Stove & Oven Range Care

Keeping your stove or oven range well maintained is important to keep it running efficiently and to keep your family safe. An improperly maintained stove can create a fire or burn hazard.  Outside of the safety issue poorly maintained oven ranges can lead to less than ideal food and inefficiency. Avoid these problems by following the advice presented here.

Cleaning Burner Drip Pans

Drip pans serve a variety of purposes. From catching food and spills, to radiating heat back to the cooking surface. Patience is the key when you decide to clean drip pans. There are many different suggestions and methods for cleaning them.

• Place drip pans in a plastic bag, Zip lock or a trash bag, with ammonia diluted with water and seal the bag, letting it set for a while. Then scrub the pans with a scouring pad.
• Use a paste of baking soda and water to scrub.
• Soak the pans in hot water and then place them in the dishwasher
• Use an oven cleaner

All of these will work but the suggestion of ammonia can create health risks. There are also risks and hazards with the oven cleaner, so please follow the directions on the containers. Your best bet is to soak the drip pans in hot water for a while then use a nonabrasive cleaner and good old elbow grease. If time is of the essence, or you just don’t want to bother cleaning them, replacements can be obtained at reasonable prices. The best thing you can do to keep drip pans clean is to clean them immediately after use or spills, once the burner has cooled.

WARNING: the last thing you want to do is wrap drip pans in aluminum foil. This is same as having bare wires exposed. It can cause short circuits, fire, or other serious problems.

Return to our Appliance Care Tips resource.