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It’s an unfortunate fact that all home appliances have a life expectancy. Even with the best cleaning, maintenance, and care, there will be a time when your oven will stop working simply because it is old. That unexpected cost of replacing a necessary appliance like your oven can be devastating to a budget, but luckily there are things you can do to help your oven last longer and save money once it does fail. An oven’s average lifespan is 13-15 years and costs an average of $650 to $2,000 to replace. With the following tips (and an appliance warranty plan from Landmark Home Warranty), you can make your oven last as long as possible, and get it repaired or replaced for only $60-$100 when it does fail!

Clean Your Oven

The best tip for extending your oven’s lifespan is to clean it thoroughly! Make sure to clean up spills on the range and inside of the oven immediately after they happen (obviously, make sure the oven is cool before reaching inside to clean). Leaving baked or burned on food on either your range or within the oven can cause the heating elements to have to work harder to cook your food and burn out faster. Of course, to maximize your oven’s lifespan, you have to clean the oven correctly!

Don’t Spray Your Range’s Knobs

Spraying cleaning solution directly on a range or oven’s knobs can burn out the electrical elements of the oven and cause corrosion and shorts. This can stop an oven from working prematurely. Instead, take a damp rag, spray the cleaning solution onto the rag, and use that to clean the buttons and knobs of your oven.

Here’s the best way to clean your oven’s stovetop or range.

Clean with the Right Tools

Cleaning an oven with a more heavy-duty cleaner might be all right for some oven brands and types, but for others it can ruin the heating elements or protective coating. Make sure to use something lighter when cleaning your oven if you’re not sure what is safe to use, like baking soda and vinegar.

Never use a metal scraper to get baked-on food off your oven. Instead, a silicone or plastic scraper can do the same job without causing major damage to the appliance. ​​​​​​​

Don’t Use the Self-Cleaning Feature

As tempting as it is to use the “self-cleaning” feature on an oven, don’t! Self-cleaning ovens simply heat up the oven to extremely high temperatures to burn off baked on food. Not only can this cause unnecessary stress on your oven’s heating elements and internal systems, it can cause small micro-fissures in your oven’s glass door to break too!

Check out this post for a heat-free way to clean your oven!

Repair Oven Door Seals

If your oven is taking a long time to heat up or isn’t holding the temperature well, check the door seal, or gasket. This seal along the door frame holds heat inside but can become cracked or frayed as it gets older. As this gasket becomes damaged, it makes the heating elements of your oven work harder to heat the oven at the correct temperature and hold that same temperature consistently. You can repair these frayed or broken gaskets easily, which can help your oven last longer.

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Don’t Put Foil on Your Oven Drip Pans

You may have seen family members put foil on their oven’s drip pans, under the baking elements, or on the stovetop. This is one of the number one “Do not!”s when you have an oven. Angie’s List says using foil on your drip pans can cause foil to melt, which can damage an oven or throw off the thermometer, as it is extremely reflective and can over or under cook food. If your drip pans are ruined by foil, food, or just old age, you can easily replace them for cheap.

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Clean Oven Filters

Finally, make sure to be cleaning your oven’s range hood filter frequently. If you don’t, you could wear out your kitchen exhaust fan quickly as it pulls grease and air through a dirty filter and can make it so your oven gets more grease, steam, and food particles on it than normal.

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Get an Appliance Warranty for Your Oven

When the time comes when your oven does fail from normal wear and tear, a home warranty can save you hundreds of dollars to repair or replace the unit. On average, oven replacement costs $650 to $2,000, while repairs cost around $200. A homeowner with a home warranty plan through Landmark will pay a flat-rate service call fee of $60-$100 to get their oven repaired or replaced, saving them hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars. Appliance warranties can save you money when the appliances in your home reach the end of their lifespans. For more information on Landmark’s appliance warranty plans go here, and for more helpful tips on your oven, fridge, washer or dryer, see our appliance warranty resources articles here.

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