Using Your Self-Cleaning Oven

[lesliec]

The only disadvantage we see is the amount of heat it pumps into the room, so winter's a great time to do it!

Our oven is a Fisher & Paykel Titan and we like the pyrolytic clean a lot. We probably fire it up every two or three months; fumes aren't a problem and simply wiping up a bit of white ash when it's finished and cooled down is a pleasure. And how many people can say that about cleaning their ovens?

[qrn]

got a thermador,with a MicroWave attached above, and its about 15 yrs old ,has to many electronics to get to hot , so have never use the self clean feature...

Bud

[Pierogi]

Mine's a probably a 15-year old (at least) GE gas range: gas both in the oven and the stove-top burners. *AT THE TIME I BOUGHT IT* (note caveat), it was not anywhere near top of the market, but it was pretty expensive, and a pretty decently rated model.

I have no extra insulation around/behind it.

I probably run the self-clean at least 3 or 4 times a year. ONLY in the cooler months, no a/c in the little house/kitchen. I don't want that much heat blasting out into my kitchen/house when it's not noticeably chilly. Which, in SoCal, significantly limits the self-clean time frame.

That said....I have never worried about it burning down the house/kitchen. I have never worried about smells/fumes. I would *guess-timate* it gets up around 800°F when it cleans. It certainly turns even the gunk on my baking stone to ash/carbon after a cycle. When the oven is particularly scrungy, I leave the exhaust hood running to vent any smoke outside (yes, I do have a true exhaust hood). But I only do that when I notice heavy smoke coming out of the vents. Honestly, I've tripped the smoke detector way more often using the stove-top grill pan than running the self clean cycle.

Having spent my childhood helping my mother clean the oven with the spray crap, and defrosting the freezer by running the cannister vacuum on exhaust, I swore 2 things when I got old enough to afford my own appliances.

1---Frost free only, baby.

2---Self-clean only, baby.

As a nice little lagniappe, when grill season is over, the first time I run the oven cleaning cycle, I toss the grill grate from the Weber into the oven. Done dealio.

[animo]

Just curious if anybody out there has had a KitchenAid Superba oven and after using the self cleaning feature did it stop working?

I did a little research for my KitchenAid Superba website and it seemed like everybody's stopped working once they ran the self clean cycle....

thanks for the help,

Animo

[scubadoo97]

Run the self cleaning cycle when ever it needs it. Certainly we benefit in the cooler months but I don't hesitate if the outside temp is 98F. I hate using a dirty oven. Sometimes the old crap burning off will taint what's cooking so clean that oven

[highchef]

I use it often, cooler months...and it's tons better than using chemicals IMHO.

[Kouign Aman]

Grew up with them (two in-wall ovens). We ran the cleaning cycle every few months for years,

and after all camping trips. We'd put the aluminum cookware all smoky and black in the oven, run the cycle, and voila, out it came with a thin coat of powder, shiny and aluminum new again. And the oven was clean too.

Dont remember any issues about fumes. We usually ran it at night, and had a smoke alarm near by just in case.

[curls]

I have a Whirlpool in-wall oven. Ran the cleaning cycle once. After it finished, the oven would not work. Repair person came and replaced a fuse, the oven lives but I will not run another cleaning cycle with this oven. I have had other ovens where the cleaning cycle has worked perfectly.

[Marlene]

I have a Viking dual fuel here and before that I had a dacor range and wall oven. At the cottage I have a double oven kitchenaid range. I use the self clean feature on each of them, on a regular basis. It can get smokey depending on how much gunk is in the oven itself, but I turn on the overhead fan and open a window. Never had a problem with any of them.

[cookingofjoy]

As a nice little lagniappe, when grill season is over, the first time I run the oven cleaning cycle, I toss the grill grate from the Weber into the oven. Done dealio.

That's a fantastic idea! We've used ours, usually once a year in the fall, though it's been two years now, and we've not done it yet this year. I'm going to go get the grill grate!

[Country]

As a nice little lagniappe, when grill season is over, the first time I run the oven cleaning cycle, I toss the grill grate from the Weber into the oven. Done dealio.

That's a fantastic idea! We've used ours, usually once a year in the fall, though it's been two years now, and we've not done it yet this year. I'm going to go get the grill grate!

That's a great idea! Maybe I'll use the self-cleaning feature again just to do that, as well as "reconditioning" a couple of cast iron frying pans I've not taken the best of care with.

Do you leave the oven racks in and put the stuff on them, or put them on the bottom of the oven?

