Ten Ways To Keep Your Gas Cooker Clean and Maintained

It doesn’t matter if you have recently purchased a gas cooker, or have had one for years because you know the benefits of owning one. These ten tips are designed to help keep your gas hobs and oven clean and well maintained. But don’t worry, you don’t have to be a gas engineer to do any of these as they are all basic tips that just about anyone can do. If you want your gas cooker to last as long as possible you might want to read this post…

Don’t Deep Clean Often

This might sound counterintuitive to other tips on this list, but it is important to know WHEN to clean them rather than how often. Sure, you should always clean up spills and crumbs from the main hob area, but cleaning your gas hobs only when the flame becomes irregular or exhibits a yellow colour is a good rule of thumb. If you are doing it more frequently than monthly you are probably doing it too much.

Don’t Use Harsh Cleaners

While stove cleaners do get the job done the harsher chemicals they are made from can potentially damage the elements on your gas stove. Using a simple vinegar and washing up liquid soap mix will keep your cooker looking clean without being so harsh that it could cause damage.

Soak Those Burner Caps

If you take the burner cap off your cooker you might notice it has tiny slits on it called burner channels that need to be clear to make sure the gas is dispersed evenly. Dirt and grime can block these over time and can cause even worse damage if left untreated. You don’t have to do too much to them, just take them off and let them soak overnight in the mixture we mentioned above.

Don’t Oversoak The Stove

Too much water getting into the gas stoves can cause irreparable damage to the hob burners and could even cause electrical shorts due to the click fuse you have to light the flame in the first place. This doesn’t mean you have to clean the hob with a dry cloth, it just means you should rinse it thoroughly before applying it to the cooker.

Clean The Whole Cooker

While there isn’t much that can go wrong with a gas cooker it is still best to clean the whole cooker now and again. Pull it out, but make sure you don’t go too far because of the gas pipe attached to the back. If you are unsure of doing this you could always use a professional cooker cleaning firm to do it for you.

Use The Self-Clean Often

While this is a feature most often associated with electric cookers, you can still find it on some feature-packed gas cookers. Less than 8% of people use their self-cleaning feature on their ovens when in reality it is something you can press and go without the need to keep an eye on it.

Clean While Warm

You can’t clean the oven when it is too hot and gas ovens do tend to stay warmer for longer than electric ones. But as soon as the over surfaces are touch warm they are at their best to clean at that point. This happens because the dirt and grime haven’t had enough time to cool down and stick to the surface.

Check The Over Door

Giving your oven doors a brush down and a little wipe along the seals with a damp cloth will make sure your cooker lasts longer and keeps its efficiency by sealing the doors as they were built to do so. Just a small build-up in grime along the door can leave small gaps which can let heat escape and even worse matters like a degrading oven seal oven time.

Scrub Lightly

It can be hard to get the burnt-on crud off sometimes but scrubbing to the point that you scratch the enamel off is the worse thing you can do. If the grime is not coming off use a different cleaning agent and see if that works rather than doubling down on the amount of elbow grease.

Don’t Believe Every Tip

The other day I was reading a post about maintaining your gas cooker by poking wooden toothpicks into the burner holes to clean them out. This might sound like good advice, but it really isn’t. If even the smallest bit breaks off it could clog up the pipe further down and could even catch alight causing severe damage to your cooker.

Well, those are our ten tips, but if you have one of your own do let us know in the comments below!