Electric Skillets

[ea56]

You’re Welcome Barry!

Tide would be great.  The Twenty Mule Team Borax may not be harsh enough to get through that baked on grease, but Tide powder should be just the ticket.  Good luck, and just be patient and I predict you’ll end up with a nice Sunbeam Electric Fry Pan that you can be proud to use.

 

Eddie

 

[justjunque]

A couple more things I'm wondering:
I'm not sure what the legs are made of; but is there any chance that the Tide soak could damage them?
With all the gunk on the underside of the pan, I don't know that I could take the legs off if I tried.
Also:
Let's say I eventually acquire a pan that's painted, as opposed to bare metal. Would the Tide be safe to use on that? Or could it damage the paint?
Thank you for your help!

Barry

 

[ea56]

Barry, I had one of these older Sunbeam Electric Fry Pans and as I recall the legs were either bakelite or plastic, the same material that was used for the handle.  Soaking the legs shouldn’t cause any damage.  And I doubt that soaking a painted Electric Fry Pan in Tide and water would damage the paint either.  After I posted last also thought of Spin and Span, but that’s a product I haven't seen for awhile, so maybe its not sold anymore.

 

I also recall reading in more than one place about using dryer fabric softener sheets in a large plastic trash bag or in the bathtub to remove the burnt on grease from oven racks.  You place several fabric softener sheets either in a trash bag or on the bottom of the bathtub, add enough warm water to cover the racks, and allow them to sit in this solution overnight.  According to people that wrote about this the baked on grease was supposed to come off easily after the soak.  I’ve never tried this, but its an interesting idea.

 

Eddie

 

 

[justjunque]

That is interesting.
For oven racks, I read something somewhere about putting the racks in a trash bag with ammonia, and sitting it out in the sun.
Thank you for the reassurance about the Tide soak.
My mom used to use Spic and Span. It was a powder. I actually have some, but mine is a liquid.
Any idea if that's safe for aluminum? I can check the bottle and see if it mentions anything about it.

Barry

 

[tomturbomatic]

Oh Yeah, oven racks in a black trash bag in the hot summer sun, sprayed with oven cleaner and closed. The grease softens to a soft brown lye soap.

 

[panthera]

Aluminium/Grease/Teflon

Given the amount of baked on ick you are dealing with, it's either going to be mechanical means or horrendously dangerous acids or some sort of grease cutting chemical.

Oven cleaner might do the trick for the first round. Yes, left in place too long it can damage aluminium. If things are this bad, I doubt you could do any harm by brushing it on to the worst areas, letting it sit for a short time and then scraping the resulting 'soap' off. Once you get down close to the metal, time to switch to other means.

Any of these cleaners can darken the aluminium. No biggy - you're going to have to polish, anyway.

As to the Teflon, I just don't trust thermostatic control to prevent hot spots warm enough to do damage. I admit to disliking the stuff, though, anyway.

 

[justjunque]

Surprise

Well, I wanted to experiment with the Tide soak, so I started with the lid, which was nowhere near as bad as the pan itself. The worst parts were the knob on top, and the little vent, which was frozen solid with petrified grease.
I left it soaking for a couple/few hours. When I went to check how it was going; Lo and behold...the Tide turned the previously brightish aluminum lid dark! I don't know why, but for some reason, I didn't expect that to happen.
The formerly black knob is now brown, and the metal is a greyish brown.
Based on what you said, panthera, I'm assuming and hoping that polish will bring it back to normal.
It didn't really free up the vent. At least not in one round. I forced it to move by using a screwdriver. So, at least now a different part of it is exposed.
I heard a line from a comedian once; "That boy's got a lot of quit in him".
I'm not proud of it, but that's pretty much me. I might just see what I can accomplish with steel wool on the outside surfaces, polish it as best I can, and sit it somewhere for display.

Barry

 

[circlew]

Barry, even plain tap water can turn aluminum black if left soaking. You need to use cream of tartar, vinegar or lemon juice to remove the discoloration.

If you really want to get it clean of all the burned on grease, you will need to get the Carbon-Off. You will need heavy duty rubber gloves, and goggles are recommended. It is best to use this product outside. Directions need to be followed for it to work successfully, especially leaving it on long enough. The product is used in commercial kitchens to restore pans and equipment that get heavy use. There is a good video online that can be found by a Google search of the name.

 

[panthera]

Hi Barry,

Yes, the dark surface will clean off easily when the rest is done. You can test this by rubbing it with  bit of Mother's Aluminium/Moly polish or non-gritty toothpaste.

Before you switch to Carbon Off, which is, as you have been warned scary (it works, boy does it work and sometimes you have no other option), try using oven cleaner for very short periods of time on the worst of the worst.

It will give way, I promise. The first few layers just seem the most awful.