The holidays are the busiest time of year for appliance breakdowns. Have you taken the time to do some basic maintenance to your oven and dishwasher? If you don’t start now, you might end up with an ice cold turkey on Thanksgiving! Here are some tips that will help you get your oven ready for the holiday season and the extra cooking responsibilities!
Give it a Good Clean
If you turn on the oven and you get a nasty smoky smell, you know there is some food stuck inside the oven and its getting charred! It’s time to give your oven a good clean, in fact, you should try and do an annual cleaning to prevent food from becoming stuck to the bottom and the racks. Use approved oven cleaner that is non-flammable to properly scrub the walls of the oven. A simple sponge can work, but for those tougher foods that are just stuck, use a wire brush to remove them. It might take a couple scrubbings to really get the food off the bottom pan. A way to prevent this in the future is to line the bottom pan of your oven with tinfoil. If food falls off, simply toss the old tinfoil and replace it. Tinfoil is an easy way to keep you from getting stuck with the difficult scrubbing work.
One tip to remember, DON”T use the self-clean feature the day before Thanksgiving. The self-clean feature causes the oven to become extremely hot, and this can often cause a breakdown!
Stove/Oven Repair – How to Troubleshoot an Oven
If you have an oven acting odd (turning off, broken burners, broken heating coils, etc.) call Vanderdoes Home Services to come out and inspect your oven. We can run a diagnostic test to let you know what is happening, and what we can do to repair the oven to get it ready for the holiday season. Sometimes it is a simple repair, which can be found in the owner’s manual if you still have a copy. The owners manual is great to help you out with the cleaning feature and the delay timer settings.
Testing the Burners
Some ovens have removable burners, which can become worn out over the years. Test out the burners a couple weeks in advance to make sure they are all working. You can pick up new burners online or at most home improvement stores. To keep the burners working properly, wipe up spills right away. Letting food cook on a burner can cause it to wear out and can make it stop working. Oven cleaner is the best thing to use to prevent build-up and to keep the burners working effectively.
Clean the Range
The oven hood can become caked with grease over the years. Keep your range clean with weekly cleaning. Remove the replace the filters to keep it from getting clogged.
Now that your oven is ready to go, it’s time to start that shopping list and get ready to have a great holiday season!
