It takes a lot of work and organization to prepare a Thanksgiving feast!
You have to make your guest list, order a turkey and shop for food.
But what about your poor appliances!
That oven of yours takes quite a beating ... from the turkey and stuffing to pies and more!
Angie’s List, the website that provides consumer ratings on service companies, found 38 percent of respondents will host Thanksgiving this year.
That's a lot of overworked appliances considering thirty-seven percent report using their oven only once a week or less throughout the year and over half of the respondents have an oven six years or older.
“If you don’t use your oven regularly, you could be setting yourself up for problems," says Angie Hicks, founder of Angie’s List.
"Appliance repair companies working on Thanksgiving may be hard to come by, and you can bet the emergency repair surcharge will be more than you want to pay.”
That's why it’s best to prepare in the weeks leading up to your holiday feast to avoid running into problems.
Don’t let oven troubles become a recipe for disaster this Thanksgiving.
To help out, Angie’s List offers the following 10 tips:1.
Act nowTest your oven periodically before the holidays.
If you find there is a problem, you need to give the appliance repair shop plenty of time to order the appropriate parts from the manufacturer.
If you find the part costs more than you’d like to invest, you need to give yourself time to go out and shop for a new appliance before the holidays.
2.
Check the temperatureA good way to check this is to buy a basic cake mix and follow the directions exactly, cooking for the exact time recommended.
If the cake is dry or undercooked, the temperature might be off. Do this test well before the holidays.
If you do find a problem with a heating element, replace it immediately.
In most cases, a bake or broil heating element can be replaced quickly without having to pull the oven away from the wall.
3.
Keep it cleanThe cleaner your oven is, the more efficiently it will work. Whether you own a gas or electric oven, the best way to keep it healthy is to clean it.
Periodically installing clean drip pans for burners will help reduce cleaning time. Don’t just throw away dirty drip pans.
Failing to replace these can damage the wires beneath and cause a short.
