Most modern ovens come fitted with lights - they come on when the oven is on, and switch off when the oven is off. The light helps you to keep an eye on your food without opening the door and letting the heat out; this is particularly important when you’re baking a cake because opening the door prematurely in that situation will lead to some serious sponge sinkage!

Now, the average oven will still cook your food perfectly well without a working light bulb, but the lack of light will make your life that little bit harder. And hey, replacement oven bulbs aren’t hard to come by, so why stay saddled with a broken one?

Oven light not working? Here are a few words of advice:

A broken oven light can be a real pain, but it's an easy fix so it's worth finding an appropriate replacement. Here's something to think about before you choose a bulb that will fix and oven light that isn't working. 

• Don’t use a normal light bulb. A casual Google search (you can type in anything related to oven bulbs, really) will yield dozens of people who are wondering whether they can get away with putting a standard light bulb in the oven. Standard bulbs are cheaper and easier to come by than a proper oven bulb, but don’t be tempted to cut that corner – normal light bulbs are not designed to cope with oven temperatures, and they will shatter immediately upon coming into contact with hot liquid.
  
  
• Be sure to purchase the right bulb for your cooker. As with any other cooker part, it’s important to buy something that’s compatible with your specific appliance. Sizes and shapes can vary hugely from one cooker to another, so don’t assume that any old oven bulb will do the trick – do a bit of research and get it right first time. Knowing your cooker’s brand and model number will help you to narrow it down.
  
  
• Sometimes, the bulb isn't the problem. Some people purchase a new light bulb and fit it to their cooker, only to find that the light is still refusing to switch on. If this happens to you, it probably means that your old bulb was absolutely fine (sorry!) and you’ve got a more fundamental problem with the wiring. If your oven light isn’t working no matter what you do, we recommend consulting an electrician before proceeding any further. Oh, and remember – if you’re going to attempt any electrical work, ALWAYS UNPLUG THE COOKER FIRST.

 Got all that? Good!

Click Here See Our Expansive Collection Of Oven Bulbs And Lights >

Your oven won't be much use without a working oven fan, and unfortunately one of the most common problems in cooker repair is when the fan no longer works. It can be extremely expensive to hire a cooker repair engineer - not to mention extremely costly! 

We are here to help you to show you how to replace your cooker fan because the task is quite simple once you know how. Our step by step guide will ensure that you can quickly and simply replace your cooker fan with one of our replacement motors or fans and get your oven back in working condition in no time! 

Step-by-Step How to Replace Your Oven Fan 

1. Unplug your cooker. First things first - ensure that your cooker is not plugged in before you attempt to replace your oven fan. 

2. Remove oven door. We would recommend that you remove your oven door for ease of access. Otherwise, it might be a little tricky to reach! Your oven door should be attached with hinges.

3. Remove back-plate inside oven. Whether your oven is free-standing or built-in, the likelihood is that you will need to remove the 'back-plate' from inside your fan oven to reach the fan. Occasionally the fan will be located visibly inside the oven which is significantly easier, though once the back plate has been removed, the process is fundamentally the same. Fan elements used to heat your oven will most likely be located at the rear of the oven, behind the backplate. The backplate will normally be held in place with anywhere between 2 and 6 screws, simply unscrew the back plate

4. Check for visual signs of oven fan failure.In some cases, your fan oven element will show visual signs of failure and can be burnt, broken or split. On many occasions, however, there will be no visual signs of failure, so remember a broken fan is not always obvious. 

5. Unscrew old element and replace your oven fan. In most cases, there will be no need to remove the oven element in order to complete the repair. If the fan is simply screwed in place then you have a very easy task at hand - simply unscrew the old element, disconnect the wires and then screw in a new fan. Make sure to take note or to take a picture to make sure you remember which way round the wires fit in order to reattach the wires to your new oven fan.

If the fan has been screwed into the rear of the oven then the oven will need to be removed from the housing in order to remove the back cover and unscrew the fan.

Many would recommend a genuine replacement fan from the brand of your cooker, though we have found that high-quality alternative spare parts do the trick perfectly well if your budget is a little tighter! Whichever you choose, you're guaranteed to find it in our motors and fans section. 

