Self cleaning ovens with hidden bake element

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Well the weather is finally warm enough to open windows to allow the self-cleaning fumes to go outside. I am running the self-clean cycles on the little, old KA oven as it needs cleaning badly! I took the default cycle of 3.5 hours. Let's hope I do not burn up any boards or circuits!

Oh, I am trying the trick of placing the chrome racks covered in oven cleaner in a black trash bag sealed up in the sun. First time I have tried this--hope it works! I will reply back with the results if anyone is interested.

Thanks,
Mitch
 
Good news/bad news

Well, well. The results are a mixed bag. I have good news and bad news to report.

The good:

Placing the oven racks soaked in oven cleaner in a black plastic trash bag in the sun worked better than I ever imagined! I left the racks outside for about 4 hours and the grime literally just melted off leaving bright, shiny chrome!! Awesome way to do this-my new method!

The oven is a whole lot cleaner than it was! I did not even take a “before” picture as it would be too embarrassing to post for the world to see! I did have to get a scrub pad and my old school Bon Ami out to help when the cycle completed.

Electronics appear to be okay!!

The bad:

Oven did not come as clean as I would have liked. It was a 3.5 hour cycle and perhaps I should have gone longer or another cycle as a follow up.

The very bad! I have damage on the oven floor! There is a pitted section where the lining has chipped off—it is almost like a divot. The enamel is also cracking! Fine cracks in some sections—not sure if the camera will pick that up. I do not know if it was like that prior to running the self-clean cycle or if the damage was already in place. Not sure what to do about this, or if there is anything I could do for repair. The floor appears to be part of the entire liner.

I believe this oven is at least 10 years old and we use it all the time. We cook—I mean we cook! Ovens are used many times a week and long hours on a typical weekend. This little oven is always the “go to” oven as it cooks great and the temp is always spot on. I am not sure if the amount of use or this past cleaning cycle damaged it. We will use this oven until it is worn completely out! I probably share in the blame for letting it go so long without cleaning!

First picture shows what she looked like after completion of cycle.

mitch++3-30-2013-20-28-9.jpg
 
Thats the same problem...

Westinghouse and Hotpoint had in the 50s, the enamel would get so hot it would crack and craze and then you got rust next, Admiral kind of solved the problem with there oven by using a stainless steel oven bottom, but they all had dropped the feature by the late 50s.
 
Showing the spot in the oven floor and hazing

not good! The spots that look like rust is where the porcelain is pitted :(

mitch++3-30-2013-21-59-49.jpg
 
The end

what a day! 5 loads of laundry, cleaned oven, replaced headlight on car, trip to grocery store and cooked dinner, then a last minute trip to Wal-Mart He%&!! We are tired! Oh, --I cut my hand replacing the headlight then got oven cleaner in the cut and that smarted pretty darned bad!! :)

mitch++3-30-2013-22-06-12.jpg
 
It looks very nice all cleaned up.

SC ovens no longer put the mullion element around the front of the liner to get the front part of the liner and the door clean. Note how the gasket ends at the bottom center of the oven to allow air to enter in a controlled fashion. That is why that portion does not get hot enough to clean without the mullion element. Now that you know what parts do not self clean, you can save yourself work by cleaning them before you start the SC process.

That damage probably happened to the floor long ago when something acid like a fruit pie dripped on it and of course, the intense heat over the years is damaging the porcelain. Even if the oven bottom gets so bad that you can see the heating element through the floor, you can just put a cookie sheet on the floor and use it for another decade or two.

Who's guarding the kitchen in the last picture?
 
Thanks

Hey Tom that is funny you said that about the cookie sheet or some other piece of metal to put in the oven floor--I was thinking about that and wondering if it would work when the time came :)

That is Smudge, a rescue cat. I have had cats all of my life and this one is the best cat I have ever had--he is sweet! He is one cool, laid back cat. He just doesn't care! He prefers to be held like a baby.

Eugene--thanks for the encouragement! I certainly enjoyed your post on the new Frigidaire washing machine!

