Ten Ways To Keep Your Electic Cooker Clean and Maintained

While we have already seen many posts about electric cookers I thought it was time to go through some top tips for keeping them clean and fully maintained. You don’t have to be a skilled person to do any of these things and most of them are little more than common sense, but they are all great tips that your new (or old) electric cooker will appreciate…

Speed is of the Essence

When it comes to spills and mess on that beautiful glass top hood it is essential to make sure you clean them up as soon as you can. Yes, you should wait until it is safe to do so, but you don’t have to wait until the oven is room temperate, you can do it before that.

Remove What You Can

You might be surprised at what you can and can’t remove from your electric cooker, especially when it comes to cleaning and maintaining it. Most electric ovens have a removable glass panel in the front and you can also get to the sides of the oven with a little tilt (as long as this is done safely). Also worth a look is the footplate on some electric ovens as it is often removable and hides a lot of muck, grime and crumbs.

Consider Getting Professionals In

If you have trouble maintaining your cooker maybe you should consider getting a professional oven cleaner in every few months. This professional will not only clean the oven as best they can, but they will also do spot-checks to make sure the oven’s maintenance is up to date.

Consider How You Cook

Do you find yourself just throwing the pizza into the oven? Using smaller saucepans that often boil over? Why not use oven trays, roasting bags, or saucepans with steam lids to keep the oven as clean as you can. What is so good about this tip is that it doesn’t require any additional work on your part, just maybe some new equipment.

Pre-Warm Before Cleaning

Trying to get all that dirt and grime from the oven window when the oven is cold can be a real nightmare. But if you let the oven has a small pre-heat (not too hot) you will find it comes off a lot easier. Just as long as it is cool enough for you to touch it, but not cold enough for the grime to thicken.

If it Can Self-Clean…

In a 2019 survey of people with new ovens, only 7.5% of them said they used the oven’s own self-cleaning feature, preferring to do it themselves. What most people don’t realise is that the oven isn’t just self-cleaning, it is also self-maintaining and will do several tests and recalibrations during its self-cleaning cycle. It doesn’t take that long to do this and it is not as if you need to help it along the way!

Be Careful With Your Knobs

Not only shouldn’t you remove your oven knobs (dials) but you also shouldn’t spray anything behind them because it could put you at risk of electrocution! Another issue with this is that it might void your warranty if you do remove them, so leave them on and follow the maintenance and cleaning tips inside your oven’s user manual.

Turn It Off!

While most electric ovens are hard-wired in, they always have a breaker switch located next to them. So before you go cleaning, or removing anything from the cooker make sure you turn this off, or if you can unplug it.

Check Those Doors

From the rubber piece that runs along the oven door to the glass inside of it and especially on top of the door. Make sure these are clean and free from debris as it could even be costing you more money in electricity costs if the oven door is not shutting properly. Over time dirt and grime will build up here and can cause all manner of problems.

Clean The Whole Oven

While some people simply won’t be able to do this (for various reasons) it is always best to slide the whole oven out and clean the sides and back at the same time. as long as the oven is turned off at the mains switch it should be safe to do so, but if you find yourself a little nervous to do this you could always get someone in to do it for you.

And that is our top ten tips for keeping your electric oven clean and tidy. If you have any other tips do let us know about them in the comments below.