Self Cleaning Cycle on Stoves.

[maytagbear]

Oh, how I miss

self-cleaning!!!!

This current stove in this current apartment is a NON self cleaning electric, and oh, how I wish otherwise.

Last two apartments were equipped with Hotpoint electric self cleaners, and they were brilliant on the fixed cycle.
I ran the cycle at least monthly, because I love to broil. I'm a city (ok, small city) boy. I don't grill, but I do broil.

Landlord has said that if I want a new stove, I will have to provide it myself.<I>(It will DEFINITELY be self cleaning!!!!) I am planning on doing so next year. However, it will be my property, and I am going to take it with me when (if) I move out!

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[frigilux]

I have two ranges, both 2002 Frigidaires. One is gas, one electric. I try to use the electric oven for things that are potentially messy, because it spews out less heat than the gas oven.

I clean the electric range every three or four months, the gas 2-3 times a year. Or whenever they need cleaning.

I once made the mistake of running the self-cleaning cycles on both ranges at the same time. Holy heat wave! It was winter, and I had to open the kitchen and dining room windows because the furnace thermostat is in my dining room and it refused to let the furnace kick in, even though it was freezing in other areas of the house. I was also almost ill from the fumes. Never again!

 

[whirlcool]

Our new Maytag gas stove we bought last year has the cleaning function selection based on how dirty your oven is. Low dirt, Medium Dirt and High dirt. We are pretty careful about spills inside the oven so we haven't run the cleaning cycle yet.

One thing I am worried about is how hot will the control panel get during the cleaning cycle? The range is computer controlled with all electronic controls. When the oven is just baking the control panel gets very hot as there is a vent from the oven right under the control panel forcing hot air over the burners.

The GE P7 double wall oven we had in our last house cleaned very well. Just wipe the dust out with a wet paper towel when it was done cleaning. the only bad thing was the top oven was self cleaning and the bottom oven was manual clean.

Has anyone ever used a "continuous" clean oven? We had one of those and it didn't clean itself very well at all. In fact, I don't think they make that style of oven anymore?

 

[jamiel]

My mom did it 2x a year...that first evening when you wanted a little heat in the house in the fall, and that last evening when ditto in the spring.

Continuous Cleaning---what a joke. Porous porcelain enamel to "spread" out the mess. Stinky and smelly all the time. Nassssty.

My grandmother had a Hotpoint from the mid-60s which had slide in panels which were Teflon. Those were very easy to clean and stayed quite nice even 30 years later.

 

[ptcruiser51]

For you GE owners

If you have a free-standing range that is 6 years old or newer, the oven door should lift off. Just pull the whole works straight out. This way you can take it outside or put it in bathtub or utility sink to easily clean around the gasket and get at that window to your satisfaction. And save your sacroiliac! I've seen some Maytag models that have this feature, but not all of them. My factory reps tell me that the self-cleaning feature works best if you do not wait until the cavity is really filthy before you run the cycle. I have an old Imperial wall oven, non-self-cleaning, that I haven't completely cleaned in years. Any spatters or drips get hit with the Easy-Off pronto and everything stays nice.

 

[turquoisedude]

Continous Cleaning oven

My parents got one in 1974 (a "Baycrest" made by WCI for The Hudson's Bay Company and in Harvest Gold no less!!).
I recall that unless something seriously boiled over in the oven, the regular spatters pretty well vanished. The owner's manual of that range said to run it at high heat for a half-hour after a particularly messy baking session - that seemed to be a good technique!
The door window and racks still had to be cleaned manually, though.
Oh, and get this, the burner drip bowls had the same 'continuous clean' coating as the oven! 'Course Mother lined 'em with foil anyway.. (VAT?!?! You vanting to get goop all over new burners already??)

 

[logixx]

Self-cleaning? *sigh*

Our oven isn't even self-cleaning! Pyrolytic self-clean is really more of a luxury feature and most ovens don't have it. For me, this means I have to spray the oven with oven cleaner *cough, cough* and let it sit over night. The next day, I'll take everything apart and start scrubbing, scraping, rinsing and polishing. Takes three hours and is a pretty messy task:



Everthing taken apart including fan, door (three layers of glass) and rear wall.



Finally!

 

[panthera]

Alexander,

gibt es nicht Polyesterbeutel, welche man im Backrohr benutzten kann, um dem Schmutz zu vermeiden?

I've been using baking-bags in the US since 2005 and find they keep the oven clean, so the whole cleaning up chore isn't so bad.

By the way, if you leave a bowl of ammonia in the oven overnight (best if the oven was just a little warm, 50°C or so) then in the morning, everything is so easy to clean, you might not need the Silit. Gods, that stuff stinks and burns my eyes something awful.

 

[mayguy]

I run my clean cycle 2 or 3 times a year, and I do it on the days I can have the windows open!

The only thing it lack is getting the glass cleaned... Everything else comes clean in the 2 hour cycle on my Maytag Convection gas oven.

I always removed the racks.

 

[brisnat81]

I am the self clean cycle in my oven.

I do it once a month, spray the racks and interior with Easy Off Oven, then 1 hour later put the racks, rack supports and Fan shroud in the dishwasher on a pots and pans cycle.

