How do self cleaning ovens work: Basic Instructions for Self-cleaning Ovens

In this article, we will share a valuable information that will help to boost your confidence when using self cleaning ovens. The question – How do self cleaning ovens work? is actually one that bothers a lot of people. While many are nervous about using the self-cleaning feature because of the extreme heat. Others never dare to try.

Actually, this should be a home-keeper’s dream come true: an oven that actually cleans itself! In practice, this function—developed in the early 1960s for both gas and electric ovens—can be confusing, even controversial. The term is actually something of a misnomer, too, because there will always be some manual cleaning involved. What’s more, the function is by no means intended to replace a hands-on cleaning routine.

How do self cleaning ovens work

The self-cleaning feature works by blowing either high heat or steam into the interior of the oven to loosen hardened food debris – and in the case of high-temperature ovens, burn it off. This saves the time and effort of getting down on your knees to remove stubborn grime with a scrubber, and also eliminates the need for expensive, chemical-laden commercial cleaners. Simply start a self-cleaning cycle and let it work. When the cycle is complete, use a cloth dampened with water to manually remove loosened soils from the oven’s smooth, heat-resistant enamel coating.

• On high heat models, the self-clean cycle is usually initiated by closing the oven door and setting the oven to a “self-clean” mode. In most modern ovens, the oven door automatically locks and the temperature rises to 800 to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit to burn off all food debris in a cycle of two to six hours. Once the cycle is complete and the oven is fully cooled, the door is automatically unlocked.
• The self-cleaning cycle of a steam-based model is typically initiated by pouring about a cup of distilled water into the bottom of the oven, then closing the door and setting the oven to steam cleaning mode. During the cycle, which lasts half an hour to an hour, the oven door remains unlocked and the internal temperature rises to about 250 degrees Fahrenheit, hot enough to produce steam that softens and loosens food debris.