How to Avoid Holiday Disasters

Our resident handyman and repair technician Steve says a working oven/range is essential over the holidays. The main event will undoubtedly be the holiday meal and no one wants a malfunctioning range to spoil that. Steve suggests you should:

• Inspect the bake and broil elements for signs of corrosion or arcing. The elements should be smooth and clear of any blemishes. If there is any food spillage on the elements from boilovers, this should be carefully examined as that is the first place that the element would rupture.
• Make sure you know how to work your oven, particularly if it has an electronic clock. You don’t want to accidentally set your oven to a control lockout for instance and not be able to cancel those settings. Locate your user guide or find one online to insure that you don’t end up in a fix.
• To make sure you can cook your side dishes and then keep them warm, test the surface elements to make sure that they function properly. Vary the controls from simmer to high to verify that they cycle accordingly.
• Even though a clean oven is important, if you have a self cleaning oven it is recommend to not put the range through a clean cycle. The high heat generated during a clean cycle as well as the increased use of the element can sometimes cause a premature failure of a component that is on the borderline, but would have otherwise functioned fine during a normal cooking day.
• Before your main cook day, put the range through a bake cycle for at least 30 minutes or more, to make sure that everything is working ok. This would also be a great time to test your. actual oven temperature with a kitchen thermometer. A variation of even 25°F could mean the difference between a perfectly cooked pumpkin pie or burnt charcoal for dessert

• You’ll want to make sure your freezer is in fact freezing items if you intend to store a frozen turkey or ham etc. in there. If your freezer is warm, it could be because of a defective: door switch, defrost thermostat, defrost timer or defrost heater. Check each of these and replace if necessary.
• When hosting for a crowd, you often go through a lot of ice so check that your ice machine is making ice. If there is an issue, check the water inlet valve and defrost timer as those are likely the source of the issue.
• If you have an older model freezer that is looking pretty icy a few weeks before the holidays, unplug your freezer and defrost it so you can reclaim the extra space.

• If you have prepped a dish ahead of time or a guest brings an item that needs reheating, you’ll want to make sure your microwave is working and that your turn table is turning. If it isn’t, it may just need to be realigned which is an easy fix, or you may need a new part for your carousel.
• This is also a good time to clean your microwave to prevent old odours or flavours from permeating your dish. An easy way to clean the microwave is to place a wet sponge in it, and heat at full power for two minutes. This will create some steam and the grime will wipe right off with the sponge.