# Self-Cleaning Oven? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 4, 2012, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-cleaning-oven/608387 "2012-01-04T16:26:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-cleaning-oven/608387/41 "2012-01-04T21:32:24Z")
Well, I’ve used oven cleaner on a self-cleaning oven and nothing untoward happened. So take that as you will. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-cleaning-oven/608387/42 "2012-01-04T21:33:49Z")
OK, all done. Nothing but some white ash and two bits of tin foil in the oven. Oddly a big greasy smear on the glass window seems to have somehow escaped being baked away. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-cleaning-oven/608387/43 "2012-01-04T21:34:51Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > As for oven cleaners on a self-cleaning oven: I personally look at the price of a can of Easy-Off as three or four bucks. And I look at the price of a self-cleaning oven: a grand give or take a couple hundred. Which advice would I follow? Easy-Off is a highly caustic, very dangerous chemical, and after being sprayed on, requires elbow-grease-off to do any work. Fumes should not be inhaled. Gloves should be used. Time is required. Contrast that to flipping a switch and going to bed while the oven does (most of) the work. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-cleaning-oven/608387/44 "2012-01-04T22:00:25Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Easy-Off is a highly caustic, very dangerous chemical, and after being sprayed on, requires elbow-grease-off to do any work. Fumes should not be inhaled. Gloves should be used. Time is required. > > Contrast that to flipping a switch and going to bed while the oven does (most of) the work. Use Easy-Off on a cold oven before retiring for the night. Wiping the oven clean the next morning (with gloves on, of course) requires no or little elbow grease. ---
**Author:** ![Kyrie\_Eleison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kyrie_eleison/32/7682_2.png) [@Kyrie\_Eleison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyrie_Eleison)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-cleaning-oven/608387/45 "2012-01-05T01:29:02Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Here’s a sticky post at the top of an appliance repair board I go to for help from time to time… > From [here](http://appliantology.org/topic/10528-do-not-run-oven-self-clean-cycle-this-close-to-holiday/page __hl__ self%20cleaning%20holiday __st__ 20). The quoting of your post removed a lot of the valuable content, but the gist is this – do not use the self-cleaning function of your oven immediately before an occasion on which you will depend on it for preparing food for numerous guests. This is very good advice, which I also unfortunately recently received from an appliance repairman – the day before Thanksgiving. Do you have any idea how hard it is to arrange for appliance service at the time of a holiday? ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-cleaning-oven/608387/46 "2012-01-05T02:06:04Z")
OK, according to various posts above: Teflon: No Iron grill grates: Yes Cast iron cookware: Yes My manual says don’t put cookware in during the cleaning cycle because it will damage the cookware. Apparently you have had conflicting experience. What can I put in there? How about my Calphalon anodized aluminum? Broiler pan? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-cleaning-oven/608387/47 "2012-01-05T02:34:27Z")
> [@Kyrie\_Eleison](#): > > The quoting of your post removed a lot of the valuable content, but the gist is this – do not use the self-cleaning function of your oven immediately before an occasion on which you will depend on it for preparing food for numerous guests. This is very good advice, which I also unfortunately recently received from an appliance repairman – the day before Thanksgiving. Do you have any idea how hard it is to arrange for appliance service at the time of a holiday? If you click on the link it’ll take you to the thread where that post came from. Several of the posters in that thread are appliance repair people. One of them said he keeps extra people on call that day just to run around and get food out of ovens that have doors locked shut due to faulty self cleaning cycles…I assume he meant that they had just run a self cleaning cycle the night before and something wonky happened that caused it to relock on it’s own the next time they used it. One person mentioned that it’s not only the incredibly high heat that can cause damage it’s just that the circuity/mechanics that are used during a self-clean cycle are used so rarely that if they’re broken you won’t know it until it’s too late. So if, for example, the latch is gummed up and won’t release, it may have been like that for the last two years, but you didn’t realize it until December 24th and now you have to find someone that can come out on Christmas morning. ---
**Author:** ![Kyrie\_Eleison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kyrie_eleison/32/7682_2.png) [@Kyrie\_Eleison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyrie_Eleison)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-cleaning-oven/608387/48 "2012-01-05T02:51:43Z")
In my case, a couple of days before Thanksgiving, I decided to clean the oven. I did so shortly after getting home from work, and before I went to bed, noticed that the door had still not unlatched. I figured that the oven was just still not cool enough to trigger the unlock and went to bed. So, the day before Thanksgiving, I got up and discovered that the door had still not unlocked. Since we had the whole family scheduled to come over expecting a feast the next day, I took an unexpected day off work calling appliance repair companies trying to find someone who could come look at it. It took calling many companies, and waiting for many callbacks before finding someone who would. And then, of course, I had to wait around the house for them to show up. I did google the situation, and try all of the common recommendations. Re-run the self-cleaning cycle; reset the oven’s power, etc. I considered trying to take the door off myself to disable the lock-out mechanism, but some of the stuff I saw when I researched it suggested that it was pretty easy to permanently screw up the oven by doing so, so I chickened out. After seeing what the repairman did, I regret not just disassembling the door myself, but on the other hand, it was worth paying the repair fee not to get blamed for ruining Thanksgiving if I had screwed it up. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-cleaning-oven/608387/49 "2012-01-05T18:16:18Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > OK, all done. Nothing but some white ash and two bits of tin foil in the oven. Oddly a big greasy smear on the glass window seems to have somehow escaped being baked away. Since the window isn’t insulated as well as the walls of the oven, it doesn’t get hot enough to burn everything to ash. My oven manual specifically recommends cleaning the glass by hand before running a cleaning cycle for that reason. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-cleaning-oven/608387/50 "2012-01-05T18:27:28Z")
> [@barbitu8](#): > > Use Easy-Off on a cold oven before retiring for the night. Wiping the oven clean the next morning (with gloves on, of course) requires no or little elbow grease. Or use a paste of baking soda and water the same way, except no gloves required. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/self-cleaning-oven/608387.md?page=2)