If you need any help please don't hesitate to get in touch - we'll offer you assistance wherever we can! 

Broken ovens can be a bit of a nightmare. Partially because you have to survive on takeaways and microwaveables for a little while, but mainly because, sooner or later, you'll have to bite the bullet and get the darn thing fixed.

But don't call the professionals in yet. Repairing your oven may be easier than you think - to help, here are a few commonly-asked questions that the Cooker Spare Parts team have attempted to answer.

Q: What’s wrong with my cooker?

A: That’s a very broad question, but there are a few diagnostic tricks you can use to narrow down the possibilities. Firstly, switch your oven on – if there’s no sign of life whatsoever, it’s likely to be an electrical issue, and you might need a new terminal block. If the lights are on but nobody’s home – that is, if your oven turns on but fails to heat up – you may have a broken element.

Bear in mind that oven elements can break without being faulty in themselves. If you have a malfunctioning thermostat, or if something else is awry in your oven, these problems can cause perfectly serviceable elements to kick the bucket. Don’t assume that you can simply replace a broken element and get back to business as usual – there could be another issue at work.

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Q: How do I find the right part for my appliance?

A: We appreciate that there are lots of different cooker parts that look more or less interchangeable. Instead of making you inspect every single product on our site, we’ve done our best to make finding the right part as easy and as streamlined as possible. 

For example, if you’re looking for a new oven timer on the Cooker Spare Parts website, you can select your manufacturer from the list on the left-hand side. For extra reassurance, we recommend entering your model number while you search as well.

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Q: I can’t find my model number! Where is it?

A: Our dedicated Help Centre page contains all the information you’ll need to find your cooker’s model number. Knowing your number will make the spare-buying process a whole lot simpler, so it’s definitely a good idea to track it down before you proceed.

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Q: Is there anything I should know before I attempt to repair my oven?

A: First of all, you must always unplug your oven at the wall before you begin any work on it. From there on out, it kind of depends on what you’re repairing – thanks to this wonderful thing we call the internet, specific advice is just a Google search away.

Finally, we should make it clear that it’s not a good idea to attempt oven repair work if you’re not sure what you’re doing. If you’ve taken a good hard look at the problem, read all of the articles online, and you’re still a bit fuzzy on how to fix it, then it’s always better to leave it to a professional. After all, you don’t want to make it any worse!

Replacing your oven door seal is a pretty straightforward process: unhook the old one, replace it with new one, and you're pretty much done!

Of course, the part before that - finding and purchasing the right seal for your oven - threatens to be slightly more complicated. As with any cooker part, the wide range of brands and models on the market can make things very confusing, and then there's the question of whether you want a 3-sided seal or a 4-sided seal. Unless you own a triangular oven, you might well assume that you need four sides, but unfortunately that's not quite how it works.

The good news is that we're here to make it simple. Our snazzy search filters allow you to specify your cooker's brand and model number to make sure you're shopping for the right stuff. As for the 3/4 sides issue...well, we'll clear that one up for you right now:

• A 4-sided oven door seal will completely seal up the space around your oven door, keeping the heat in and making the whole operation a lot more energy-efficient. An oven with a broken door seal will take much longer to reach the designated temperature, and the longer your oven is on, the more energy you'll use and the higher your utility bill will be at the end of the month. With that in mind, it's not hard to see why you should seal up your oven! However...
  
  
• Some ovens aren't supposed to be sealed up completely. These appliances draw air in through the bottom of the oven door, and that's why the 3-sided oven door seal exists: for ovens (mostly gas ovens) that rely on that gap at the bottom. Oh, and don't worry - since heat rises, very little heat is lost through the lower, unsealed side.

Hopefully, this explains the importance of establishing whether your oven needs a 3- or 4-sided seal. If you're interested in ordering one of our universal oven door seal kits, please bear in mind that, while they are compatible with the vast majority of appliances, they are not suitable for:

• Ovens with curved corners
  
• Ovens with more than one hole at each corner

Check your appliance first to avoid disappointment!