Oven Heating Element: Signs of Failure, Replacement Costs, and When to Fix It

When your oven won’t heat up, the oven heating element, the metal coil inside the oven that generates heat when electricity passes through it. Also known as bake element, it’s one of the most common parts to fail in electric ovens. If the element looks burnt, blistered, or doesn’t glow red when the oven is on, it’s dead. No magic trick fixes it—just replacement. And it’s usually not expensive.

The oven control board, the electronic brain that tells the heating element when to turn on and off can also cause no-heat problems, but it’s way more expensive to fix. Most of the time, it’s the heating element. You can test it with a multimeter in under 10 minutes. If you’ve got a broken element, the cost to replace it ranges from $50 to $150 for parts, and labor adds another $80 to $150 if you hire someone. But if you’re handy, you can do it yourself in an hour with basic tools. Many people save hundreds by skipping the pro.

It’s not just about the element itself. A failing oven thermostat, the sensor that reads temperature and signals the element to cycle on and off can make your oven run too cold or too hot, even if the element is fine. That’s why it’s smart to check both. And if your oven heats unevenly—like one side burns cookies while the other stays raw—that’s often a sign the element is wearing out unevenly.

Most oven heating elements last 5 to 10 years. If yours is older than that and it’s failing, you’re not alone. We’ve seen dozens of cases where people assumed their oven was broken beyond repair, only to find out it was just a $70 part. Replacing it yourself isn’t risky if you unplug the oven first. No high-voltage surprises if you follow basic safety steps.

There’s no point in replacing a heating element if the oven door seal is cracked or the hinges are loose—that’ll let heat escape and make the new element work harder. So always check the whole system. And if you’re seeing error codes like F3 or E1, those often point directly to heating issues. Don’t guess. Look it up.

Below, you’ll find real guides from people who’ve been there: how to test the element, what the part looks like when it’s bad, how much it actually costs to replace it (not what the ad says), and when it’s smarter to walk away from the oven altogether. No fluff. Just what works.