Cleaning Options for Your Gas, Electric or Dual Fuel Range Despite our best efforts, all of us have experienced an inevitable spill-over in the oven at one point or another. Whether it's cheese melting off your pizza, or a cobbler oozing over the baking dish, spills inside the oven leave a mess! When shopping for a new range, it's important to understand the options that are available for cleaning. Here are a few of the cleaning options available in GE ranges. The self-clean cycle is a time-saving convenience feature. The oven is cleaned by heat, at temperatures above normal cooking temperatures. During the cleaning cycle the oven is heated to about 880 degrees Fahrenheit (471° C.). At this temperature, food soils inside the oven decompose, leaving behind a small amount of ash. The leftover ash is similar to cigarette ashes, and wipes out easily with a wet cloth. The cycle takes from one and a half hours to three hours, depending upon the amount of soil. A slight odor may be detected the first few times the oven is cleaned.

No commercial oven cleaner or oven liner of any kind should be used in or around any part the of the self-clean oven. Do not use pieces of aluminum foil to catch spillovers. Depending on your oven model, the pans and racks may need to be removed. As a general rule, you may leave self clean racks in your oven, but you must remove stainless steel racks. Self-Clean Ovens with Steam Avoid the time and door locking required for conventional self-clean ovens. Steam Clean allows for quick cleaning of minor food spills at temperatures lower than the standard self-clean feature. Simply pour 1 cup of water into the bottom of a cool oven. Close the door and select Steam Clean. The cycle lasts about 30 minutes, and loosens and softens the grime in the oven. Once the cycle is complete, wipe out the moisture and food soils with a soft cloth. Because Steam Clean uses a lower temperature, the oven door does not automatically lock, like it does in Self-Clean mode. Steam Clean does not involve chemicals, so pans and racks can remain in the oven during cleaning.

In the event there is a difficult to remove spill or the spill is baked on multiple times, a cleaner made for use in ovens may be used. Be sure to follow the instructions on the product label. GE recommends Bar Keepers Friend or a solution of vinegar and baking soda. Care should be taken to remove these cleaners prior to range use. You may also clean your range by using the ammonia method described below for manual clean ranges. Self-Cleaning Ranges with Steam Clean Manual Clean ovens do not have self-clean or steam clean features, and require cleaning by hand. Frequent wiping with mild soap and water (particularly after cooking meat) will prolong the time between major cleanings. For light food soils, soap, water and a scouring pad should be all that is needed. Tougher soils might require a commercial oven cleaner made for use in a standard clean oven. Be sure to follow the instructions on the product label.The job of cleaning a standard clean oven can be made easier by using household ammonia.

Place 1/2 cup in a shallow glass or pottery container in a cold oven overnight. The ammonia fumes will help loosen the burned-on grease and food. Caution: Do not turn oven on while ammonia is inside. Can I Clean My Oven with a Handheld Steam Cleaner? Housekeeping & Cleaning Tools Product & Shopping Questions (Image credit: Apartment Therapy) Q: I recently saw mention of using a handheld steam cleaner as a potential way to clean an oven. I'm wondering if this really works — has anyone ever tried this with a grimy gas oven? Prom Dress Flower CrownWhat were the results?Where Can I Buy Mirror Garland Editor: Readers, have you ever used a steam cleaner to clean your oven? Window Cleaning Price UtahHow did it work for you?

It seems like your oven is always in need of a good cleaning. Maybe that pizza you made last week dripped melted cheese all over the bottom of the cavity (who are you kidding—it was worth it!), or maybe you've just built up a visible layer of burnt-on food residue over time. Or perhaps your smoke detector sounds whenever you roast a simple pan of potatoes—an indication that scum in your oven is burning and smoking. Whatever the reason, ovens tend to get filthy—and no one likes to spend a few hours on their hands and knees scrubbing burnt tomato sauce off their oven's grimy interior. But here's the good news: Many ovens have a self-clean option that can severely cut down on all that elbow grease. If this sounds good to you, read on to learn more about the different types of self-cleaning ovens and how they work. That's right—now we're really cooking. (You get the idea.) Pyrolytic is the most common type of self-clean cycle—so common, in fact, that it's often considered synonymous with the term "self-clean."

Running a pyrolytic self-clean cycle can make your kitchen hot and smelly, but it's also simple and effective. Pyrolytic self-clean cycles are the most common, and are often considered synonymous with the phrase "self-clean," as demonstrated by the Electrolux EI30EF45QS range's control panel. So how does it work? The details differ from oven to oven, but the process is usually the same. When you select this cycle, the oven door will lock, and the heat will rise in the cavity until it reaches a scalding temperature somewhere in the realm of 800°F to 1,000°F. This means that the melted cheese from your pizza-making misadventures doesn't stand a chance. Like any other food debris, the extreme heat will cause it to carbonize and turn to ash. When the cycle is over a few hours later, you'll be able to wipe up the ash with a damp cloth. Generally, the walls of an oven equipped with pyrolytic self-clean are covered in a smooth enamel coating that makes it easier to perform this last step.

Sometimes the oven racks are also coated, but these should probably be removed from the cavity before running the self-clean cycle. If you do have coated racks meant to remain inside the oven during cleaning, the owner's manual will let you know. After you run a pyrolytic self-clean cycle, wipe up the resulting ash with a sponge or cloth (but skip the soap, unless manufacturer instructions advise otherwise). Fans of the pyrolytic self-clean cycle will tell you how effective it is, but no one can deny the fact that it often results in an unpleasant smell. Be sure to crack a window and move any pet birds out of the oven's vicinity, as the fumes can prove toxic to your winged friends. It's also worth noting that this type of self-clean cycle draws a lot of energy, but ovens with pyrolytic self-clean cycles tend to be well insulated, which can result in energy savings over time. If you'd prefer a self-clean cycle that's a little gentler than pyrolytic, a steam clean cycle may be right up your alley.

It tends to be quite a bit faster than the pyrolytic cycle—usually no more than an hour—and doesn't require such high levels of heat. It also doesn't release the noxious fumes typically emitted by a pyrolytic self-clean cycle. If your oven has a steam clean cycle, the owner's manual will instruct you to pour a certain amount of water onto the bottom of the oven before the cleaning begins. This water will turn to steam as the oven heats up, rising to encounter the oven walls, which are coated with a special enamel. The enamel releases grime when it encounters low heat and moisture, making it easy to wipe away at the end of the cycle. Steam clean cycles work best for smaller messes. The tradeoff with steam clean is that the gentler heat, energy use, and time requirements go hand-in-hand with a gentler clean—which is to say, steam clean cycles are generally less effective than pyrolytic. They're best used immediately after a spill occurs, or as a maintenance activity rather than an occasional intensive cleaning cycle.

If you have a Whirlpool or Maytag range, there's a chance your oven offers Whirlpool's nifty upgrade to standard self-clean functions: AquaLift self-clean technology. This cleaning option entails a proprietary coating that releases debris when activated by heat and water. To use it, you simply pour water into the bottom of the cavity and run the 40-minute clean cycle. At the end of the cycle, you can wipe away all that loosened grime with a cloth or sponge. The Whirlpool WFG720H0AS has AquaLift, which means the clean cycle will take less than an hour. Unlike standard pyrolytic clean cycles, AquaLift technology means your clean cycle takes less than an hour, heats to just 200°F, and won't stink up your kitchen. Got a large-capacity LG oven? Then you may already have LG's EasyClean feature at your fingertips. This allows you to spray the oven's interior with water and then run a mere 20-minute EasyClean cycle. The oven is coated in a special enamel that is supposedly more effective at separating from baked-on food, allowing for the shorter cycle.