I just cleaned my oven for the first time in 11 years. (Don’t judge me!) I had to take the racks out first, lest the high self-cleaning temperatures melt them. This tells me that the racks are made of a different material from the oven walls.
I’ve been scrubbing the first rack with #3 steel wool off and on for three days now. It’s pretty much clean, but places near where two bars intersect are hard to get into.
Will commercial oven cleaners (e.g., Easy-Off) work on the racks, or are they only effective on oven walls?
If you leave the racks in the oven for a cleaning cycle they will *not *melt. However, they are indeed made of a different material than the oven and it will probably discolor the surface of the racks and they will not slide and and out as easily, so you may still want to take them out for cleaning.
You may also consider a grease solvent like Simple Green, although it won’t be magic. And frankly, if you went for 11 years without cleaning them, having them spiffed up except for a little residue in the corners should still be a huge improvement.
A couple of times a year, I get an oven cleaner that has a large plastic bag. I put the racks inside with the liquid and leave it all day - every so often I work it around and turn it upside down.
When that is done, wearing a good pair of gloves (that stuff burns) I take the racks out onto the patio and rinse them off with the hose. That done, I take an old toothbrush and set to work on the welded joins.
My racks are high quality and chromium plated so they can stand the treatment. YMMBD.
Thanks for the link.
You can do similar w/ any ‘cold’ oven cleaner and lawn / yard trash bags - I once cleaned a V8 engine block that way.
I used a brass bristle brush - like an industrial toothbrush.
Says who? Did you get that from the manual from the oven manufacturer? That would surprise me very much. I’ve done the self-clean many times in various different ovens over the decades, and I’ve always left the racks in, and they have never melted.
Some discoloration IS possible (as CookingWithGas posted) but I would consider it minor. Instead of the even and consistent mirror-like silver, it can get a rainbow effect, similar to a bit of oil on a puddle of water. No big deal.
As mentioned above, I leave my racks in the oven during the self-clean cycle. Yeah, they are a bit discolored, but clean. I rub the edges with a sheet of wax paper after every cleaning, and they slide in and out very smoothly.
My oven instructed me to remove the racks when I run the self-clean cycle, and I ignore it. They have been through that cycle several times now, and I haven’t noticed any problems. Maybe they aren’t shiny new, but you know what, they weren’t shiny new BEFORE they were cleaned, either, they were covered with burned on grease splatters.
I slide them in and out and adjust the location of the racks all the time. They work fine, as far as I can tell.
Well … umm … They’re silver-colored. So I guess they could be aluminum. Or maybe stainless steel. Probably not silver, though.
True. But I really want to impress my wife when she gets home from her trip.
Yes, I did. I know it said to take the racks out; I think it said because they would melt. But I haven’t seen the manual in six or seven years, so I can’t be sure. puzzlegal and Orwell: Thank you. I wish I’d known that earlier. Oh well — next time!
I’m off to search the paint closet for my brass brush.
Eh, mine says to take them out. The manual of my prior stove also said to take them out. I never have. I used to worry the tracks would get weak at the joints and fall apart, but I haven’t noticed a problem, and have stopped worrying about it.
The usual problem with oven racks is that the high heat of the self-cleaning cycle can cause them to warp, which makes them hard to slide in and out afterwards. They may be the same material as the walls, but they are thinner and not held in place like the walls are. The racks could also be discolored by the heat, but that is usually a minor concern to most people.
The black on the rack is carbon, those oven cleaner stuff really struggle to dissolve it.
That is why there is a clean cycle… the clean cycle is very high temperature (higher than for cooking), to burn the carbon away. C + O2 -> CO2… no residue from the combustion. (mostly, obviously in food there’s some minerals which form an ash. )
The rack pretty much has to be steel for strength. The jointed thin steel bars are chrome plated. The chrome plate discolours with high heat . its also discoloured ( removed) by excess scrubbing, so the removal of the carbon can always the aged look …