Thanks for any advice.

[Pierogi]

As a nice little lagniappe, when grill season is over, the first time I run the oven cleaning cycle, I toss the grill grate from the Weber into the oven. Done dealio.

That's a fantastic idea! We've used ours, usually once a year in the fall, though it's been two years now, and we've not done it yet this year. I'm going to go get the grill grate!

That's a great idea! Maybe I'll use the self-cleaning feature again just to do that, as well as "reconditioning" a couple of cast iron frying pans I've not taken the best of care with.

Do you leave the oven racks in and put the stuff on them, or put them on the bottom of the oven?

Thanks for any advice.

Hey Country & Cookingofjoy !

I forget where I picked that tip up from, but it works like a charm. I usually have the oven racks in the "normal" positions when I run the cleaning cycle. One in the middle of the oven and one on the lowest rung. On the bottom rack, I put my pizza stone, which usually lives on the oven floor. I'm always afraid it would crack if I left it there, since that's where the heat comes from. So I move it to a rack to get some air around it. On the top one, I put the grid from the Weber Kettle when I run it through the cycle. I leave both oven racks in place, but try to put the Weber rack in so the grid is perpendicular to the oven grids. Just so that the Weber rack gets as much exposure to the heat as it can get. I've never bothered cleaning the Weber grid that holds the coals, just the one I cook on. For the cast iron, I'd just put them on an oven shelf as well. That one, I haven't actually tried, but have heard it works very well, too.

[RobertCollins]

Couple days ago, I picked up a Lodge Dutch Oven that had been used. It smelled of rancid grease, I assume the previous owner had used vegie oil or something in a misguided attempt to season it.

I put the pan and lid in my small oven and set it to clean for two hours. The oven is clean and the pan is totally down to bare metal. A wipe with grape seed oil to stop rust and I'll season the pan later.

Edit: splling

Edited October 20, 2011 by RobertCollins (log)

[Country]

As a nice little lagniappe, when grill season is over, the first time I run the oven cleaning cycle, I toss the grill grate from the Weber into the oven. Done dealio.

That's a fantastic idea! We've used ours, usually once a year in the fall, though it's been two years now, and we've not done it yet this year. I'm going to go get the grill grate!

That's a great idea! Maybe I'll use the self-cleaning feature again just to do that, as well as "reconditioning" a couple of cast iron frying pans I've not taken the best of care with.

Do you leave the oven racks in and put the stuff on them, or put them on the bottom of the oven?

Thanks for any advice.

Hey Country & Cookingofjoy !

I forget where I picked that tip up from, but it works like a charm. I usually have the oven racks in the "normal" positions when I run the cleaning cycle. One in the middle of the oven and one on the lowest rung. On the bottom rack, I put my pizza stone, which usually lives on the oven floor. I'm always afraid it would crack if I left it there, since that's where the heat comes from. So I move it to a rack to get some air around it. On the top one, I put the grid from the Weber Kettle when I run it through the cycle. I leave both oven racks in place, but try to put the Weber rack in so the grid is perpendicular to the oven grids. Just so that the Weber rack gets as much exposure to the heat as it can get. I've never bothered cleaning the Weber grid that holds the coals, just the one I cook on. For the cast iron, I'd just put them on an oven shelf as well. That one, I haven't actually tried, but have heard it works very well, too.

Thanks! I'll give it a try. I use the small tanks of propane (20 pounds of propane) and I'll put it on a scale to see how much is burned during the cleaning cycle. The one time I used the self-cleaning it seemed like it must use a lot, but I'll find out for sure.

[johannafin]

Inspired by this topic I used the self cleaning function on my new oven (Electrolux slide in induction range). This is actually the first time I have ever used a self cleaning function due to always having crappy ovens that didn't offer the feature. I pulled out the manual and was advised to take out both the racks and the side supports the racks sit on. The manual stated that the self clean function would not work unless they were removed. I was wondering why they would need to be removed. The racks are the slide out type with ball bearings. Could the heat effect the sliding mechanism? I was able to put the side supports in the dishwasher, but the racks wouldn't fit. After a good soak in soapy water they cleaned up nicely.

I haven't actually wiped out the oven yet (ran it overnight), but there are nice little ash piles where burnt on black stuff used to live.

Johanna

[Paul Bacino]

Johanna ,

Probably worried about any metal warpage/ and bearing damage that might happen with high heat.

Might mess with your warranty

!!

