Cleaning an oven can be challenging. It’s physically hard because of the uncomfortable position you need to be in while scrubbing the grease and filth out of the oven. As a solution, many manufacturers added a self-cleaning feature to their ovens. However, this technology has consumers divided. In this article, we will explain how to clean a self-cleaning oven without using the self-cleaning function.
Why Not Automatically Clean a Self-Cleaning Oven?
There are multiple types of self-cleaning ovens. The most common and most effective variant heats the oven to 800F for about 3–5 hours during the self-cleaning cycle. As a result, all the grease and filth are burnt to ashes and separated from the inner parts of the oven. Afterward, the oven can be wiped out to remove the ashes and the oven is as new.
Reasons not to use the self-cleaning function:
- Air pollution in the kitchen
- Damage to the heating element
- Problems with the wiring
- Risk of fire
- Shorter lifespan of the oven
On the other hand, aside from the air pollution, these failures rarely happen and there are plenty of users who love the feature. It depends on the model, the user, and how well it was installed. If you want to know more you can read up here.
Clean a Self-Cleaning Oven Manually
Requirements:
- Baking soda
- Dish soap
- Water
- Cloth
- Abrasive Sponge
- Scraper
Time to Complete:
1-3 hours*
*It depends on how filthy the oven is. For instance, the example oven in the images took about 3 hours to clean.
Preparing To Clean a Self-Cleaning Oven
Before we start cleaning, we make sure the oven is cool and turned off.
Nerdy Tip
Your oven door may be removable. If this is the case, please remove the door now for your convenience.
Look for handles on the hinges of the door or check the manual.
Remove the racks from the oven, and let them soak in hot water with dish soap. The bathtub is suitable for this, otherwise, you can use the sink or a bucket. If it doesn’t fit entirely you can put it in vertically and flip it halfway through.
If there is a lot of loose debris in the bottom of the oven you can run the vacuum through it.
Scrub With Baking Soda
First, create a baking soda paste and apply it on the inside on the oven and the oven door. Next, use a cloth to scrub the entire oven and the oven door with this. While doing so, avoid the heating elements as much as possible.
Once you’re finished, you can remove the baking soda with some warm water with dish soap, and a cloth. At this point the oven does not need to be perfectly clean yet, so don’t worry about any remaining burnt black spots.
Scrape Black Stains Off
The bottom is the hardest to clean in most ovens. Unfortunately, this is not different when you clean a self-cleaning oven. Food dropped on the bottom often gets burnt in, making it difficult to remove.
Some food types are notorious for making a mess of the oven, like panini’s.
You’re better off using one of our recommended panini presses.
Consequently, the bottom of your oven may still have some black spots on it. A scraper will work wonders here. Carefully scrape the black spots off and make sure not to scratch the oven itself.
If the scraper doesn’t fully get the job done immediately, you may want to repeat steps 2 and 3.
Clean the Oven Racks
Finally, we return to the oven racks that were left to soak from the beginning. The grease on the racks should now come off easily if we rub it with a cloth or sponge.
Still, some parts may put up a fight. This can be easily overcome with some wire wool.
Final Cleaning
Afterward, it may be a mess outside the oven. Clean any debris on the floor in front of the oven with a vacuum. Subsequently, clean the outside of the oven with a wet cloth and perhaps wipe the floor in front of the oven too. Now, the self-cleaning oven is squicky clean again.
Conclusion
Cleaning a self-cleaning oven is hard work that often gets postponed. A self-cleaning oven may be convenient, but it is not the solution for everyone. Therefore, we laid out the steps to clean a self-cleaning oven without the self-cleaning function. After following this guide you now know how to avoid the self-cleaning function. We hope you enjoy your fresh, clean oven!
