Direct answer: If the bottom of your Frigidaire oven stays cold, the most common cause is a failed oven bake element on an electric model. If the oven has no visible bottom element, weak or no bake heat can also come from an oven temperature sensor issue or a control problem.
Most likely: Start by confirming you are using Bake, then watch what actually heats. A bake element that stays dark, never glows, or shows blistering and splits is the first thing to suspect.
Separate the lookalikes early: on many electric ovens, the lower bake element is visible and should heat during Bake. On hidden-element designs, you have to judge by preheat behavior, bottom browning, and whether broil still works. Reality check: a lot of "bottom not heating" calls end up being one dead bake element. Common wrong move: replacing parts because the broiler still works, without ever checking whether the oven is actually sending heat to bake.
Don’t start with: Do not start by ordering an oven control board. Controls do fail, but a bad oven bake element or a clear heating-pattern clue is much more common.
On Bake, the lower oven heating element never glows or warms while the upper element may still heat during preheat.
Start here: Look closely at the oven bake element for splits, blisters, rough burned spots, or a section that looks broken open.
The oven has a hidden bake design, preheat drags out, and cookies or casseroles stay underdone on the bottom.
Start here: Check whether Broil still heats normally, then move to sensor and control clues only after ruling out a weak bake circuit.
Food gets color on top but the pan side and bottom lag badly, especially on Bake.
Start here: This usually points to missing or weak lower heat, not a rack-position issue.
One day it bakes normally, the next day it struggles or never reaches temperature.
Start here: Look for an oven bake element with a partial break or a loose connection at the element terminals, then consider the oven temperature sensor if the element looks sound.
This is the most common reason an electric oven loses bottom heat. The broil element can still work, which makes the oven seem partly alive while Bake underperforms.
Quick check: Run Bake and watch through the door for several minutes. If the oven bake element stays dark and shows visible damage, that is a strong match.
A terminal connection can overheat and stop power from reaching the lower element even when the element itself is the main clue.
Quick check: With power off and the element pulled forward slightly, inspect the wire ends and terminal area for charring, melted insulation, or a loose fit.
If the bake element looks intact or the oven uses a hidden element, a bad sensor can make the oven heat weakly, cycle wrong, or stop short of temperature.
Quick check: Look for erratic preheat, temperature swings, or an oven that shuts heat off too early even though no element damage is visible.
Less common, but possible when the bake circuit never energizes and the element and sensor check out.
Quick check: If Bake never sends heat, Broil may still work, and there are no obvious element or sensor clues, the control becomes more likely. This is usually where many homeowners stop and get service.
Wrong mode, delayed start, or a canceled cycle can look like missing bottom heat when nothing is actually wrong with the hardware.
Next move: If the lower heat comes on and the oven starts baking normally, the issue may have been a setting problem or an interrupted cycle. If Bake starts but the bottom still stays cold or weak, move to the element and heating-pattern checks.
What to conclude: You want to confirm this is a bake-side heating problem, not a control setting mistake.
A failed oven bake element is the strongest, most common cause of no bottom heat on electric ovens, and it often gives visible clues.
Next move: If you find clear physical damage, you have a solid repair path and usually do not need to keep chasing sensor or control theories first. If the oven bake element looks intact, continue. A good-looking element can still fail, and hidden-element ovens need different clues.
What to conclude: Visible damage on the oven bake element is one of the few oven failures you can often confirm by sight alone.
These two designs fail in similar ways, but you judge them differently. That keeps you from guessing at the wrong part.
Next move: If the pattern clearly points to missing lower heat, you can narrow the repair to the bake element circuit or sensor rather than chasing unrelated parts. If neither Bake nor Broil heats correctly, or the whole oven acts dead, this page is no longer the best fit and you likely have a broader power or control issue.
When the oven bake element is not visibly failed, the oven temperature sensor is the next reasonable suspect. It is a much better bet than jumping straight to the control board.
Next move: If the symptom pattern matches a sensor problem and the bake element has no damage, replacing the oven temperature sensor is a reasonable next move. If the sensor shows no clues and the bake side still never energizes, the remaining likely causes are a failed bake element with no visible damage, a burned connection, or a control issue.
By now you should have enough evidence to choose the most likely repair without shotgun parts buying.
A good result: If the chosen repair restores normal preheat time and bottom browning, you are done.
If not: If a new bake element or sensor does not change the symptom, the next step is professional diagnosis of the bake circuit and oven control.
What to conclude: The goal is to fix the common failure first and avoid spending money on the least likely part.
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On an electric oven, that usually points to a failed oven bake element or a bake-side connection problem. The broil element can still work normally while the lower heat is gone.
Yes. Many do show a split or blister, but some fail with little visible damage. If Bake stays cold and Broil still works, the oven bake element is still a top suspect even if it looks okay.
That is a hidden-bake design. In that case, judge by symptoms: slow preheat, weak bottom browning, and strong broil with poor baking all still point to the bake side first, then the oven temperature sensor if the pattern is more erratic than dead.
The sensor is more likely than the control when the oven heats inconsistently or misses temperature without obvious element damage. The control board is usually the later suspect after the bake element and sensor have been ruled out.
Sometimes, but it is usually a secondary issue. A torn oven door gasket can leak heat and hurt baking results, but it does not commonly cause a true no-bake condition by itself.
No. If the oven bake element is split, blistered, sparking, or partly burned through, stop using the oven until it is replaced. Continued use can damage wiring or trip the breaker.