Sunday roast, the fan’s going round, and the oven’s lukewarm. Most people’s first thought is a new cooker, and a sinking feeling about the price. Hold off. A good half of the electric ovens we see around Peverell, Mutley and Stoke need nothing more than a new element.
Appliance engineers up and down the country are saying much the same thing at the moment, with one rule of thumb doing the rounds: if the repair costs more than half the price of a comparable new machine, replace it. We think that’s a fair starting point. Under five years old and from a decent make like Bosch, Neff or Siemens? Almost always worth fixing.
The usual culprits are dull. A blown circular fan element, where the fan runs but you get no heat. A thermostat that’s drifted, so the oven overcooks at 180 degrees and burns the Yorkshires. A perished door seal letting heat out and cooking your kitchen units instead of your dinner. Fan motors with seized bearings screech like a train. None of those are expensive jobs, and all of them are quicker than waiting a fortnight for a delivery.
Replacement does make sense in some cases. Ten years old and the internal wiring’s gone brittle? Rust inside the cavity? A main control board failing on a budget model? Then a new cooker is the honest answer, and we’ll tell you so. Fitting matters as well. A built-in electric cooker on its own 32A circuit with the right cable size shouldn’t be bodged, and a proper cooker installation in Peverell or Saltash gets tested before we leave.
If your cooker’s playing up in Plymouth, Saltash or Ivybridge, Ace Domestics can give you a straight opinion on cooker repairs before you spend a penny on a replacement. Details are at https://cookerrepairsplymouth.co.uk/ and we’re happy to talk it through over the phone first.