According to the NFPA, approximately 16% of home fires are caused by ovens each year? And is the cause for 4% of home fire deaths? During the fall and winter months we tend to use our ovens more by cooking delicious Thanksgiving dinner and holiday cookies. Before the holidays arrive, take time to give your oven a deep cleaning.
It is recommended that an oven is cleaned every three months to remove grease, fat, and food scrapes left behind from cooking. If not removed, the build-up of these can cause smoke or even catch fire.
But before you press that self-clean or steam-clean button on your oven, make sure you take the necessary precautions for these features and understand how they work. Also, if you decide to use this method of cleaning your oven, make sure you do it now and not the week before or week of cooking a big holiday dinner. These clean cycles can be hard on the components of the oven and may require repairs.
The “self-clean” feature uses high temperatures to burn food residue, leaving behind ash at the bottom of the oven that is wiped away once the oven cools. When we say high temperatures, we are not kidding. Your oven can reach temperatures as high as 900 to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit during the cleaning cycle. In addition, an especially dirty oven will cause a larger amount of smelly smoke and dangerous fumes. A by-product of burning residue is carbon monoxide, a toxic gas. Proper ventilation of the room (opening windows, use of vent fans) will reduce the threat of this by-product along with removing the larger food scrapes that may be in your oven before starting the clean cycle.
he steam-clean function is similar to self-clean but produces less fumes and smoke since it uses water to steam the residue off the oven cavity at a much lower temperature. Distilled water is poured in the bottom of the oven and heated to approximately 250 degrees Fahrenheit. When the oven cools, you then wipe away the water and debris that collects at the bottom.
Always read the owner’s manual for your oven whether you choose to use one of the clean cycle features or manually clean your oven.
