Do you have a glass or ceramic cooktop you are proud to own? Cooking can be a breeze with these sleek, contemporary appliances, but they also need special care to stay brand new. You should note that you risk having a stove covered in stains and food buildup if you don’t give your cooktops regular care and attention.

Thankfully, according to cooktop repair professionals, there are numerous ways to maintain the brand-new appearance of your cooktop. Although there is no assurance that these suggestions will keep your cooktop safe, they can make a significant difference. These ways include:

Be cautious of the cookware you use

You should take extra care to select cookware that won’t harm the smooth surface of a ceramic or glass cooktop. As a rule of thumb, never use cookware made of ceramic or stoneware with rough, unpolished bases. Avoid placing dishes on the cooktop while removing them to cool, and keep those parts in the oven.

Do you have a favorite cast iron skillet? Regretfully, you must keep it away from your burner. Any movement of a cast iron pot or pan on the cooktop can cause scratches because cast iron cookware is often very rough. And you don’t want this, do you?

Lastly, it is not wise to use pans or skillets with rounded edges. A rounded edge may result in uneven heat distribution, subjecting the glass or ceramic to needless stress. When your old cookware starts to warp, replace it with new cookware that lies relatively flat.

Be ultra-cautious when handling your cookware.

Now that you know you have the correct cookware, it’s critical to manage it carefully to maintain the brand-new appearance of your stovetop. Don’t drag heavy pots, pans, and plates across the cooktop.

Remember that cookware can scrape if dragged, even a short distance. Move your pots and pans to a different part of the cooktop to lessen the chance of scratches.

Make sure the bottoms of your pots and skillets are spotless before cooking. Electric stovetops frequently have rings or other stains that are exceedingly challenging to remove with a scrub.

This is often caused by oil accumulation on the bottom of the cookware, which can cook into the glass or ceramic when heated. By keeping your cookware clean, you can avoid wasting a lot of time and effort cleaning your stovetop.

Don’t spill while cooking.

Even though there are several ways to clean an electric stovetop, you should still avoid spills when cooking. Spills can quickly become hot and adhere to glass or ceramic surfaces, making cleanup difficult.

When boiling or cooking anything that contains sugar, exercise extra caution. Sugar is especially harmful to electric cooktops because the molecules attach to the glass as they cool, damaging the cooktop’s surface. You should be particularly cautious when working on white or light gray cooktops. When you have spills of sugar or any other material, clean them up immediately.

Be cautious of heat

Remember that the high heat may cause unpleasant chemical reactions in the glass. As such, when using your stovetop, follow a few general guidelines.

Never, even momentarily, set anything cumbersome or stand on top of a glass stove. At first, the glass might seem to support the weight, but as the cooktop heats up, the surface will expand and may shatter or crack. And you don’t want this.

You should also never set hot glass bakeware on a smooth cooktop to cool. Instead, place it on a trivet or dry towel. A heated and cool surface coming into direct contact could shatter either piece of glass.

Clean your cooktops properly.

Sometimes, baked-on food is inevitable, no matter how carefully you use your glass or ceramic stove. To keep your surfaces clean, you have to clean them. To help you out, here are tips on how to go about it:

Establish a weekly routine for cleaning the cooktop. Sprinkle baking soda on top of the white vinegar sprayed on the cooktop. Allow the mixture to operate for around fifteen minutes before wiping it away with a fresh towel soaked in hot water.

The chemical reaction that happens when alkaline baking soda and acidic vinegar combine can loosen most baked-on meals.

Scrubbing deeply embedded stains with a toothbrush and baking soda toothpaste can occasionally remove them. However, because baking soda is relatively abrasive and can scratch the glass, do not scrape the entire cooktop.

Don’t use industrial abrasive cleaners or cleaning pads to clean your glass cooktop, as they can damage them.

If used immediately after each cooking session, regular grease-cutting dish soap sprayed with a non-abrasive sponge usually wipes up spilled food from a glass cooktop. Before proceeding, make sure the cooktop is completely cool.

You can also use a sharp razor blade to scrape away small areas of baked-on food. When using it ensure that the blade’s edges don’t scratch the glass.

You should note that you can easily remove glass cooktop stains with a Magic Eraser.

Use a solution of hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and Dawn dish soap to remove stubborn stains.

For cleaning ceramic/glass cooktops, an ordinary window-glass cleaner frequently works just as well as specialty cooktop cleansers. After cleaning, be sure to rinse the cooktop well.

Parting shot

A clean cooktop looks great and works better, enhancing the pleasure of cooking. These guidelines will help you maintain a spotless kitchen and maximize the performance of your equipment.

You can do most of the work, but if you notice an issue with your appliance, don’t try to fix it, as you will probably cause more problems than were there.

For example, if everything seems to be in place, but your cooktop isn’t cooking, or you feel it’s consuming more energy than it should, let an experienced appliance repair Fairfax professional look at the problem.

When hiring professionals, ensure they are experienced and know what they are doing. You don’t want someone who makes the problem worse than it already is, do you?