Wipe the rest out and its sparkling clean.

All for a total of 30 minutes of my time.

The Oven I want to replace this one is catalytic cleaning, but has removable panels that can be replaced if they get too bad. My grandmother has had two catalytic cleaners and both worked ok. Pyrolitic cleaning in Australia is an expensive luxury item.

 

[logixx]

Bratschlauch

Yeah, there are these bags but... I don't know. Never appealed to me, I guess.

Oh yes, that Sidol oven cleaner is caustic!! "Quality made by Henkel" *lol* I usually either hold my breath or put a towel in front of my nose when I spray that stuff in the oven. So you're suggesting ammonia? But wouldn't that leave a rather special "fragrance" in the kitchen?

 

[xraytech]

I run the self clean cycle on my Kenmore smooth top range 4-5 times a year, it gets dirty quick from a lot of baking and spill overs, 3 months after I got the range I was baking about 18 apple pies and black raspberry pies and ran the self-clean since I had several spill overs from the fillings. After about 1 hour on the 4 hour cycle the drippings caught fire and the whole oven was full of flames. After that all sugaryu spills gets scraped out before starting the cycle. and I take the oven racks and lay them outside in the grass over night, the dew and enzymes from the grass break down anything on the racks and they wipe down easily, this works wit barbeque grill racks too.

My aunt has a 12 year old Tappan electric range with continous clean, that thing is horrible it smokes and has that horrible self cleaning fumes everytime you bake in the oven.

Grandma's 1962 Frigidaire custom Imperial 40" range is not self cleaning, but has the great pull out oven cavities which makes cleaning much easier, in that I use original scent non-ultra Dawn ubdiluted and a scotchbrite pad, works great and no horrible odors, that is how I clean the window in my Kenmore too

 

[toggleswitch2]

~After about 1 hour on the 4 hour cycle the drippings caught fire and the whole oven was full of flames.

I'm not doubting you, but the whole reason the door locks, besides for safety, is to anaerobically combust/consume (without flames) the organic matter-- read "food"-- in the same way cells in our bodies do.

This is why gas self-cleaners have to limit and balance the air/oxygen that is admitted to the oven cavity (secondary combustion air). Primary combustion air is "unlimited" and is accomplished by putting the venturi (gas/air "mixing valve" outside the oven cavity.

 

[animasinsulinpu]

My Frigidaire

I use mine in the winter. And I open the door to the garage amd open the kitchen window and turn on the attic fan. That 4000 CFM's removes the smoke in a split second....Bill in Az....

 

[toggleswitch2]

Interesting that pyrolytic self-cleaners are rare in lands of 24" (60cm) cookers. I'm wondering if the (small) size of the oven, which would be made smalller by the level of insulation necessary for the 900 to 1,000*F (482 to 538*C) cleaning cycle, is a major determining factor. Here, we are led to believe that such great insulation saves energy with each (regular) use and any energy used for pyrolysis/cleaning is therby offset. Ditto cost of energy versus chemicals. They say that self-cleaning is "greener" overall than a dose of chemicals, and less expensive too.

Before the hidden lower "bake" element (which is relatively new to this country) cleaning an electric oven with an exposed lower element [can't be unplugged and removed]was a PITA.

 

[toggleswitch2]

Here is one of the very few 24" (60cm) free-standing self-cleaning ranges that I am aware of. Quite rare here. 24" wall-ovens however are generally avaialble as self-cleaning, IMHO.

Not aware of any gas 24" self-cleaners; free-standing.

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www.sears.com

 

[supersurgilator]

I don't exactly know how the self clean feature works. I know the high temperature is supposed to melt everything away, but then were does it go?
My cousin ran the self clean cycle on her oven once when I was there, and it caught on fire. There must have been some food or something on the floor of the oven, because it ignited, only stayed lit for a couple of minutes, but the smoke was everywhere. I think I would rather just clean it by hand then go threw that hassle.

 

[maytagbear]

The door locks

and then the controls are set. The elements (electric), or burners (gas) heat up very high...800-1000F, and the food residues are burned off. The cycle takes 2-4 hours, depending on make and design. Fires usually only happen in crudtastic ovens. The manuals for both electric Hotpoints I had at the two previous apartments suggested that if the oven was indeed crudtastic, it might be a good idea to do a little wipe with a damp paper towel before starting the cycle.

After the cycle, there is usually only a little ash to wipe away with a damp paper towel when the oven has cooled and unlocked.

This has been happening across North America since 1963, when GE introduced their P-7 self-cleaning oven.

I hope to get a good gas or dual fuel stove with self cleaning oven sooner rather than later.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[toggleswitch2]

Self-cleaning ovens.

The Gadget and I saw huge gas (chicken)rotissserie ovens at Costco.

Boy were we surprised when they were self-cleaning.... as a dishwasher does with detergent and hot water sprays from spray-arms. I was shocked and stood there in disbelief. Don't recall the brand name however.

 

[frigilux]

Bruce---Some people with self-cleaning ovens wait until they're very heavily soiled before they run the cleaning cycle. The result is usually a burn-off, a lot of smoke and choking fumes. I clean mine before it gets too dirty. That way I can run the shorter cycle and fumes (which bother my breathing) are minimized.