Self cleaning oven?

[Faevantastic]

My oven needs to be cleaned... BADLY. The self cleaning button is very tempting but I've never used this feature before. Will my oven just miraculously clean itself? Sounds too good to be true. Tell me what I should know if you've done this before.

[lolaburns]

It scares the shit out of me. I've done it before, then I read about my oven model locking up during the process never to open again so I didn't ever attempt it. I clean it with hot water and dish soap and rinse.

[mala]

If my understanding is correct the self clean locks the oven door and heats to like 500* or something which burns off all food at the bottom of the oven which you just scrape/brush out. But I've also never used the clean button so I'm not speaking from experience.

[hass2001]

I've always wondered this. I imagine a dishwasher type situation but I know that is not the case

[kandrze1]

I've only done it once and it was when we were moving out of our last apartment. What mala said is pretty much what it does, but it reeks. It smelled really strongly of chemicals in our apartment while it was self-cleaning. I had to open all the windows to let some air in. I haven't tried it on our new oven in a house yet.

[mala]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-cleaning_oven

[creamsiclechica]

Mine just heats up beyond the normal temperature for a long time (I think it sets it for 4 hours) and bakes off all of the stuff. Whatever it leaves behind, you can just wipe out. Mine doesn't use any chemicals, and I use it a bunch!

[rjamz]

Jan 11, 2013 18:08:15 GMT -5 creamsiclechica said:

Mine just heats up beyond the normal temperature for a long time (I think it sets it for 4 hours) and bakes off all of the stuff. Whatever it leaves behind, you can just wipe out. Mine doesn't use any chemicals, and I use it a bunch!

Same here

[vthokie]

Self cleaning is great. It smells, but so do those gross oven cleaners. Take the racks out when you do it though. It ruins them if you leave them in

[Faevantastic]

Ok. I'm gonna brave it and try on Sunday (I'm desperate). The weather is mild this weekend so maybe I can open the windows. Thanks for all the input.

[dojo]

Don't leave your racks in the oven, they're not meant for those temps. Keep the vent on high the entire time and if you have any small pets, remove them from the immediate area.

[Faevantastic]

So what you're saying is my 5lb yorkie would get cooked if I don't block him off the area? ;D

[Deleted]

True story- one christmas my dh's grandmother smoked us out of her apartment and the "party room" using the self-cleaning ovens.

[mamasaurus]

Jan 11, 2013 17:55:36 GMT -5 mala said:

If my understanding is correct the self clean locks the oven door and heats to like 500* or something which burns off all food at the bottom of the oven which you just scrape/brush out. But I've also never used the clean button so I'm not speaking from experience.

Yes. It is a smelly process.

[muppetinma]

We leave our grates in and they do fine. We also do this every spring and put our grill grates in it. It cleans them off like nothing else. Once the oven is cooled down, we vacuum out the soot left behind. Clean oven. Clean grill. Happy Emily

[punkyjulster]

I used Oven Off fume free cleaner when we moved last month. It didn't smell bad and the yucky stuff just wiped off. I tried the self cleaning thing once on a different oven and it was a stinking mess.