With the chill of winter rain upon us in the South Bay, evening barbecues have been replaced with dinners around warm pots of soup and steaming bowls of pasta and chili. As you prepare for the shift in cooking venues, here are some useful tips to help guarantee your range is prepared to take on all of your savory recipes.

Range Maintenance Tips For Winter

While pots and pans get a cleaning after each use, burners and drip pans tend to be cleaned less often. A clean range is not only pleasing, but can ensure your elements are heating evenly, as well as help you avoid needing a range repair down the road. Use these cleaning tips as part of your routine range maintenance.

For electric burners, it’s important to keep drip pans clean for proper heating. When the burners have completely cooled, lift them out of the range and remove the drip pans to clean. An easy way to clean these is to place each burner pan in a plastic zip-close bag with a small amount of ammonia. Zip closed and after a few hours, rinse and return to the range.

Range hoods often are forgotten in the cleaning process, but maintaining a clean hood filter will keep your kitchen well ventilated during cooking times. You can clean these easily in your sink or bathtub. Fill the basin with warm water and add a cup of vinegar. Soak the grate for about 10 minutes and then rinse the grate with either your shower or sink sprayer.

Range Repairs 

If one of your electric burners is not heating properly, it may need to be replaced. To test whether the source of the problem is the burner or the socket, simply remove the burner and replace with an alternate burner from your range. If the burner works, then a new burner is all you need. However, if the alternate burner doesn’t heat up, you may need a range repair from an appliance repair professional, give us a call – (310) 318-3538.

Gas burners can have trouble lighting due to grime build-up. If your burner won’t light, make sure the burner is clean. If it is free of debris and build-up, but still not lighting, there may be a more complex problem that a repairman can solve. Feel free to request an appointment with one of our trained appliance repair technicians so one of our trained serviceman can help restore your range.

As the cold ocean air and wind usher us back into our homes during the winter, we all want to prepare our favorite dishes without a hitch. By keeping current on your range maintenance, you can lengthen its life and be assured it’s in full working order for all of your upcoming winter meals. We hope these tips help you care for your range and, as always, feel free to contact us if you have any questions, we are more than happy to share any information we can (310) 318-3538.