4 Tips to Maintain Your Electrical Oven

Ovens are one invention that have toasted people’s food for the past 140 years. They are a part of the cultural ethos at this point. But not everyone knows how to care for and clean their appliance. In fact, some of the most common practices that people do actively hurt their ovens. This is not even mentioning how potentially dangerous some of these practices can be. There may be some questions that you have even after reading this article. If that is the case, make sure to call some professionals, such as Thornbury Electrics, to help you with your appliance. With that said, it is time to get into the list.

1. Cleanliness Is Best

The number one way that you can care for your oven is to clean it, once per year at least. So often, people leave it for years and years, allowing grease and other food particles to build up over time. This can cause many issues. For starters, your technician will not thank you when he or she comes to maintain your appliance. If you do not want to run through technicians like copy paper, invest some time into cleaning your oven.

But leaving your oven dirty has other ramifications. When grease builds up inside of the oven, this can damage the heating elements that make your food taste so much better. When that happens, you could be looking at a costly repair bill and potentially a new oven.

2. Have the Oven Properly Maintained

Much like a car, if an oven does not get yearly check-ups, disaster can strike. Hire a professional once a year to give all of your appliances a check-up, so that you are sure that everything is functioning as it should. Here are some warning signs to look out for: the oven door does not shut correctly, the door hinges do not sit as they should, the door back is bent, or food is not cooking as it should. If you notice any of these issues, call a technician. They should be able to provide repairs of your oven to keep your appliance working as it should.

3. Make Use of an Oven’s Self-Cleaning Module (Safely!)

Although nothing beats getting down on your hands and knees to put some elbow grease in your oven, they also come standard with a self-cleaning feature. Follow the instructions in the oven’s manual, open a window, and make sure that you can stay home while the process is ongoing. If something out of the ordinary happens, you need to be there to stop it. There are three different ways that ovens self-clean:

  1. Pyrolytic – Extreme heat (around 500°C) turns any residue food into ash. During the cleaning cycle, the door locks to prevent any injury. Cleaning takes about 1.5 to 2 hours. After it’s finished, wipe the ash away with a damp rag. Also, remove the racks before you start the process.
  2. Catalytic Liners – These are strips of metal attached to the walls of the appliance. At 200°C, food particles touching these metal strips are reduced to ash for easy cleaning. The downside of these is that they have limited lifespans. You must turn them over or buy new ones once the current ones are no longer effective.
  3. Steam Clean – This one is a little different than the other two. These are specialized ovens that require you to splash some water on the oven’s bottom. When the cleaning is activated, the oven turns the water into steam. The steam floats around, softening any particles of food inside the oven. After it is finished, all you need to do is wipe away any food with a clean cloth. For this one to work well, it must be used often.

4. Never Take Off Oven Knobs While Cleaning

This one is especially true if you are just using water or liquid cleaner to clean. You are working with an electrical appliance. Underneath the oven knobs is a lot of wires and not much else. Spraying water or some sort of cleaning fluid is just soaking an electrical system, which is not a recipe for success. In fact, this is one of the more dangerous practices that some people do. You could electrocute yourself if you do this. And if that does not happen, it may very well short out. If you really need to clean behind there, leave it to the professionals.

Squeaky Clean

And there you have it! While there are many other ways to clean and care for your oven, these four tips should help you get started. Just doing these helps to ensure that you have good, warm, and well-cooked food. And your technician, when he or she gets there, should compliment you on your well-maintained oven.