Electric Range & Wall Oven - Bake and Broil Element Operation

Electric Ranges and Wall Ovens feature Bake and Broil heating elements. These heating elements may operate separately or together, depending upon the function in use within the oven. This article describes the engagement of heating element use by the oven.

 

Understanding the Bake and Broil Element Operation In an Electric Oven

Preheating

During Preheat, the Bake and Broil elements both come on to quickly heat the oven. Please review our Range & Wall Oven - Preheat article for more information about preheating in an oven.

 

Baking

During the Bake cycle you can see that the Bake element is working because of the bright orange glow it gives off. The Broil element may cycle on to provide heat from the top for better cooking results. The Broil element wattage is less on most models during baking, which means the Broil element will not necessarily glow orange, even when it is on.

 

  • Some very old Standard Clean oven models have a single element Bake only. No Broil element is used when baking.

Broiling

In the Broil cycle the Broil element may glow when on. However, if the Broil element is on and heating, but not glowing, this is still normal operation. The Bake element is not used during the broil cycle.

 

  • 8-Pass Broil Elements: On Broil, 8-Pass Broil elements will glow red on the inside 6 passes but not the outside pass. The outside pass glows red only during pre-heat.

If the oven door is shut, the Broil element will cycle off if the oven temperature reaches the High Broil (550 degrees Fahrenheit) or Lo Broil (450 degrees Fahrenheit) temperature. This is normal. When the door is left open in the Broil position, the Broil element will stay on continuously.

 

For more information about the proper Oven Door position when broiling, you can check out the following articles:

 

Self-Cleaning

When self-cleaning the oven, the Bake and Broil elements are used and either may glow. Some electronic control models engage the Broil element for the first 1/2 hour of the Self-Clean cycle and then turn it off and engage the Bake element the rest of the time.

 

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