Fan with top and bottom heat (fan-assisted)
The top and bottom elements heat, as in conventional mode, and the fan spreads that heat round the oven instead of leaving it to rise and fall on its own.
What it is for
Hotpoint describes it as distributing air more evenly so meals cook more evenly and efficiently; Smeg as the fan evenly spreading heat from the top and bottom heaters. Neither guide names particular dishes, so treat it as conventional heat with the air stirred.
Makes differ, check your oven’s manual: the same drawing can mean different things on different brands, and only your model’s manual says exactly which elements run and how hot.
- What it looks like
- A fan with a straight line above it and another below it.
- Names makers use
- Convection bake (Hotpoint); Fan with upper and lower heating (Smeg)
Where makes differ
Not every oven has it: the Bosch, Siemens, Neff, AEG and Samsung pages cited on this site list no such mode. It is easy to mistake for the plain fan setting, where the heat comes from the element behind the fan — the lines above and below are what tell them apart.
Often confused with
A ring-shaped element round the fan in the back wall heats, and the fan blows that hot air round the whole cavity. Because the air moves, every shelf gets similar heat, so you can cook on several at once.
Other symbols with the same shapes
Sources
No single published standard defines oven function icons, so this meaning is taken from 2 makers’ own guides, each fetched and checked on the date shown:
- Hotpoint: Hotpoint UK — Understanding the different symbols on a Hotpoint oven — “Convection bake”: a parallel line at the top, a fan in the middle and a straight parallel line at the bottom; distributes air more evenly. Checked 2026-09-23.
- Smeg: Smeg UK — A guide to oven symbols and what they mean — “Fan with Upper and Lower Heating Symbol”: a fan with a curved line above and below it; the fan evenly spreads heat from both heaters. Checked 2026-09-23.
Written in our own words; quotations are the makers’ wording.