The short answer
A Maytag oven showing E23 has flagged the heating circuit. The exact documented wording is in the table; the order of the checks below it is the part worth reading twice. A cold cycle is inconvenient rather than dangerous; stop if you smell burning.
The documented code and its meaning
Reference| Code | Meaning |
|---|---|
| E23 | The oven did not reach Pre-Heat Temperature within 30 (thirty) minutes. There may a problem with the Heater, the Appliance Control Board, or the associated wiring. |
What you actually observe
- A faint smell of hot dust when heat is first called for — Worth reporting, and worth stopping the cycle over if it is strong.
- The load or the dishes are cold at the end of a cycle — One word — cold, warm or hot — settles most of this diagnosis.
- The cycle runs far longer than it used to before stopping — A control waiting for a temperature it never reaches.
- NEAR MISS — nothing runs at all — That is a supply or control question first.
Causes, most likely first on this oven
- A heating element gone open — Elements fail open far more often than short, and the machine then runs a full cycle stone cold.
- A thermal cut-out that has opened and not reset — The cut-out opens for a reason, so the reason matters more than the part.
- The thermistor reporting water or air temperature — A sensor reading low makes the control heat indefinitely and then give up, which is this same code from the other direction.
- The control relay that switches the element — Relay contacts weld and burn; it is a genuine cause, and the last one to buy for.
Check in this order, and why
- Note whether the load is warm at the end of a cycle — Cold at the end of a cycle is the single most useful observation in this family.
- Note how far into the cycle the code appears — Early points at the circuit; late points at the temperature never being reached.
- Ask whether the supply is shared with another heavy load — A supply problem reads as a heating problem in the control log.
- Leave the element and the cut-out to a technician — Both are behind panels and both are on the mains side.
What an owner can safely check
- Run one ordinary cycle and feel the load at the end — Note whether it is cold, warm or hot: that one word shortens the diagnosis considerably.
About 60 min
- Drop the breaker for a minute and restore it — A latched heating fault sometimes clears; one that returns is hardware.
About 3 min
- Stop before any panel comes off — Every part in this circuit is on the mains side, so this is where the owner checks end.
Before anything is opened
Safety
Unplug the appliance or switch off its breaker before removing any panel — a capacitor can hold a charge after the power is off. Isolation on a built-in oven means the breaker, not a cord. Give the cavity and the inner door glass real time to cool before working anywhere near them. Nothing on the door circuit should be re-routed or held closed. It interrupts power by design.
When this stops being an owner job
Call as soon as a cycle finishes cold, or the code returns after a power-down. After that the next move is behind a panel, and reaching the rear of a built-in oven means unseating it from the cabinetry first. Bring the call forward if you smell burning, find scorching near the control area, or the breaker trips as the appliance starts.
Nearest error-code pages
What this page does not cover
This is the platform-level reading of E23: it holds for the Maytag oven families that share that control generation. Earlier generations that reuse these characters for a different condition are outside it. So are wiring colours, connector positions, torque figures and part numbers, all of which vary by family and belong on a family page rather than here. If a page exists for your family or model, go there first — it is the more specific answer — and the code index below lists them.
Other Maytag oven codes
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