Self-clean oven or clean it yourself?

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Caslon

Executive Chef
Joined
Sep 5, 2007
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3,284
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Ring of fire. So. Calif.
I have a 2 year old electric glass top stove. As I write this I am letting Easy Off do its work.


I'm a bit wary of self cleaning my oven. Whatever doesn't get turned into
dust gets really baked on, impossible to ever remove.

One thing I do is...line the bottom with aluminum foil. That's where all the
real junk gets deposited.

I can't really reach the area above the broiler element, so maybe I'll try
a complete burn off next time.
 
My oven is self clean, but i must admit to always cleaning it totally manually ... :rolleyes:
 
Use the self cleaning-cycle! If it doesn't get all the crud off (I bet it will), use a longer cleaning cycle.

Easy-Off is why people buy self-cleaning ovens. That stuff is miserable. It smells, stains and is a dog to clean up.
 
I am with Andy. Self cleaning is the way to go. Use a longer cycle if you find it is not working well. I have never had anything survive the self cleaning cycle.
 
i have a self cleaning, but, i don't use it because i dont have a vent for the heat and smell. i clean mine also.
 
Yea... self cleaning oven I give two thumbs up. All I do is wipe out the ashes. I guess in the grand scheme of things, cleaning an oven is just not that important to me anymore.
 
I was scared to death the first time I used the self-clean feature on my stove. I never had a self-cleaning oven before, and I didn't know what to expect. Scared the heck out of me as it really got HOT!
But, I like it. It works great!
Purrs,
Joyce
 
Before you clean it - remove everything on it and around it. As Pook says, it does get extremely hot.
 
Self-cleaning here, except I never leave my racks in. The instructions said not to leave the racks in during the self-cleaning cycle because it would dull them and they'd be hard to clean. I just pop the racks into a big black trash bag, spray with oven cleaner, seal the bag and let them stay there overnight.

The next day, I simply rinse them off and wash with hot soapy water. They look brand new after 10 years.
 
I leave my racks in during self-cleaning. They are discolored but clean as a whistle. If you do leave the racks in during cleaning, they become hard to slide in and out so just coat the side rails of the rack with a light coating of oil and the problem is gone.
 
I take mine out and clean them. I'm going to try the oven cleaner-trash bag idea, though. That's cool!
Purrs,
Joyce
 
to me not letting oven clean itself is right up there with having a dishwasher and not using. one of my friends does that cause one time water came up in sink.

it was new and not installed properly.

self cleaning is easy and it is sparkling.

babe:dry:
 
Ok, perhaps I am perpetuating a myth here, but I have heard that you should not use self clean if you have birds in the house. I assume that is because of gases that escape or that are created by the process (canary in the coal mine situation). I know that the substance in non-stick pans (Teflon-PTFE) can kill birds if overheated, so there may be some truth there. I don't have birds now so I am probably safe to use the self clean. Any thoughts on pet safety and self cleaning ovens?
 
Ok, perhaps I am perpetuating a myth here, but I have heard that you should not use self clean if you have birds in the house. I assume that is because of gases that escape or that are created by the process (canary in the coal mine situation). I know that the substance in non-stick pans (Teflon-PTFE) can kill birds if overheated, so there may be some truth there. I don't have birds now so I am probably safe to use the self clean. Any thoughts on pet safety and self cleaning ovens?


There is no teflon in a self-cleaning oven precisely because it cannot stand the 800F-900F temperatures. If there are any fumes associated with self-cleaning, they are from the food residue you are burning off (unless you have been baking coal in the oven).
 
I leave my racks in during self-cleaning. They are discolored but clean as a whistle. If you do leave the racks in during cleaning, they become hard to slide in and out so just coat the side rails of the rack with a light coating of oil and the problem is gone.

Interesting. I think I will do that also. I usually take them out and clean but I toy with the idea of leaving them in.

No way would I clean the oven myself. I love the to hit the clean cycle every so often. Comes out great.:)
 
Self cleaning all the way!!!!
My Electrolux will not lock for cleaning if the racks are in.
 
Personally I can't justify having the oven on for hours to clean it, so I use easy off, much cheaper, yea it's a "dirty job" but cheaper in the long run to do it by hand.
 
I'm a relatively "clean" cook, so don't have to use the self-cleaning feature more than a couple of times a year. When I do, I try to do it when the weather is a bit cooler, so I can use it to heat my kitchen. Occasionally, I'll have to clean it when it's a bit hotter, but that rarely happens.

As for the racks, it's not the "shiny" aspect. I'm just following my manufacturer's directions and I also find sliding pots/pans to be much easier on racks that haven't been subjected to the self-cleaning process. In an oven in our last house, I left the racks in and regretted it. In that case, the manufacturer didn't say one way or the other about where the racks should've been during cleaning.
 

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