What do I have to do to clean an electric oven after I have sprayed it with a fire extinguisher, one that sprays the white powder?
If I miss any of it and gets in my food, is it poisonous?
It's a "continous cleaning" oven, that has some sort of porous coating that absorbs grease and brings it graduatly to the surface to burn off.
I forgot and left the electric broiler element on, and it seeems to get so much hotter when it is empty, or almost, and what little food was in there caught on fire, plus the grease in the bottom of the broiler pan.
I'd start off with a general purpose cleaner like Fantastic or Simple Green. To my knowledge, there is nothing that will harm you if you miss some of the powder.
I think you'd be best off asking the folks who built it. I'd bet there is more than one surface treatment out there. [have your model number & serial number ready]
That would be a question for the folks who made the extinguisher. . . have model number and serial number ready.
Because it was there- on fire- and he had a fire extinguisher in his hand?
That was what my son said to explain the 'toaster oven disaster' a few years ago. He's about as calm as they come-- but his sister caught her toast on fire- grabbed the kitchen extinguisher- and froze. She screamed for her brother- who ran from upstairs into a smoke filled kitchen. She handed him the extinguisher. . . he pulled the pin and sprayed. Then he came to his senses and grabbed the oven with a couple pot-holders and tossed it outside.
Probably the OP could have gotten away with just removing the broiler pan from the house-- or throwing some salt on the fire. But as it turns out, little was lost- and much might have been gained.
I've done something like that in the past, but the fire was bigger this time and there were other differences. I think it would have been dangerous to try to carry this to the door.
If it werent' for this continuous cleaning feature, there would be little inconvenience from the extinguisher, but I'm not even allowed to rub the surface of the oven or it damages the finish.
I've emailed whirlpool as someone suggested.
Right now I'm thinking vacuum cleaner, with the lamp shade attachment, the only thing that won't touch the surface with more than a light, glancing.
What's likely to happen, I think, is I will damage the surface in some places leaving it just fine in most places. If I damaged it everywhere, I'd just go back to the 50's and use Easy-Off or something periodically, but if it's half-and-half, I won't want to ruin the half that is good.
I've googled and the powder in an ABC extinguisher isnt' dangerous, though I don't think that item included eating it, if some were to fall on to food. I'll have to look more about that.
This time the fire went on longer before I noticed it and it got hotter, and the gasket on the outside around the windown bulged and broke. Do you think I will have a hard time getting or putting in a replacment gasket? I think the window is a common size. There is an inside window too, I think, so the kitchen doesn't get too hot.
The gasket around the door might have been damaged too.
One of my cousins threw a glass of water on a burning meat on the range top. In a fry pan. Aparently, the flames went down between the range and the cabinets and burned themselves out. He was lucky.
I guess the OP could have thrown flour on the fire?
There are two common fire extinguisher powders in household units. One is glorified baking soda, the other is mono ammonium phosphate. The baking soda should come off with warm water, the other I'm less sure about.
As others have suggested, calling the manufacturer is a good idea. Very sad to hear you had an oven fire. Sounds like you saved the house, and wife and kids.
Tough call-- but I'd be considering replacing the stove. Your insulation is likely shot- and there may be a bare wire in there wanting to spark what's left.
Homeowners insurance might cover it--- but you might be better off just biting the bullet and doing it on your own.
How old is the stove? Can you make yourself hate it & make this a 'good' thing.
Very Good points about the insulation and possible bare wire. I've been avoiding looking at the stove. I'll look at the wires for bare wires, and check temperatures at the sides and front to see if they are hot. The back is an inch from the wall. I guess that is close enough I have to check that out too.
I thought that would come up eventually. It's 30 years old, but if I replace it, I have to replace the matching harvest gold refrigerator too. A) I wanted to not spend the money. B) I wanted to see how long I could last on the original applicances. I can be almost obsessesd with that sort of thing.
The dishwasher is also harvest gold but it has one or two other panels in it for 3 or 5 more colors. I can probably get a sheet of stainless steel if I have to to match that if that is what I have to buy, but I don't want stainless steel. I want what I have. I always do.
I even replaced the kitchen counter with someothing that picked up the harvest gold color, but it will look good or okay with other things too.
I've even considered no more broiling or baking just so I can keep the same stove, but I coudln't keep such a pledge for too long. .
A few months ago I googled to buy a harvest gold stove or fridge and I found one but it was far away. No stove today. :( I did find a very recent post by some girl who bought a house 4 years ago with a harvest gold fridge that is working fine.
Maybe I need to look for used appliance stores around here.
I can live without an oven for a little while. I have a big electric rotisserie/ griddle in the basement that I can put on top of the stove maybe. And my old table-top electric broiler that I used for years before I moved here.
I wish I weren't obsessive, on stuff like this.
Thanks for all the help. There's still a chance this one can be vacuumed and/or reduced to a regular oven, not self or coninuous cleaning. My ex girl friend has one like that (but she rarely makes meat.)
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