Pyrolytic ovens

[Mike Clarke]

Does anyone have any experience of ovens with pyrolytic cleaning. Do they really manage to clean themselves and does the 500C cleaning cycle lead to any long term reliability problems?

[fred]

Swmbo has a Miele one and finds it excellent. She previoulsy had a different make, a Smeg, and found it no where near as good as the Miele turned out. (She's a big Miele fan)

So it would appear there are difference between different manufacturers.

[Andrew Gabriel]

They work fine at 240C - I've never needed to clean the stay-clean pyrolytic liners in mine. Can generate some smoke during the cleaning process though, and that happens even when running the oven hot.

Doesn't help for things like the door glass, the light, etc.

Never tried the very high temperature ones where the door gets locked shut.

In reference to the other post, the wiring in Smeg ovens is done using connectors which burn out before 10 years with the heater current. Seen (and repaired) this a number of times. I mentioned this to a repair chap once and he said it's very common, and we've been lucky to get anywhere near 10 years out of them. It's only a problem with the products with electric heating elements - no problems with a gas hob.

[Tim Watts]

On Thursday 06 June 2013 10:58 Mike Clarke wrote in uk.d-i-y:

500C or 500F?

We have a gas over with self cleaning coatings decades ago and the deal was

30 mins at full heat (250C or so). Seemed to work pretty well.

[Jon Connell]

We put a non-pyrolytic Miele in our last kitchen after our pyrolytic Neff (sorry, Naff) blew up and was "beyond economic repair". Based on the experience of using a regular oven, the new kitchen in our new house has a pyrolytic Miele.

Pyrolytic ovens are very effective at burning off all the fat that gets splattered on the roof of the oven. They also do a decent job at cleaning the glass on the door, though do leave a rim of burned on gunk around the seal where the heat doesn't get to as effectively. A quick spray of your nasty chemicals sorts that.

What they do not help with is the racks and trays that I think are usually the skankiest things in an oven, so you need to remember to chuck them in the dishwasher regularly. Alternatively, you can place them in one of those chemical bags you can buy in supermarkets.

So your datapoint from me is that I value the pyrolytic function enough to choose one over a regular oven, but my Neff didn't last very long (8 years). Miele appliances are generally very reliable though, so here's hoping this will last the 20 years I'd expect from Miele.

Jon

[polygonum]

Have found the Lidl "stainless steel" scourers work very well on the rack components. Of course, if very bad, oven cleaner-type products help start the cleaning but often scourer, hot water and washing up liquid is enough.

[Lee]

We have a Bosch pyrolytic oven and the 480C cleaning cycle is surprisingly effective. Also the only practical way of cleaning the top of the oven, above the grill element. Couple of notes though, on this oven the rails have to be removed before cleaning and it highly recommends that the inner door glass is clean before you start the cleaning cycle. You also need to be extra careful about not scratching the inner glass when cleaning it or closing the door.

On this oven there is a narrow strip of about 1cm around the door seal which doesn't get hot enough to self clean - wouldn't be a problem but they are adamant that you must not clean the door seal itself. Catch-22?

Otherwise, brilliant. Though every time I run a cleaning cycle I am always suspicious that the inner glass may crack due to the temperature... Easily (user) replaceable though, if it does.

Lee

[Mike Clarke]

500C

Sounds similar to our existing catalytic linings. The handbook recommends periodically heating it up to maximum (275C) for 30 minutes, though the linings seem to keep clean with just normal use.

It appears that you have to remove the shelves before starting the cleaning cycle with a pyrolytic oven so I'm wondering if they offer any advantage over catalytics - the floor of our oven is the only bit that that would need wiping compared to a pyrolytic.

[Jon Connell]

That depends upon whether you roast fatty food openly in the oven. The roof of the oven can get covered in fat deposits that smoke like crazy.