Harley-thanks for starting this thread!

Foxchapel--I would like to "play" with an induction cooktop to see for myself. When we redid the kitchen several years ago the induction cooktops were WAY out of my budget!!

Happy Eater--and oh yeah--I am baking a ham in the newly cleaned oven and just pulled it out to do the glaze and spilled juice all over the oven floor!! Confound it!! :)
 
Happy cooking! Happy Holiday!

What is a holiday without cooking? It is just that sort of acidic spill that causes the etching of the gloss and eventual deeper "divots" you were mentioning. My mother used to save the juice and syrups of canned fruits to use in her ham glazes so they were acidic. Between hams, the glaze, by then a very dark color was stored in a jar in the downstairs refrigerator sealed under an inch of protective fat. I found out that many people in Atlanta used a glaze based on Coca Cola for ham. Will you try to do a bit of spot cleaning on the spill after the holiday?
 
My new oven got a work out this weekend,

And it performed flawlessly. From Cheesecake, to Carrot cake, Ham, sweet potatoes, hash brown casserole, hot rolls, and carrot souffle'. Did the carrot cake yesterday, and the cheese cake on Thuesday so it had time to age. Other than that it started at 7:00 this morning with the whole ham getting started at 325 convect roast.

Mixed the bread, and the carrot souffle' this at about 10:00 had prepped the casserole, sweet potatoes last night. Ham came out about 11:45 to sit covered while the oven got loaded with two racks of breads, bottom rack had the Hash brown casserole, sweet potatoes, and souffle'. Worked the stove top with Green beans, corn and potatoes to mash.

Sliced the Ham, and sent the tray to the warming drawer, as the breads came out. Dinner was served at 1:00 straight up.

Mitch, my Maytag oven got pitted and grazed and it wasn't a hidden element. My former GE never did that, but have always had to clean outside the gasket by hand.

I will steam the oven tonight, just as a touch-up, actually survived all that cooking without a mess. No I can't believe it either. I actually didn't even boil over the candied sweet potatoes this time, and got the marshmellows perfectly browned.

As for clean-up, The Kitchenaid performed beautifully. Thirteen place setting, with serving bowls, two of the baking dishes, Desert plates, glasses, coffee cups, coffee maker, flatware (A certifiable Bob Load). Everything clean and dried in under two hours.

Final verdict, They are both keepers.
 
Pics

Can you post a pic of your range?

And how about a before and after if the oven steam clean cycle.

Malcolm
 
Awesome!!!!

You went the full deal with your meal! That sounds so good!! We did cherry glazed ham, baked sweet potatoes, mac & cheese, asparagus wrapped with bacon and stuffed with feta cheese and yeast rolls. Yes, I will be eating salad the rest of the week! I did spray 409 on the oven floor once it cooled enough and scrubbed out the mess! Just my luck, pristine clean oven and first time out make a big mess :).

I know what you mean about Bob loads! The KA and the Kenmore have earned their keep today!

I have thoroughly enjoyed this thread! I am with Mr. B--would love to see a picture of your new oven!!
 
Here's the oven

I didn't take a before pic, but it was an great job. There were a few ham splatters that just curled up and wiped off. This was just a touch-up cleaning, but I am impressed.

I will try to get some better pics later.

iheartmaytag++3-31-2013-21-59-24.jpg
 
Good looking range!

That is one nice looking range and appears to offer all sorts of nice features! Looks like the right front burner offers three different sized heating "zones". I also count 5 burners--with their own individual control! Sweet!! I would like that for sure!!

Do you find you use the warming drawer much? I insisted we get that on the KA range and we have used it--not as much as I thought, but it certainly comes in handy with parties and holiday baking. Most of the time it is used as a storage drawer for cookie sheets, muffin tins and metal baking pans. Everything stacks and nests nicely so it can be removed in one swoop when the use of a warming drawer is needed. I think this is a feature that I would want on future ranges.

Oh--I have good luck with cleaning the top with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser!! Of course for cooked on crud it is a different story :)

Thanks for posting your pictures!!
 

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