Hotpoint [F3E3] fault codewhat it means and how to fix it

A food probe measures the core temperature of what you are cooking rather than the air around it, and it plugs into a socket inside the cavity. F3E3 is Hotpoint saying the probe is not well connected or may not be making contact properly, and their instruction is to check the probe first and only call if the error persists after that. It is worth appreciating how unusual this page is for the brand.

Hotpoint publish exactly two oven codes with a meaning attached and this is one of them — everything else is a number to read down the phone. The same fault shows up in a second form in other manuals in the range, filed under the symptom rather than the code: a cooking cycle with the probe ending without evident cause, or F3E3 printed on the screen, with the cause given as the food probe not being properly connected. Both point at the same check.

The practical implication is that a probe fault does not stop the oven working, it stops one way of using it working, so there is no reason to be without an oven while you sort it.

1. 1

   Let the cavity cool, then unplug the probe and plug it back in firmly. Hotpoint say to check the probe first and that is exactly what they mean.

   The socket is inside the oven. Do not reach into a hot cavity to fiddle with a connector — the code is not urgent enough to be worth a burn.
2. 2

   Look at the plug end and along the lead for kinks, scorching or a cracked sheath before assuming the connection was the problem.

3. 3

   Run a short cook with the probe to confirm. Hotpoint’s escalation only applies once the code persists with the probe correctly entered.

4. 4

   If it keeps happening, cook without the probe in the meantime and call, quoting the error exactly as displayed.