Pyrolytic Self-clean

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Mines cleaning as I type. It hadn't been done in almost 2 years and when I was baking the cream puffs a la Kevin this afternoon there was a lotta smoke coming out so figured it was due. About 25 minutes into the clean cycle I came back into the kitchen and it was like looking at a fireplace in there.
 
SELF CLEANING OVENS

Anything that is not burned on already should be scraped out with a spatula and any unburned grease should be wiped up before running the SC cycle. I have seen some smoke damaged ovens and kitchens over the years. It is very easy to overwhelm the catalitic smoke eliminator on most SC ovens and end up with a smokey mess. Often even with a good door seal there is still enough smoke leakage that you have a lot of scrubbing to do around the door afterwards. 
 
Been there, cleaned that!

I'd had the "home of the ORIGINAL S/C oven", a 1980-something GE in the apartment we lived in (& I wish I could have taken it with me!) w/ three 6" & one 8" burner, and timed bake, oven light, but no window...

The oven always turned out beautifully! (Even w/o scraping off what little burned on food particles beforehand--but that SMOKE DETECTOR! (it was in the laundry-utility room/pantry, adjacent to the kitch.)...

My Frigidaire gas oven cleans OK, and it sets off the smoke detector & luckily w/ this being our own house, I have the liberty to remove the batteries & promptly replace them afterward (although you should not take batteries out even to prevent "nuisance" alarms)...

The amount of fumes & smoke varies w/ how ever dirty the oven is, so running the S/C cycle, I try to do just as the dirt approaches an above-light level for only about 2-hours... (I do fairly little baking & broiling around here, too...)

Love the smell of the oven at work & a windowed electric oven lets you see the upper & lower elements cycle on & off, while in my windowed gas oven, only the unit under the floor of the oven goes on...

An open window, or more, lets out the exhaust when it does become unbearable (as well as having a few well-placed fans going)...

-- Dave
 
I am able to put the rack from my 30 inch (say 75cm) gas oven in my 24 inch (60cm) dishwasher by tilting them.

Part of oven rack at bottom of dishwasher bottom rack, other side resting on top of silverware basket's handles.

Et le voila it fits!
 
SELF CLEANING OVENS

Hi Steve I would have nothing against putting my oven racks in the DW except for the fact that they wouldn't even begin to get all the burned on charred soil off. So its just a waste to run a DW cycle to clean off only the light soil that can be just wiped off with a cloth. I have found the same thing is true about putting the dirty burner bowls in the DW, it only gets some of the soil off. So I do run the bowls through the DW sometimes between running them through the SC cycle in the oven. 
 
Throw the Racks Away

Years ago we put the oven racks along with other burned stove parts in a garbage bag and dumped in ammonia, letting it set over night with the bag tied shut.  In fact you could buy ammonia pellets in a container that looked like an oil can.  You punched holes in the top, set the can on the oven rack and then poured in water and quickly closed the oven door.  It would set over night before cleaning.  Neither the bag nor the can really worked but it was the best we had next to the jar of Easy Off with the brush attached to the jar.
 
Throw the Racks Away

Years ago we put the oven racks along with other burned stove parts in a garbage bag and dumped in ammonia, letting it set over night with the bag tied shut.  In fact you could buy ammonia pellets in a container that looked like an oil can.  You punched holes in the top, set the can on the oven rack and then poured in water and quickly closed the oven door.  It would set over night before cleaning.  Neither the bag nor the can really worked but it was the best we had next to the jar of Easy Off with the brush attached to the jar.
 
When I used to bring home old stoves, I found that the best way to deal with oven racks was to put them in a large, black trash bag, spray them heavily with oven cleaner then close the bag and put it out in the sun for several hours beginning before noon. By late afternoon, the racks were ready to be washed off.

For those of you with ovens that get very hot during the SC cycle, try positioning a small fan on the floor so that it blows over the stove to help disperse the heat.

When I moved into this house, the owners had done a kitchen remodel that included a gas Kenmore drop/slide in range with the oven vent in the back center of the cooktop. The only time I turned on a burner was to show the person who bought it that it worked. There was a narrow strip of counter top between the back of the cooktop (behind that vent) and the backsplash. When we removed the stove, we found charred wood, so I guess that the only self-cleaning experience they had was exciting. That strip of counter top had to be removed so that a regular 30" range would fit. There was probably a warning in the installation instructions they did not read.
 
I did my Electrolux a few weeks ago on a window open day. Yes, you have to take the racks out, and only one at a time can be done. I put the 1500 cfm hood on and open windows, but not in the kitchen. This creates a negative pressure in the kitchen, so the horrible smell can not escape from the kitchen and get in the rest of the house. Then, outside, I put the racks in a big hefty bag and mist them with easy off oven cleaner and close it up. Then, I lean them up against the side of the house with a piece of scrap plywood behind and fire up the pressure washer and blast them clean. Everything looks good as new now.
 
1990 Whirlpool

I used the self-cleaning feature on my 1990 Whirlpool electric range; I hadn't cleaned it in some time. I opened the windows, closed the dining room door, tv room door and backstairs doors which all lead from the kitchen and set the timer for 4 hours. Some smoke and acrid smell but the oven was cleaned and all I had to do was wipe up the ash from the bottom. I removed the racks when cleaning.
This stove has always been a great performer. Gary
 

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