The holidays are coming and if our gas range isn’t already the workhorse of the kitchen, it’s about to be. With holiday dinners and baking upon us, the last thing we need is for our range to malfunction when we need it most. Fortunately, some easy gas range maintenance tips are all that’s necessary to keep those turkeys and cookies coming.
Essential Gas Range Maintenance Tips
The gas range maintenance tips that are most important involve keeping your oven and range clean. We’ll go over some safe and easy ways for how to clean an oven and how to clean gas range burners. But first, we have some info on what to avoid when your oven needs a cleaning.
Avoid Self-Cleaning Oven Cycles
While the self-cleaning oven cycle has been known as the easiest way to clean an oven, this may not be the case. The high temperatures used during the cleaning cycle (between 800-1000 degrees) can cause multiple oven parts to fail. The oven’s control panel, thermal fuses and heating elements can all break when exposed to high heat and will require costly professional repair.
The self-cleaning oven cycle can also create unpleasant odors as the high heat burns off lingering food. These odors have been known to cause respiratory difficulties for children, adults, and pets. It’s even been proven that some ovens emit carbon monoxide during a cleaning cycle. For these reasons, we recommend using an all-natural method to clean your oven.
How to Clean an Oven
Keeping your oven clean is one of those important gas range maintenance tips that helps avoid larger problems. A build-up of food particles, grease, and drippings could ignite in your oven, creating costly damage. This build-up can also create odors that will affect the taste of what you’re currently cooking.
Below are some steps that will clean your oven quickly and easily using basic kitchen ingredients:
- Make a spreadable paste with ½ cup baking soda and a few tablespoons of water.
- Remove all racks and inserts from your oven
- With gloved hands, spread the paste throughout the oven’s interior, excluding the heating elements.
- Let sit overnight or for 12 hours.
- Soak your oven racks in a tub of detergent and warm water for at least several hours. Scrub stubborn stains with a heavy-duty scrubber.
- Wipe down the oven with a damp dishtowel.
- Spray baking soda residue with white vinegar and wipe down again.
- Replace oven racks
How to Clean Gas Range Burners
One of the most important gas range maintenance tips is knowing how to clean gas range burners. Regular cleaning will go a long way in lessening the risk of costly repairs due to greasy build up, not to mention gas fires. Here are some tips for cleaning gas range burners that make for easy regular maintenance:
- Clean the burner grates: remove the grates and soak them in the sink for several minutes. Scrub remaining build up with a sponge or toothbrush
- Remove the burner caps and scrub with the same sponge or brush and warm soapy water.
- Rinse grates and caps with warm water.
- Allow parts to air dry or thoroughly dry with a clean cloth.
- Replace caps and grates.
With these gas range maintenance tips your range and oven should serve you well through the holidays and beyond. If you do find yourself in need of a range repair, Callahan’s Appliance is happy to help. For almost 50 years our experts have provided the very best in customer care. Give us a call today!
