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I guess I should
expound on that a little and make an article out of that sentence,
somehow. On electric stoves the wires often run under the drip pans
and often when drip pans get really dirty, people just throw them
out and do without. Wires get crisp, the insulation breaks, and
shorts occur. Bad idea.
Spills, both on top and inside the
oven clean easily, if they don't bake on forever. Pumice stone is
excellent for stains inside your oven--if it is a smooth porcelain
surface, not a rough continuous clean surface, (which is really
NEVER clean). For all oven, or heavy top surface cleaning, other
than aluminum surfaces which will be stained by this product, use a
janitorial supply non-aerosol oven and grille cleaner, with gloves.
It is much cheaper and less fuming than the aerosol from the
supermarket. It costs about $12/gallon, which can be diluted 1:1
with water and sprayed on. This industrial type cleaner will last
you 20 times longer than 1 $3-$4 can of spray.
Installing
new drip pans for burner top areas occasionally will save you from
hours of scrubbing, but in between not letting them get really bad
is best. If your gas stove "spiders" (the pot holding grates) get
VERY greasy, soak overnight in a plastic pail of water w/ a can of
crystal DRANO. This is very caustic, so use great caution and never
get on your skin. Your grates will be like new next day.
Oven racks can be cleaned w/ pumice stone also. If you have
scratched/stained areas around burners on gas stoves without
separate drip pans, or above pilots between burners, use a paste of
Comet with oven and griddle cleaner, leave it on overnight and
remove with water thenext day (wear gloves!). Will be best possible
without replacing whole top.
Knobs have to be cleaned with
gentle soaking in soapy water- again thisbest if done regularly. Try
not to remove markings/numbers. New ones also available for most
models. burners which don't light off pilots or sparkers generally
have lighting holes on side closest to pilot or sparker plugged up.
Clean with a stiff fine wire and try not to spill food on them. The
actual burner tops, often aluminum, should NOT be cleaned with oven
and griddle cleaner, but can be done with a bench-mounted wire
whell, or a drill-mounted round wire brush, or even steel wool or
sandpaper.
On electric stoves try not to spill things onto
the actual coils, especially things which will melt on--like plastic
bags, paint, etc. Replace or have replaced the woven door gaskets on
self-cleaning ovens if/when the wire mesh shows through--they get
very hot during the clean cycle and the gaskets keep that heat away
from you!
If you have very old GE stoves with pushbutton
controls, keep buttons clean and regularly cycle through all
positions to keep them from sticking. On rotary knobs that is
generally not a problem.
Not really much else to say. To
reiterate-- KEEP IT CLEAN.
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