Appliances

Range cleaning 101

As you roll up your sleeves and get busy cleaning this spring, here are a few important money and time-saving strategies for cleaning ranges:

Control Panel

When cleaning the control panel on your range or stove top, we recommend using a light-duty cleaner or simply soap and water with a rag. Using abrasive pads or too harsh of the cleaner can wear off the decal indicators, which identify the knob controls for each burner. If these decals get worn off from overzealous cleaning, the whole control panel will require replacement. If this has occurred, enter you model number at RepairClinic.com to find the recommended alternative to your model. Check out this popular All-Purpose Cleaner.

Door Cleaning

Keeping the leading panel, window, and outer door glass clean is important because it prevents spills from staining the panel or glass when as heats up during oven operation. Only clean the front when your range or oven is totally cool.  For spills that are tough to remove from the panel, we recommend this Heavy-Duty Degreaser.

Smooth Electric Stove Tops

Smooth top ranges are wonderful because they are a snap to clean if maintained properly. If a heavy spill occurs, make use of a Razor Scraper to remove large food deposits. The next thing is to apply Cooktop Cleaner.  Permit this to sit and soak set for a few minutes. Then use a scratch-free cleaning pad to get rid of the remaining residue. Finally, use a coat of cooktop protectant to keep that new stove top appearance. We advise this cleaning set because it includes a good cleaner, scratch-free pads and a quality protectant.

Gas Stove Tops, Burner Bowls, & Grates

Some gas stove tops are made of glass or ceramic and can be clean exactly the same as an electric smooth top (see above). Metal tops ought to be cleaned with Heavy Duty Degreaser along with a non-abrasive pad. The most important tip when cleaning gas stove tops is to not use too much water when cleaning, especially around the knobs. Tweet this. If water drips into the holes where the knob shaft comes through, ignition switches can short out and cause problems with the sparking system. Grates and burner pans can be difficult to clean. However, before you buy new ones, you can try and clean them with this Grate Cleaner.

Solid Burner Element

Some ranges have solid metal heating unit burners. While this is not a cleaning product per se, it does an impressive job restoring solid burner elements to some near-new condition. It also helps protect burners against damage.

Solid Surface Element Cleaner

Beneath the range

People inform us they avoid important cleaning, maintenance and repair because they don't want to move large appliances in anxiety about damage to their floors. Also, some people are concerned about power cords and gas lines connected to the rear of the stove. One tip on ranges would be to pull the lower drawer out and remove it. Simply pull out toward you and also then lift near the front to remove it from the tracks. Using the drawer out, you can clean the lower cabinet and the floor. Tweet this.

We use this handy Vacuum Attachment and Bristle Brush  to clean beneath the range.

Oven Interior

Self-cleaning ovens

Carefully follow the manufacturer's instructions when using the self-cleaning function. This selection heats the interior of the oven to a temperature so high, it incinerates food particles and spills. The size of the process varies from model to model.  We suggest that people do not run the self-cleaning cycle before a large cooking holiday like Thanksgiving because if an electrical component is near to burning out, an intense cooking cycle like self-cleaning could finish it and you could be scrambling to locate parts.

Important: Never use a cleaning solution to clean the interior of a self-cleaning oven unless it's made specifically for self-cleaning ovens. The oven liner can absorb non-approved solutions or cleaner and burn during oven use.

Non-self-cleaning ovens

Simply remove the oven racks and spray oven cleaner directly to the interior surface. Wipe having a clean rag.

 

Related Info

Range-Stove-Oven Maintenance Tips

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