What you can check yourself
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- On a gas oven, watch the igniter glow when you turn the oven on — if it glows but the burner doesn't ignite within about 90 seconds, the igniter is likely weak and needs replacing.
- On an electric oven, look at the bake element (bottom of the oven cavity) when heating — it should glow red; if it doesn't glow at all, it's likely failed.
- Check the door seal (gasket) around the oven door for gaps or damage — a bad seal lets heat escape unevenly and can cause both temperature swings and uneven baking.
- Test actual oven temperature with a separate oven thermometer rather than trusting the display — many "uneven heating" complaints turn out to be a sensor reading incorrectly, not the heating elements themselves.
Still not working? A technician can take it from here.
Book a visitWhen to call a technician
Call a technician for a confirmed failed igniter or bake element, or if an oven thermometer shows the actual temperature is consistently off from the setting — that's a sensor or control board issue, not something to adjust around indefinitely.
Why uneven baking is often a sensor problem, not a hot-spot problem
It's intuitive to assume uneven baking (browner on one side, for example) is about airflow or a physical hot spot, but a miscalibrated temperature sensor causing the oven to cycle on and off at the wrong actual temperature is a more common root cause — the oven thinks it's at 350°F when it's really running hotter or cooler, which shows up as inconsistent results even in a perfectly even oven cavity.
A quick calibration check before calling
Many ovens have a built-in temperature offset/calibration setting in the control menu — check your manual for how to access it on your model. If an oven thermometer shows you're consistently, say, 25°F off from the display, adjusting the calibration offset can resolve uneven-seeming results without any part replacement at all.
A note on this brand's codes: GE ovens show specific codes for temperature-related faults (F2/F20, F3/F4) — see our GE oven code guide if your display shows one of those.
