Help, electric cooker not working

[zebedee]

Yes, wine because they didn't.

(whine, that is).

[Nightowl]

we bought a halogen cooker once to take on holiday abroad with us to Centerparcs, where they had only microwave ovens and hob and it was Christmas so we wanted to cook a roastie dinner for 5 of us. The halogen cooker was so successful at doing several roast dinners (pork and beef plus roast potatoes) that we bought one as a 'just in case' the ovens went kaput at the rentals.

They cost about £40; and don't take up much space, if there's a spare cupboard at the rental, it's there already.

Will easily tide a family of 4 over for a few days til the main cooker can be fixed.

We've got one at home as well as the main oven and we often use it as an oven alternative.

this is the sort of thing I'm talking about

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Andrew-James-C ... B002LYQF7A

[Giraffe]

Thanks Nightowl. I'm going to look into this. I already have an emergency portable 2 ring hob. Halogen oven gives full back up.

What a great place LMH is for helpful ideas.

[greenbarn]

That's a new one on me! I'm going to place a small bet that the most common use for an oven on holiday is oven chips, pizza and ready meals. This halogen thingy sounds ideal. Now, what am I going to put in the space where the oven was....

[Hells Bells]

What are oven chips and ready meals?

[PW in Polemi]

And in an island of plentiful fresh fruit, veg and salad, you'd be amazed (or maybe not!) at how often I discover packets of frozen veg left in the freezer section.

Our current guests are happily working (eating) their way through the list of recommended eateries we have in our house book. As they're here for 2 weeks, hopefully when they reach the end of the list, they'll return to their own favourites - leaving the oven as OH likes to find it, which is exactly as he left it, spotless and sparkling!

[SarahV]

Glad everything has been sorted out.

Thought I'd mention a problem we have with our cooker incase it helps anyone in future. Occasionally for no apparent reason the oven won't work. Then we spot that the clock is flashing. Turns out that there's been a power cut (even for a few seconds) and the clock resets to zeros and starts counting from then but still flashes . The oven won't work like this ?!!! We have to reset the clock (doesn't have to be the correct time) and everything's ok after that.

Not sure how we worked this out but glad we did before we had the embarrassment or expense of calling anyone out.

[greenbarn]

What are oven chips and ready meals?

Wot people eat when they go self catering in the UK and don't want to cook

[annedab]

Occasionally for no apparent reason the oven won't work. Then we spot that the clock is flashing. Turns out that there's been a power cut (even for a few seconds) and the clock resets to zeros and starts counting from then but still flashes . The oven won't work like this ?!!! We have to reset the clock (doesn't have to be the correct time) and everything's ok after that.

We had a similar thing in one of our gites - it was always because someone had fiddled with the knobs on the font and turned one of the settings from manual (little picture of a hand) to timer (little picture of a clock)......and thanks for the reminder Sarah - we are having some electrical work done in our village property on Friday, and I will need to reset the oven clock as it does exactly the same thing as you have mentioned.

[Mouse]

Yes we have had that problem too Sarah....in fact just the ther day our guests called to say the oven wasn't working....popped round and it was the 'lock' on the timer that someone must have brushed against.
We have to warn people not to touch the panel and if I could disconnect it I would.

Also another halogen oven fan here! Mr M bought one years ago, as we don't have an oven in our summer abode, and though sceptical I have to say it is super. In fact we use it much more than the oven when we move back in to the house.
Oh.....and you don't need to buy oven chips as it does frozen chips straight from the freezer

Halogen Mousie
x

[Nightowl]

yeah, we've had the same thing with the oven after powercuts - in the end I made a copy of the 'reset clock' directions from the instruction manual and taped them to the inside of a cupboard near the cooker so that when it happened I could tell the guests to refer to the reset instructions.. much easier than trying to explain, particularly when we don't speak each other's language too.

[JaneTwo]

Glad it's all worked out! Plus you can now say on your website that the cooker is brand new.

Re compensation - I think I maybe would offer them something. If they are nice uncomplaining guests, they are maybe the kind you want repeat business from. Also, I like the idea of rewarding good behaviour rather than always just chucking money at the awkward customers!

[windrush]

yeah, we've had the same thing with the oven after powercuts - in the end I made a copy of the 'reset clock' directions from the instruction manual and taped them to the inside of a cupboard near the cooker so that when it happened I could tell the guests to refer to the reset instructions.. much easier than trying to explain, particularly when we don't speak each other's language too.

We had "how to set the oven clock" as number 2 in our house instruction sheet, number 1 being "how to boot up the wifi router and Freesat box" because our cleaners persisted, annoyingly, in switching everything off at the mains. I think it's pretty standard for electric ovens that any interruption to the power supply will result in the flashing 0:0 and the oven won't work, it's certainly been true of every one I've ever used.

[greenbarn]

I think it's pretty standard for electric ovens that any interruption to the power supply will result in the flashing 0:0 and the oven won't work, it's certainly been true of every one I've ever used.

Ditto. It seems bonkers, but then I thought that it's probably a safety feature to prevent the oven from switching back on after a power cut when it could go unnoticed. But nonetheless, it's a PITA.

[PW in Polemi]

Our Neff microwave does it too - I either have to re-set the time, or else press "stop" to stop the flashing, before it can be used. Got a much simpler microwave in the cottage