How do I clean my oven?
I have a self-cleaning GE electric oven. How often should I run the self-cleaning feature? When I run it, should I use any soap? What is a safe soap to use to clean my oven?
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Answers ( 1 )
I don't know where you live, but if it is summer where you are, I wouldn't clean the oven for a couple of months. The way a self-cleaning oven cleans is to heat to cremation temps and vaporize the grease and food particles- all that's left is a bit of ash in the bottom, and a dirty window.
You can wipe the oven out- use hot, regular dish soapy water, and wipe the interior out; DO NOT use oven cleaner or any harsh soaps or chemicals- the interior of the oven is coated so it does not burn during the cleaning process, and if you mess that up with harsh chemicals, you will never be able to just turn it to clean again.
When it cools down some, weather-wise, pick a day, and turn the oven's setting to "Clean". If you do not have a User's Manual, try googling your make and model, and follow the instructions there for setting the controls to clean. The process will lock the oven door- and you will not be able to stop it, or open the door until it is through its cycle, and it has cooled down to the point you won't lose skin if you touch the interior surface, so make sure you haven't left a skillet inside, or that the dish towel isn't caught in the door- be safe.
A cycle takes about two hours- some longer. And the oven is going to let off some heat- which is why you should do this on a cool day, not a hot day. When the cycle is finished and you can open the door, you can wipe the bit of dry ash out of the oven's floor, clean the window interior with hot water,ammonia and a scratchy pad, and call it a success.
Quite a nifty appliance, the self-cleaning oven- we used to have to spray the interior with a caustic foam, let it melt the burnt on particles, then wipe all that nasty, greasy stuff out- over and over- and even then, first time you turned the oven on afterwards, it stank of the cleaning chemical. Clicking a setting to "Clean" is so much easier- and cleaner.