The post Tricks to Keep Your Glass/Ceramic Cooktops in Top Shape first appeared on HVAC Repair, appliance repair. The post appeared first on Express Appliance Repair

Your refrigerator is the house’s workhorse, keeping food chilled or frozen throughout the day and night. According to HomeAdvisor, hiring refrigerator repair professionals now and then to repair your unit can be expensive. The good news is that you can save money by fixing the problem yourself.

The most common refrigerator problems are leaks, loud noises, cooling troubles, and ice makers that don’t operate properly. As a homeowner, you can troubleshoot these frequent refrigerator problems with simple equipment such as a manual screwdriver and a cordless drill, as well as other readily available and inexpensive parts.

To shed more light on the issue, here are some of the most common refrigerator problems and how to fix them:

Leaking unit

Do you have water on your kitchen floor? What about pools that form on the interior bottom of the refrigerator? You have a leaking refrigerator. The good news is that leaky refrigerators are relatively simple to fix because there are just a few likely causes of the problem: door gaskets, defrost drains, and drain pans.

If the soft rubber-like door gaskets are the problem and they fail to seal properly, water may seep from the bottom. You need to use warm, soapy water to clean the seal and any refrigerator sections it comes into contact with.

If that doesn’t work, replace the door gaskets completely.

You also should check to see if the defrost drain leading out of the freezer is plugged. If this is the case, remove any obvious impediments. You should use hot water to break up any remaining obstructions in the tube.

The drain pan at the bottom of the refrigerator may also be so full that water is spilling out. If you are having this problem, you need to clear the drain pan of water. After removing the drain pan, clean it with warm, soapy water and a soft cloth. Do not use abrasives.

If the drain pan smells bad or has mold patches, mix a 1:10 bleach solution with warm water. Ensure that you rinse and dry the pan before replacing it.

Extremely loud refrigerator

Refrigerators generate sounds that often come from ice clattering into the storage bin and refrigerant hissing through lines. You should note that both of these sounds are expected and usual sounds. So, if you have them, you have nothing to worry about.

While this is the case, you should note that sometimes the unit makes weird noises. Many people have the impression that these noises are common with old appliances, but this isn’t the case. Even new refrigerators can make weird noises.

The most common noises are buzzing, humming, whirring, and vibrating noises. If your unit is making any of these noises, you should move with haste and fix them as soon as possible.

Your fridge has leveling legs. As your home ages and your kitchen floorboards sag, the refrigerator needs to be balanced again. The fridge might be making weird noises due to the legs being imbalanced.

You should use a wrench to turn the legs. For the best outcome, ensure that the doors close on their own when opened halfway (45 degrees).

You should adjust the legs with the door halfway open and continue until the door swings close.

You can also order special dense foam mats and place them under the refrigerator to reduce vibration transmitted through the legs to the floor. This repair is especially useful if the people below you complain about refrigerator noise. You’ll need to place anti-vibration pads under each of the fridge’s four feet.

Ask a helper to tip the refrigerator back while you insert the pads, and then repeat on the opposite side.

Do not stand on the tipped side, as the fridge may tip over on you.

The fan distributes air from the coils to keep the temperature consistent. In some cases, the fan may be rattling due to old or broken rubber grommets. Grommets are inexpensive, and you can buy them online. The evaporator fan is accessible from inside your freezer compartment.

What you should do is unplug the device and remove all goods and shelves from the freezer. Remove the fan from the freezer by opening the access door at the back with a screwdriver.

You also should remove the old grommets and replace them with new ones. Once you are done, replace the fan and tighten the screws.

The refrigerator is too cold or freezing over.

You want your refrigerator and freezer to stay cold. But is it becoming too much? After you’ve tried readjusting the thermostat, here are some alternative fixes.

Cold air may be constantly pouring into the chamber, unregulated by a damper that remains open. The thermostat controls the damper, which is placed between the cooling and freezing compartments.

You can easily buy refrigerator thermostats online. Find your model number on the inside or back of your door, and then order a compatible thermostat.

You should unplug the fridge first, then open the cooling compartment. Using a Phillips head screwdriver, remove the top cover of the cooling chamber (inside the box). Usually, only a few screws hold this in place.

Use the same screwdriver to remove the plastic control assembly cover.

The lid is fastened to the refrigerator with wires, so lift it cautiously. The thermostat will be a bronze-colored metal device connected by copper wires and a plastic capillary tube.

You can find it useful to photograph the wire arrangement so that you can replicate it with the new thermostat. Pull the wires straight out by hand, then remove the tube.

The new thermostat installation is a one-to-one replacement with two black wires doubled up. It is connected to one terminal, one orange wire, and one green ground wire.

You should attach the capillary tube and then replace the assembly covers with the appropriate screws.

Parting shot

These are some of the most common problems that your refrigerator might have. While you can fix some of the issues, you should note that sometimes the problems are complex. If this is the case with your unit, you should let experienced appliance repair Northern VA professionals handle it.

The post Common Fridge Problems and How to Fix Them first appeared on HVAC Repair, appliance repair. The post appeared first on Express Appliance Repair