longer draws enough current to open the safety valve quickly. On electric, a bake element that has partly failed. Both still produce heat, just not enough of it.
The door will not lock or unlock
Usually after a self-clean cycle, when the lock motor or its switch has stalled at temperature. Do not force it.
Gas smell
Stop, turn the gas off at the appliance, ventilate the room and call us before using it again. This is the one symptom on this page that should never wait.
An error code that returns
A code that comes back after a power cycle is a real fault, most often the sensor circuit or the control board. We measure resistance rather than replacing a board on the strength of a number.
