Tips for Maintaining an Electric Cooker

Jen

August 16, 2021

Last updated on September 18, 2021

cooke-maintenance

Looking for top tips for maintaining an electric cooker? From self cleaning oven systems to the oldest stove tops, here’s a quick guide on what you can do to make sure your baking behemoth weathers the years.

For most of us, electric cookers are crucial to our daily lives. Some of us even use them morning, day and night. If well maintained, cookers can last us for decades!

We all search for the right electric cooker and spend a decent amount of money on an appliance and its installation in the hope that we will not have to buy another one anytime soon. That being said, as is the case for any piece of equipment, nothing can last for long if it is not well maintained.

Break out the baking soda and grab your cooker manual – here are some solid maintenance tips and things to remember before you get back to baking and/or cooking with electric.

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How Do You Maintain An Electric Cooker?

Electric cookers are useful but need a fair bit of care and maintenance. Unfortunately, this question can be a bit of a broad one, so let’s cut to the chase.

Cleaning Electric Cookers Regularly is Key

First of all, electric ovens are generally quite easy to clean. We’ll cover this in a bit more detail shortly. The hob on your cooker is likely to be easiest to wipe down, as electric cooktops generally arrive with flat glass surfaces. Even electric rings are a little more defined with edges that are a lot easier to clean than those of gas / dual fuel cooker.

Keeping your electric stove or cooking appliances clean is the first step to a long, healthy life. However, when it comes to taking care of electric ovens, it isn’t all about the cleaning.

Be Sensitive On Scratching Your Cooker

Taking care of the top of your electric cooker takes vigilance. The flat top of your cooker could be made from glass, ceramic or a composite. Either way, they do tend to scratch quite easily.

Maintaining the clear top means not misusing it. Try not to slide pans across it and to take care to wipe down every burner after every use (once it has cooled down, of course). Even the smallest food crumb left over could easily scratch the top of your cooker.

Watch For Cooker Door Seals!

nother thing to remember is to keep an eye on all of the components of the oven, even the rubber that closes the gap between the oven door and the oven cavity.

The rubber seal is there to help contain the heat. You may have noticed on your oven that, over time, the rubber tends to pull away from the app and you have to manually put it back into place. Sadly, simply placing it back will not be enough. The damaged rubber will be letting heat escape. The best thing to do is to keep an eye on it and replace it when necessary. Keeping the heat in as best you can will obviously help with the performance of the oven and will inevitably save you some money on energy loss!

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How Do You Clean An Electric Cooker?

Obviously, a major part of taking care of an oven is cleaning it properly. However, depending on the oven, cleaning it may not be as easy as using just soapy water, a bit of baking soda or a spray and a wipe! Finding the right cleaning solution for your cooker is essential.

The best questions to ask yourself before cleaning your cooker are: how often should I clean my electric cooker? And: Do I need any specific products?

First of all, it is important to know that not all electric cookers are identical. As we have previously mentioned, the newer flat surfaces on electric cookers can be made from various different materials.

It’s a good idea to check the manual for any stove appliances you’re cleaning before you get started. If a manufacturer can give you details on how to clean your cavities, hobs, and dials, it’ll all be beneficial to you. After all, the makers will know what they are talking about!

However, you may find that some solutions, such as those made from baking soda and vinegar, or those that need a damp cloth and a bit of lemon juice, really do the trick. We’re big fans of using natural products to clean our electric oven parts wherever possible, as chemicals aren’t exactly eco-friendly.

In fact, make a point to read our article ‘How Do Self Cleaning Ovens Work?. If you don’t have a cooker with a self-cleaning feature, it’s best to take a look at some shortcuts and tips. Electrolux has a really nice short video demonstrating how to maintain your oven covering both pyrolytic and soda and lemon cleaning.

It is always essential to remember to not clean your cooker when it is hot. You not only run the risk of severely burning yourself, but depending on what you are doing, you could also damage the cooker. It is always best to wait for the cooker to cool down, before you start any cleaning.

A self cleaning oven may often use intense heat to burn grease and dried on food off. Regardless, don’t grab that cloth and soap until your oven is safe to touch.

How do You Take Care of an Electric Cooker?

Not much has really changed when it comes to maintaining an electric cooker over the years, as the best thing to do is to keep it clean, and to treat it with respect.

Nowadays, cookers come in all different varieties and flavours. Gas cookers, electric cookers, range cookers, and dual fuel cookers, you name them. Taking care of your cooker beyond the obvious will likely be as simple as checking out the manufacturer’s manual. If anything, it’ll be a good place to start.

A good cooker can last a lifetime and maintaining it well is the only way to do that. As fancy or as powerful as a cooker may be and no matter how much money you put into it, a cooker will only live a long life if it is treated with respect.

That means being gentle with it, no banging of pots, no chopping on burners, sliding things onto the delicate surfaces, etc. It also means cleaning it when necessary. You don’t necessarily have to clean it every day, but making sure to remove any messes, spills, stains and bits food that will burn is worthwhile. Your future self will thank you!

Do Electric Ovens Need Servicing?

You will be happy to know that no, electric cookers do not need servicing regularly. However, it’s a really good idea to take out a warranty or to register for a guarantee just in case you need to replace parts.

It’s not essential to ask a professional company to come out and service your electric cooker. That’s just one of the big benefits over running a gas cooker, on the whole. Providing you look after everything from the knobs to the top surface, you should expect to get a lot of use out of your electrical marvel.

It’s important to get warranties or guarantees set up for stoves just in case. After all, if something in your oven completely breaks down, you’ll need a quick, cost effective solution. Believe it or not, it can be quite expensive to replace oven parts. What’s more, you can’t expect an oven to function properly if the element blows out, or your inefficient stovetop to suddenly start picking up speed again!

Always make sure to ask your manufacturer to start the warranty process as soon as possible after purchase. In some cases, you may be able to extend your warranty a few years into use, in which case, call or contact your manufacturer nearer the time.

Conclusion

You should absolutely take care of your oven! Maintaining an electric cooker may be as simple as wiping up what you spill occasionally, but it’s worth doing.

From the interior cavity to the racks, the heating element and the stove top, regularly clean and check on your appliance – it’s the best way to avoid nasty repairs and problems further down the line. You can trust on this, speaking from experience!

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