I never used it. I've read online that using self-clean may cause the oven's glass to break. There seems to be a lot of people complaining about this issue. So I never used it. Besides, I don't really know when I should use it. ;D
I never used it. I've read online that using self-clean may cause the oven's glass to break. There seems to be a lot of people complaining about this issue. So I never used it. Besides, I don't really know when I should use it. ;D
If the glass breaks, that's on the manufacturer, not the user/consumer.
I probably use it twice a year or so. Usually we line the bottom of the oven with tin foil, so I just change that out and don't need to self-clean. But if we are lazy and skip the foil, then we run it perhaps every 5 months or so.
I can't imagine not using it. It's great.
(NOTE: do not line the bottom of your oven with tin foil if you have a gas oven)
I never used it. I've read online that using self-clean may cause the oven's glass to break. There seems to be a lot of people complaining about this issue. So I never used it. Besides, I don't really know when I should use it. ;D
If the glass breaks, that's on the manufacturer, not the user/consumer.
I've never heard of this happening.
I've seen the complain online at some kitchen forum. They are actually recommending everyone to do a self-clean on brand new ovens to make sure it's good. I'm afraid to do it but I guess I should.
I tried it once after a Le Cruset pan had broken in my stove and caused chicken grease to fly everywhere. My whole kitchen was filled with smoke and the smell was awful. It didn't really help and the grease and dried food was still there. I never tried it again.
It superheats your oven, so I suppose the glass is dealing with much higher-than-normal temperatures, but if the oven has a self-cleaning feature then the glass should be designed to handle it. I'd definitely file a warranty claim if that happened.
I have used it with very good results. Sadly, our current oven does not have self-cleaning.
Post by biscoffcookies on Oct 4, 2012 10:10:22 GMT -5
I tried it once, but it caused my whole house to get filled with smoke (this was when I lived in a high-rise apartment with windows that did not open). This was years ago. I haven't tried again, even though I now live in a new place with windows that open -- perhaps I will give it a shot when we are moving out and need to clean the place up.
Post by thatgirl2478 on Oct 4, 2012 10:11:46 GMT -5
yeah, once a year, usually in Jan/Feb because it's after the holiday baking spree and it's still cold enough not to mind having the oven on that hot for a long time.
(NOTE: do not line the bottom of your oven with tin foil if you have a gas oven)
Why?
I've never had a gas oven, but I read that the heat comes thru vents at the bottom, so you shouldn't line it b/c you would be blocking the air/gas/heat flow. In an electric oven, you can line the bottom b/c the foil is underneath the bottom burner coil.
We did it on a nice day, had every single window open, and the house was unbearable. The whole bottom floor was too hot, and the entire house smelled terrible. A lot of ovens have some chemicals or Teflon in the lining, and the superheating is a nasty combination with them. It did clean the oven, but I'd do it on day when we can be out of the house pretty much all day.
I love the self-cleaning feature. It reduces everything into a pile of ash in the bottom of the oven.
However, it does stink, but I don't find it horrible if I crack some windows. It also really heats up the kitchen. Our stove gets hot to the touch. Also, I left a really nice, expensive cookie sheet in the oven once, and DH, being Mr. Clean, thought he would clean the oven. It did some heavy duty damage to the cookie sheet, so no foil in our oven while it's cleaning.
I probably use it twice a year or so. Usually we line the bottom of the oven with tin foil, so I just change that out and don't need to self-clean. But if we are lazy and skip the foil, then we run it perhaps every 5 months or so.
I can't imagine not using it. It's great.
(NOTE: do not line the bottom of your oven with tin foil if you have a gas oven)
If you have a bottom heating element, DO NOT DO THIS! I did it and the foil melted to the enamel at the bottom of the oven.
You do have to 'clean' it after a self clean which is just cleaning all the ash up but that's like a five minute job as opposed to two hour scrub with nasty chemicals.
We have 3 levels of self-cleaning, depending on how dirty the oven is, 2 hrs, 3,hrs & 4, hrs & . I've found the 2 hour one is fine regardless of how dirty it is. I do it once a year after all the christmas cooking is done.
I open the window closest to the oven and that seems to take care of the smell.
We run it probably every 6 months? It looks sparkly clean when we're done. There's usually just a small amount of dust inside laying on the bottom that needs to be wiped out.
The first time we ever used the self clean feature, we were all "omg, it's magic!"
I've used it once in the 3.5 years we've been in the house. It seemed to work pretty well. But I'll fully admit that I never clean the oven, so any result is better than nothing. My standard is likely a lot lower than yours.