Oven in house I have just moved into is badly `greased up` and cooked to perfection to make it difficult to remove. My intention is to take the easiest route to clean it so thinking of dismantling the door etc. I have a large plastic tray that would allow me to soak the components in for as long as I like. So what would be best ingredient / chemical to use that can be bought easily that would strip the grease but not attack the plastic tray. thanks
The only sure chemical I know is Sodium Hydroxide (caustic soda) dissolved in water. Nasty dangerous stuff though.
Dismantling it all is more work than you might think. I was told Nitromores paint stripper will shift it but have never tried it. It would save dismantling it.
Don't put any aluminimum parts in it either.
Many oven cleaners are caustic soda mixed with a gel to hold it in place on vertical surfaces.
Another option is to put any parts which fit into the dishwasher, and run on hottest/strongest wash, possibly with extra dishwasher detergent. This can work well for chrome shelves. After the main wash, some grease may be loosened but still attached, and benefit from going over with a washing up brush just to get it right off.
If the oven has self-cleaning (catalytic) liners, don't try cleaning them. When you've cleaned the rest of the oven, leave it running at max temp for half an hour which should make the liners burn off the splashes, which will turn to ash and fall off or brush off (don't use a brush which melts on the hot liners). Sometimes the instructions say to move some of the liners when doing a cleaning cycle, e.g. if the heating elements are in the sides, you might need to move the rear liner so it's standing against a side liner so it gets hot enough. You'll get smoke from the oven whilst the liners are cleaning, as the grease is being burned off.
There are firms that come and do this using franchise supplied chemicals that the public don't have access to. Not that expensive last time I looked
Not DIY but the lazy man's way. contact an oven cleaning service, may be cheaper, definitely easier.
An angle grinder would be your best bet.
Last time ours was done, we used Oven-U. Cost about 60 quid, but they took it completely apart and soaked the bits in a tank in their van. This is definitely one job that's better left to someone that *wants* to do it IMO.
I used a blowtorch the last time I had to do this.
Never buy a house from a woman with long fingernails.
Doktor Power foam action cleanser is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING for cleaning cooking oil residues off the stainless splash-back behind the gas hob, deep fat fryer, outside of oven door, etc. Never tried it on oven interiors. Not that easy to find, I think our supply came from Makro. No idea what's in it, but it certainly *isn't* caustic.
Thanks for all the suggestions, that will certainly help me. I will though do it myself.....reason. Recently moved into this house and the oven is yuk, other half will get a new one when we redo kitchen (this year) My plan is to get the `old` one clean enough for her to use, then, later I will dismantle clean thoroughly and sell the main parts on ebay. So if I spend to get a guy to do it for me I wont make any money (profit) Thats my thinking thats my intention....then there is reality. :-) But its a plan.
Steam, and plenty of it. I have my trusty wallpaper stripper for jobs like that.
MM
Sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) solution.
Definitely not. The reaction produces hydrogen!
For the wire shelves and anything else that's difficult to coat with or soak in caustic soda, putting them in a bin liner with ammonia works well.
I pour a thin layer of ammonia into the grill pan, then put this together with all the wire shelves in a bin liner, seal it up, and leave it overnight. Do this outside to avoid catching a whiff of ammonia.
The ammonia gas dissolves the grease quite effectively, and the bits that remain can easily be shifted with a washing up brush and soapy water.
No idea without seeing it - so first see how much you can take apart easily. If you can get the plates off (they nearly always just lift off), soaking them horizontally in caustic soda is easy, albeit a dull job.
Suit up against splashes to handle it - Herriott gloves, face shield (useful anyway, so go and buy one) and a PVC apron. I've not seen aluminium on the cleanable parts of an oven - probably because of the likely cleaning materials.
A single-edged razor blade does the glass window quite well.
If it won't come apart, pay someone else to deal with it.
Mr Muscle or Oven Pride.
Dissolve a little caustic and brush it over the interior of the oven. Its antisocial, be careful with it. Put water in a tray on the oven bottom. Let it cook for a while till the tray's dry.
Chrome racks can be cleaned in a dishwasher, which softens the baked grease, then cleaned readily with a copper scourer. Do the scouring as soon as the cycle's done.
NT
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