Paul

[nibor]

Johanna,

I once forgot to take the racks out. They discolored, and now do not slide in and out as smoothly as before.

nibor

[RobertCollins]

I once forgot to take the racks out. They discolored, and now do not slide in and out as smoothly as before.

Put a bit of oil, I use the closest at hand, on a paper towel and wipe the metal where the rack slides.

The discolored racks seem a small price to me versus the black gunk coating them and the work of hand cleaning them.

[Country]

I was going to use the self-clean cycle to recondition a couple of cast iron fry pans and the grill from the Weber, but the manual for the range (an Amana) says to remove the racks.

So I called customer service at Amana to find out if I could leave the racks in and put in the fry pans. The customer rep (who was very nice) told me that I definitely shouldn't do that as leaving the racks in the oven, and adding the pans, etc. would cause more heat and could "fry" the electronic control panel that controls the oven, timer, etc. The one time I used the cleaning cycle I noticed the control panel got pretty hot, so I've decided against using it for cleaning pans and racks.

It seems like such a good idea, but I like the range, and the oven (and infrared broiler) work so well, I'm not going to take a chance on messing things up.

[scubadoo97]

As a nice little lagniappe, when grill season is over, the first time I run the oven cleaning cycle, I toss the grill grate from the Weber into the oven. Done dealio.

That's a fantastic idea! We've used ours, usually once a year in the fall, though it's been two years now, and we've not done it yet this year. I'm going to go get the grill grate!

That's a great idea! Maybe I'll use the self-cleaning feature again just to do that, as well as "reconditioning" a couple of cast iron frying pans I've not taken the best of care with.

Do you leave the oven racks in and put the stuff on them, or put them on the bottom of the oven?

Thanks for any advice.

Also good for removing the seasoning from a cast iron skillet if you picked one up from the flea market and wanted to start from scratch.

[Pierogi]

I was going to use the self-clean cycle to recondition a couple of cast iron fry pans and the grill from the Weber, but the manual for the range (an Amana) says to remove the racks.

So I called customer service at Amana to find out if I could leave the racks in and put in the fry pans. The customer rep (who was very nice) told me that I definitely shouldn't do that as leaving the racks in the oven, and adding the pans, etc. would cause more heat and could "fry" the electronic control panel that controls the oven, timer, etc. The one time I used the cleaning cycle I noticed the control panel got pretty hot, so I've decided against using it for cleaning pans and racks.

It seems like such a good idea, but I like the range, and the oven (and infrared broiler) work so well, I'm not going to take a chance on messing things up.

Myself, I wouldn't worry about the grid from the BBQ going into a self-clean cycle. Just doesn't seem that it has enough mass to increase the thermal load that much. In light of the advice from the manuacturer, I certainly wouldn't go for the cast iron pan/baking stone route.

But. That said, I also wouldn't advise you to go against what the manufacturer's rep suggested. I don't want to be responsible for blowing up your range, or voiding your warrenty (or burning down your kitchen.... ).

Also, should be noted that my range does NOT have an electronic control. It's one analog dial with the temperatures, and another analog dial with the settings ("broil", "bake", "clean"). That probably makes a difference as well.....

[scubadoo97]

One of the main reasons to remove the racks is that they will discolor and lose their shine

[Kerry Beal]

One of the main reasons to remove the racks is that they will discolor and lose their shine

Yeah - and they get kind of rough and don't move easily in and out any more. Just wish there was a good way to get them clean without using all the chemicals.

[RobertCollins]

"they get kind of rough and don't move easily in and out any more."

If you rub a few drops of your cooking oil on them, not just at the slide point but also on the whole rack this will become a non issue.

I wouldn't do the cook the rack thing if I had bearinged {sp?} racks like someone above mentioned. If the 900+ temp will strip the old seasoning from a cast iron pan, it would seem to me that it would strip the grease from those bearings.

My Dacor manual says only that the racks will discolor from the heat. It also recommends the oiling of the racks.

[Kerry Beal]

"they get kind of rough and don't move easily in and out any more."

If you rub a few drops of your cooking oil on them, not just at the slide point but also on the whole rack this will become a non issue.

I wouldn't do the cook the rack thing if I had bearinged {sp?} racks like someone above mentioned. If the 900+ temp will strip the old seasoning from a cast iron pan, it would seem to me that it would strip the grease from those bearings.

My Dacor manual says only that the racks will discolor from the heat. It also recommends the oiling of the racks.

Well - mine's a Dacor (without a manual) so perhaps I should try it.