Oven door not sealing properly, losing heat (Hotpoint & Zanussi)
✅ Safe to check yourself
This is a common, low-risk check most people can do safely. Always unplug the appliance (or isolate power) before touching internal parts.
If food is taking noticeably longer to cook than a recipe suggests, or you can feel heat escaping around the oven door while it’s on, a worn door seal is the most likely and easiest cause to fix yourself.
What to check first
- With the oven off and cool, run your finger around the full length of the rubber/fibre door seal, checking for flattened sections, tears, or gaps where it’s come away from the door.
- Check the door hinges — over years of use these can sag slightly, meaning the door no longer closes perfectly square against the seal even if the seal itself is fine.
- Do a simple paper test: close the door on a piece of paper at several points around the seal and try to pull it out — it should resist evenly all the way round; if it slides out easily in one spot, that’s where the seal (or hinge alignment) has failed.
Replacing the seal yourself
Oven door seals are one of the few oven parts that are genuinely straightforward and safe to replace yourself — they usually clip or hook into a channel around the door with no need to access any wiring or the heating element. Replacement seals are inexpensive and widely available for most UK oven brands by model number.
When to call an engineer
If the seal looks intact but the paper test still fails, hinge wear or door alignment is the more likely cause and may need a professional adjustment or hinge replacement.