cleaning the cooker

Aug 04, 2018 49 Replies

Are you saying that that is a very fundamental design flaw and that the only viable approach is to clean the enamel top after every use or so for cooking so the fat doesn’t bet baked on ?

Have you tried conc nitric acid ? That should get it off, but isn't that easy to get.

For badly burned on food in pans I use an abrasive brush in my drill. It is slightly abrasive, it may scratch the enamel. Very quick and effective with the pan.

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There are also angle grinder versions
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Many years ago, I heard this terrible loud hissing and gurgling from a few houses away. It was, apparently somebody who took their old trusty cooker outside and powerwashed it. I know nothing about the type of cooker you are talking about but for a start what were the owners thinking not cleaning it for so long, and secondly can it be dismantled and the bits power washed out in the garden a bit at a time? Brian

Yes.

what does that do9 to carbon?

Molten potassium nitrate works even better.

That's okay with gas cookers, not so wise for electric ones in case the water gets in the electrics, and definately not recommended for Agas as they're filled with insulation which would get waterlogged.

Owain

Probably.

If you don't have a live-in kitchenmaid or tweeny who can do it at 5 am every morning, the daily woman 'for the rough' may be entrusted with this work under supervision.

Those, on the other hand, for whom domestic arrangements have moved on since 1939, and who would like to reduce their energy consumption to approx 1/32 of an Aga, will have bought a cooker that can be turned on and off, and wiped clean with a damp cloth.

A local 'boutique' charity shop has one as a display piece.

Owain

Bearing im mind the weight of an AGA, I can't imagine anyone "taking it outside to wash".

Every part of an electric oven can be wet washed as long as it's thoroughly dried before reconnection, except motor bearings.

NT

No, it doesn't. Even fuming nitric doesn't.

Yes it does with boiling conc nitric.

There are limits to what I'll use as a cleaning chemical. Boiling strong fuming acids are a good 2 steps beyond that point.

NT

:-)

Or even a combi microwave oven for less adventurous meals.

But there isnt anything else except molten potassium nitrate that will get that carbon off without damaging the enamel.

Despite not knowing enough I'm not entirely convinced. Carbonised stuff comes off the enamel hob here ok. How well is this carbon bonded? Why would nutshells not work?

NT

Possibly oxy acetylene will.

I have had some success with mechanical abrasives and then t-cutting the enamel back.

BUT the general consensus is after 20 years get the top re-enamelled for a couple of grand.

There is a definite market for something like a plumbres mat that fits round an aga ring to catch all the splatters..

Ther is a common misconception that an aga is a cooker.

It is not.

It is baseload central heating. A 2 oven is about 700W and a 4 oven about 900W of kitchen heating, pet drying, and so on.

You CAN cook on it, or preferably *in* it, but that is not where agas are at.

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