How to Maintain Your Oven?

Do you have a range or oven in your kitchen? Are you giving it the right care it deserves? Maintaining your range or oven is important if you want it to stay in its peak operating condition. If you haven’t maintained it, you should start now. If you stay on top of oven maintenance, you can save a lot of money from expensive appliance repair Baltimore or premature replacement.  

Here are several tips you can follow to maintain your oven: 

Lubricate Blower Motor Oil Cups 

One of the most vital parts of your oven is the blower motor. You’ll have to lubricate the blower motor with around 5 drops of oil if it has oil cups. You will have to do lubricate it every 6 months. You should also avoid over-lubricating since it can cause more issues.  

Examine for Leaks in the Gas Line 

Do you have a new oven installed? Is your current gas line old? It is an excellent move to examine for leaks as part of your routine oven maintenance. Using an electronic leak detector is the simplest way to examine for a leak. Close the gas valve to the appliance if you believe you might have a leak. Then you should open the windows and call the gas company immediately.  

Properly and Sparingly Use Self-Cleaning Mode 

Before you use the self-cleaning feature, you should consult always the instructions of the oven manufacturer. You should only use this feature once every 6 months.  

When you use the self-cleaning feature, make sure you wait six hours before you use it again. Also, you’ve got to unplug the oven before you wipe the interior side using a solution of water and white vinegar. This will get rid of the foul smell. Before you plug in the appliance, make sure your oven is completely dry.  

Regularly Clean the Oven 

Oftentimes, this maintenance task is neglected. This is particularly true in busy households. However, the grime and gunk from cooking make your oven not safe, less accurate, and less efficient. If you splatter or spill food in the oven, you should wait for the oven to cool down before wiping it. In addition to that, a comprehensive cleaning is needed every 2-3 months. 

Don’t Get Liquid Behind Knobs 

Cleaning solution and water should not mix with electricity. You should turn off the switch at the circuit breaker or unplug the oven first if you’re cleaning it. For ideal outcomes, you shouldn’t squirt cleaner or water behind oven knobs. The liquid can leak inside and might lead to an electrical short. Use a dry microfiber cloth instead. You can also spray a rag lightly using a liquid cleaner to get rid of grime. 

If Needed, Replace the Burners 

The performance of your oven will suffer if the burners are broken. If you notice a tiny spot that is bright red when cooking, it can be an indication that it might short out. This could drastically damage the oven and the burners. Replace damaged burners right away to prevent expensive repairs.  

How to Properly Water Your Lawn

You might have simply invested in having sod or seed planted in your lawn. Obviously, you want it to thrive and grow. The most significant aspect of getting your investment to pay off is to properly water your lawn.  

However, there are a lot of assumptions and misconceptions that have to be busted when it comes to watering your new lawn. You have spent money on your new lawn. To keep it alive, you will still have to spend money. Here are some things you have to know when watering your landscaping Columbia MD lawn.  

Your New Sod Isn’t Dead Just Because It’s Losing Color 

There are a lot of occasions where new sod becomes stressed due to severe weather conditions or the temperature increased. However, you shouldn’t worry. If you want your sod to return to its beautiful green state, you only have to ramp up your efforts and see the results in several weeks.  

Don’t Water Too Much 

The concept here is not to create a pooling or flooded environment. You only have to produce a moist environment. This is particularly true for seeded areas compared to a sodded one. Typically, pooling water is a sign that you are quickly providing too much water to the lawn. 

Don’t Water at Any Time 

This is particularly true in summer and spring. Dark and wet environments are favorable to growing lawn illnesses. You should do your best to water in the early morning hours. Make sure you water the lawn right after the sun rises. You can also water it during the day. However, you’ve got to stop watering it 4 hours before the sun goes down.  

Standing with a Hose Isn’t Ideal 

Hose watering is not going to cut it unless you’ve got an extremely tiny lawn. Keep in mind that you need a slow and long soaking. You shouldn’t utilize the hose method if you have a lawn that is more than 110 square feet.  

Do Not Count on Mother Nature 

You might be deceived easily by rainfall. You might assume that a 20-minute rainstorm will water your lawn properly. However, the truth is that most of the rainwater ran off into your storm drain since it rained too fast and too hard. This will leave only ½ inch of your soil wet. You should not think about rain as watering unless it rains a soaking and light rain for at least 2 to 3 hours.  

How Much and How Long Should You Water? 

Well, the answer to this question varies on a lot of factors. This includes how well drained your soil is, whether you have sod or seed, how windy it is, and how hot it is. These are the things that you have to consider. That is why most guides on the internet are just average guidelines. You will have to adjust the numbers for your condition if you’ve got any of those challenges mentioned. For example, you have to ramp up your efforts if you’re living in a region with a hot climate.