Leisure [Oven does not heat]what to check

Leisure’s troubleshooting section handles this in three short rows, and two of them are settings rather than faults. The first is that the function and the temperature have not been set, with the remedy being simply to set them with the function and temperature knob or key. The second is that on models equipped with a timer, the timer has not been adjusted, and the remedy is to adjust the time. The third is that the power is cut, and the remedy is to check there is power and to check the fuses in the fuse box, replacing or resetting them if necessary. That second row is the one worth dwelling on, because Leisure say the same thing far more bluntly on their own support pages: if the timer is not set the ovens will not work. Their advice to a new owner is to set the time first and then run each oven through, and they are the third manufacturer in this category to publish the point in their own words. It is also the least understood thing about a range cooker. An oven being held off by an unset clock looks nothing like a settings problem: the cooker lights up, the knobs turn, the fan may run, and the cavity stays cold.

If the clock display is blinking or the clock symbol is lit, Leisure publish the reason for that too, which is that a previous power outage has occurred. So a cooker that has worked perfectly for two years and stopped after a thunderstorm or an afternoon of electrical work is very often a clock rather than an element. Their electrical causes come next and they are worth working through in Leisure’s own order. The mains fuse may be defective or have tripped, and the remedy is to check the fuse box and replace or reset. The controls may be doing nothing because the keylock is enabled, which they tell you to disable. And if the display does not light up when the hob is switched on again, their reset is the most specific in this category: disconnect the appliance at the circuit breaker, wait 20 seconds, and then reconnect it. Twenty seconds is a real instruction rather than an approximation, and it is worth timing rather than guessing. One row needs translating. Leisure list the product not being plugged into the grounded socket, with the remedy to check the plug connection. On an electric or dual fuel Cookmaster there is no plug, and Leisure say so themselves: their support pages explain that because of their large power consumption electric cookers cannot be plugged into a standard 13 amp circuit and have to be hard wired into a higher rated circuit by a qualified electrician. Read that row as a check of the connection and the cooker switch on the wall, not as an instruction to look behind the appliance for a plug.

If yours is the all-gas Cookmaster, the same heading still applies and the same clock rule with it. The gas book publishes "there is no ignition spark" with two causes, no current and the time not being set, and Leisure’s support pages explain why a gas cooker needs mains electricity at all: the supply is required for the ignition to light the gas and to power the oven lights and clock. So a gas oven that clicks at nothing, or does not click at all, gets the same first two checks as an electric one, the fuse box and the clock. Beyond those, the gas side is Gas Safe registered work in Great Britain rather than owner work. When you run out of published checks, Leisure are unusually direct about what happens next: consult the authorised service agent or the dealer you bought it from, and never attempt to repair a defective product yourself. Note as well that there is no code to help you here. Leisure publish no oven fault codes of any kind, so an oven that will not heat will never tell you why.

1. 1

   Set a cooking function and a temperature. Leisure list both as a cause of an oven that does not heat, and neither is optional.

2. 2

   Set the time of day. Leisure publish that if the timer is not set the ovens will not work, so this alone is often the whole answer.

3. 3

   If the clock is blinking or the clock symbol is lit, treat it as evidence of a recent power cut and set the time before anything else.

4. 4

   Check the keylock if the controls are not responding, which is Leisure’s published cause for a panel that does nothing.

5. 5

   Look in the fuse box for a tripped breaker or RCD and reset it, which is their published remedy for a product that does not operate.

6. 6

   Run their reset properly: disconnect at the circuit breaker, wait a timed 20 seconds, then reconnect.

7. 7

   If the oven is still cold with everything set, ring 0333 207 9918 rather than going any further.

   Leisure’s closing instruction is explicit: never attempt to repair a defective product yourself. On an electric model the element and its terminals sit on a high-current circuit inside a hardwired appliance; on the all-gas Cookmaster, anything past the fuse box and the clock is Gas Safe registered work.