Ovens are among the most commonly used kitchen appliances for cooking purposes. You can bake delicious pizzas and cook amazing dishes in an oven with consummate ease. You can also use your oven for reheating your leftover food as well. However, if you are to keep using your oven, you need to maintain it properly or it is going to develop faults and might even stop working entirely. The following are some simple oven maintenance tips that can help you in prolonging the life of your oven.
Use Oven Door Gently
The oven door is one of the most important components of the whole unit. It is responsible for keeping the heat contained inside the oven. If you open and close the oven door too wildly each time you cook something then the hinge of the oven door is going to become loose which is eventually going to cause the oven door seal to get loose too. An oven with a loose fitting seal is not going to be able to close properly and the heat will get diffused outside. This is not only going to affect the performance of the oven but is also going to increase your energy costs too. Therefore, make sure that you use your oven door gently and don’t hang any heavy tools or object on it.
Make Use of Self-Cleaning Feature Regularly
Many of the modern oven have a self-cleaning feature which can help you in getting your oven cleaned without having to do anything yourself. In order to keep your oven well-maintained, it is important that you make use of the self-cleaning feature, if your oven has one, on a regular basis. The self-cleaning option can especially come in handy if you need to clean the oven before a big dinner party. Since the self-cleaning feature spikes the temperature of the oven so much that food particles still left inside get incinerated, it is best to keep the windows open while using it. After the self-cleaning cycle is over, let the oven cool down before wiping it down with a washcloth.
Avoid Using Abrasive Pads or Cleaners
If you need to wash the oven thoroughly with water then it is best to unplug the oven before starting the cleaning. Make sure that you use a simple rag and a soft cleaner or soap for washing the oven. It is better to make use of dedicated oven cleaning liquids for the purpose of cleaning the stains inside the oven. This is important because using abrasive pads or harsh cleaners can damage the decal indicators, making it extremely difficult for you to read the knob controls for each burner. Use of too much water when cleaning can also damage these indicators and you would have to replace the entire control panel if the decals have completely worn out.
Keep an Eye on the Burners
The burners are an important component of the oven and they need to be inspected frequently if you want to keep your oven working at its peak efficiency. During the inspection of the burners, look for any deformities that might be visible with the naked eye. If you find that any of the burners on your oven has a slightly redder spot when you are cooking then it is a sign that it is about to short out. If this happens then it is going to cause a great deal of damage to the burner as well as the oven. Therefore, it is important that you stop making use of that burner immediately and try to get it replaced as soon as possible.
Create Spill Barriers When Cooking
The chances of spillage generally increase if you are making a dish like a pie or a casserole. Such spilling of ingredients is not a good thing and it is best that you clean it up immediately or it is going to keep on burning and decrease the efficiency of the oven. To stop this spillage, it is a good idea to create some spill barriers when you are making pies or casseroles in your oven. You can create a spill barrier by inserting a tinfoil covered cookie sheet under the racks of the oven. This way any ingredients that might spill down are going to be caught on the sheet which you can easily take out and clean afterwards. However, make sure that this barrier of yours isn’t blocking any of the vents or it is going to create more problems for you.