5 Common Reasons Your Frigidaire Oven Won’t Heat Up

Your Frigidaire oven turns on, the display works perfectly, but when you set it to 350°F and wait… nothing. No heat, no cooking, just a cold oven that’s completely ignoring your dinner plans.

Here’s the good news: about 80% of heating failures trace back to just five common causes, and many are surprisingly simple fixes you can handle yourself. This guide walks you through exactly what to check, in the right order, to get your oven working again.

1. Power Supply Issues (The 2-Minute Fix)

This might sound too simple, but power problems cause more “broken” oven calls than any other issue. Your oven needs a full 240-volt supply to heat properly, and partial power failures are surprisingly common.

What you’ll notice: Everything else works, the display lights up, the clock runs, maybe even the oven light turns on, but when you set it to bake, there is absolutely no heat.

Quick Diagnosis Steps

Walk to your electrical panel and look for the oven’s circuit breaker. Unlike regular outlets, oven breakers are usually double-wide and labeled something like “Range” or “Oven.” If it’s tripped, reset it and try your oven again.

Still not working? The issue might be loose connections where your oven plugs in or connects to your home’s wiring. This is where you should call an electrician because working with 240-volt systems isn’t worth the safety risk for most homeowners.

Pro tip: If you live in an older home and this keeps happening, your electrical connections may need updating.

2. Burned-Out Heating Elements (Most Common DIY Fix)

If you have an electric oven, this is your most likely culprit. The bake and broil elements are essentially giant toaster coils, and like any heating element, they eventually burn out.

What you’ll see: Look inside your oven while it’s trying to heat. Healthy elements glow bright orange-red within a few minutes. Failed elements stay dark, glow only in spots, or show visible damage like cracks or blistering.

How to Replace a Heating Element

First, always disconnect power at the breaker before touching anything inside your oven.

The bake element (bottom of the oven) is usually held by two screws and plugs into the back wall. Simply unscrew it, pull it forward to unplug the wires, and reverse the process with your new element.

Replacement elements take about 15 minutes to install. Just make sure you buy the right part number for your specific Frigidaire model.

Worth knowing: Broil elements (top of the oven) fail less often than bake elements because they’re used less frequently.

3. Weak Gas Igniter (Gas Ovens Only)

If you have a gas oven, the igniter is what opens the gas valve and lights your oven. When it starts to fail, you’ll get all the sounds of an oven trying to work but none of the heat.

What you’ll hear and see: Clicking sounds as the oven tries to ignite, but either no flame appears, or you see a weak, orange glow instead of a bright white light followed by a strong blue flame.

Testing Your Gas Igniter

Safety first: Turn off the gas supply to your oven before doing any inspection.

Set your oven to bake and watch the igniter through the oven window. A healthy igniter glows bright white and should light the gas within 90 seconds. If it glows weakly, takes forever to light, or doesn’t light at all, it needs replacement.

When to call a pro: While replacing a gas igniter isn’t extremely difficult, it involves gas connections and proper alignment. Unless you’re very comfortable with gas appliances, this is often worth paying a technician for safety and warranty reasons.

4. Faulty Temperature Sensor (The Precision Problem)

Your oven’s temperature sensor is like a thermometer that tells the control system when to turn heating on and off. When it fails, your oven might heat but never reach the right temperature, or it might cycle unpredictably.

What you’ll experience: You set the oven to 350°F, but your cookies burn or stay raw. Or the oven seems to turn on and off randomly, never maintaining steady heat.

Quick Sensor Test

The temperature sensor looks like a thin metal probe sticking into the oven cavity. Using a multimeter, test its resistance. At room temperature, it should read close to 1,080 ohms.

If the reading is way off, replacement sensors simply unplug from the old location and plug into the new one.

Good to know: Temperature sensor problems often develop gradually, so you might notice inconsistent baking results for weeks before realizing there’s an issue.

5. Control Board or Safety System Failures (Call for Backup)

Modern Frigidaire ovens run on electronic control boards that manage everything from temperature to timing. When these fail, you might get strange behavior that doesn’t fit the other categories.

What you might notice:

• Your oven completely ignores temperature settings
• It heats sometimes but not others, with no clear pattern
• It won’t heat after running a self-cleaning cycle
• Error codes appear (or sometimes no codes, even though nothing works)

When Your Oven’s Computer Fails

Control board problems and safety system lockouts usually require professional diagnosis. These components involve sensitive electronics that can be damaged by static electricity or improper handling.

One thing to try: If your oven won’t heat after a cleaning cycle, it might be a safety lockout. Try unplugging the oven for 24 hours to reset the system. Sometimes this clears temporary faults.

For anything else in this category, call a technician. Control board issues require proper diagnosis before committing to any repairs.

FAQs

How do I know if my oven is worth repairing? 

If your oven is less than 10 years old and only has one failed component, repair usually makes sense. For older ovens with multiple problems, replacement might be more cost-effective.

Can I prevent these problems?

Clean up spills quickly (they can damage heating elements), don’t slam the oven door, and have your electrical connections checked if you live in an older home. These simple steps prevent most premature failures.

Should I try DIY repairs?

For electric ovens: power checks and heating element replacement are usually safe DIY projects. For gas ovens: leave igniter work to professionals unless you’re very experienced with gas appliances.

What tools do I need for basic troubleshooting?

A multimeter for testing electrical components and basic hand tools for element replacement. Most repairs require only common household tools.

Most Frigidaire oven heating problems fall into these five categories. Start with the simplest checks first. You might save yourself time and get back to cooking the same day.