How To Extend the Life of Your Oven

As a homeowner, buying new kitchen appliances is a certainty. However, this can be a costly endeavor. So, if anything breaks or stops functioning — such as your oven — it can bring on a lot of stress and cost you a pretty penny. Luckily, you can take some fairly simple steps to care for this appliance and prevent major problems.

Maintaining Your Oven

Having a routine maintenance schedule is a great way to prolong the life span of your oven. Below, you’ll find some tips and tricks to keep your oven performing its best and extend its life expectancy.

Clean Regularly

Regular cleaning is one of the simplest ways to lengthen the life span of home appliances, especially an oven. According to our research, the best practices for cleaning an oven are the following:

Do:

• Wipe down the stovetop and burners after cooking
• Clean up spills in the oven as quickly as possible
• Use silicone or plastic scrapers

Don’t:

• Use harsh cleaning solutions
• Use the self-cleaning feature

Cleaning up spills as they happen prevents the buildup of food and grime. It’s important to use the right tools for the job, especially with certain types of appliances. If you need to scrape a surface, using silicone or plastic will ensure that you don’t remove any protective coatings.

Avoid the Self-Cleaning Feature

While self-cleaning ovens exist, generally, using the self-cleaning feature is not a good practice. It raises the oven’s temperature to extreme heat to burn off the buildup of food particles, but the high temperature can damage some of the internal components.

Commercial oven cleaners are available, though they may harm your oven’s internal surfaces and heating elements. Using a simple solution of baking soda and white vinegar and scrubbing the surfaces and oven racks with steel wool is an easy and eco-friendly alternative to other cleansers. Plus, it won’t cause any damage to the surfaces or electronics inside your oven.

Don’t Spray Electrical Components

When cleaning, you may be tempted to spray down all the parts of your range and oven. However, spraying cleaning solution directly on the heating elements and knobs can cause electrical shorts and corrosion. Instead, do the following:

1. Dampen a rag with warm water
2. Spray the damp rag with a cleaning solution
3. Wipe down surfaces and knobs
4. Dry excess moisture

Regular cleaning practices are a great way to get the best performance and longest life span from your oven.

Repairing Your Oven

Though you may encounter problems that require professional assistance, there are some repairs you can do on your own. Repairing or replacing parts of your oven is a great way to avoid the high cost of total replacement. Below, we’ve listed some common repairs that will save money and breathe new life into your oven.

Replace Drip Pans

You may have seen some people cover the drip pans on their stoves with aluminum foil. While this certainly helps keep the drip pans clean, it can cause damage and affect the functioning of your oven.

Foil may melt under high temperatures. Melted aluminum foil can affect the internal thermometer on the stovetop or in the oven and cause it to malfunction. Rather than covering your drip pans in foil, replace them with new ones. Replacements generally cost about $15.00.

Repair Door Seals and Gaskets

The metal gasket inside the oven door is critical to holding temperature and optimizing performance. Over time, as this material becomes older and frayed, it’s important to replace it. Repairing this gasket helps your oven last longer and increases energy efficiency.

Get Home Warranty Coverage

Although there are ways to prolong the life of your oven, you can’t always account for the unexpected. Enrolling in a home warranty policy can give you peace of mind that appliance repairs and replacements are covered. While some exclusions exist, a home warranty policy will cover the cost of oven repair for damages and normal wear and tear, helping you avoid unanticipated expenses.

Final Thoughts

The aging of your oven is inevitable. However, maintaining a cleaning schedule and replacing parts is key to prolonging its life span and getting the most out of your investment.

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