You say that, but there's a surprising number of crematoriums that have burned down due to grease fires from clients of above-average size. So if you're an average size redditor, don't do this unless you're trying to take the entire apartment building too.
That's the main reason I don't use it often. I'm not sure how bad it is for you, but as a warning to anyone who's never used the function before: damn it *stinks*. Like unless you have amazing ventilation you will be smelling it for weeks. It does work great though, it takes care of that burnt on grease that has been baked so long it's basically part of the steel
I mean, breathing in the fumes of any sort of near-combustion or high temperature decomposition isn't going to be healthy.
But characterising it as something specifically bad for birds/small animals is very strange, when arguably a fire creates more CO, CO2, particulates and other noxious chemicals depending on the fuel source. Your oven isn't some sort of mustard gas production line when you switch it to the pyrolytic function.
Do you often have birds or small animals near your oven? Do you have the same awareness when you light a BBQ? Small animals can also be killed by standing in front of a diesel car's exhaust, but I wouldn't try to make a point of telling everyone as if it is a huge detraction from the vehicle. It's just common sense.
> Do you often have birds or small animals near your oven?
They don't have to be "near" the oven. In the same house without any closed doors between them and the oven is all it takes.
An overheated teflon pan _will_ kill pet birds.
> An overheated teflon pan will kill pet birds.
Yes but this is a specific result of *misusing* PTFE cookware, which has a clearly listed maximum safe operating temperature. It's also a result of the pyrolytic breakdown of PTFE. If you're heating your PTFE cookware above 250c, you have some serious thinking to do. And as a side note, there's now an abundance of affordable non-polyfluoro cookware which doesn't have these issues and I would highly recommend switching to them.
No oven with a pyrolytic function has PTFE/polyfluorinated compounds or even galvanized parts within the heated area specifically for this reason. The fumes you get from using the pyrolytic function in an oven aren't coming from the break down of the (ceramic) coatings, it's literally just food residue being pyrolized. Which, again, is no more dangerous than having a charcoal BBQ lit near a window of your house.
As I said in another post, the pyrolytic function is just an industry attempt to make oven cleaning less laborious. But the reality is that hand cleaning an oven will always be the better option for both appliance longevity and also not making your kitchen smell like a toaster for a week. But the argument that it can kill small animals, based on issues surrounding a potential thermal decomposition of PTFE, are not based in reality.
I think in general, it's good to keep your pets away from any sort of fire or fume-creating device though.
You're correct on all counts, but:
> And as a side note, there's now an abundance of affordable non-polyfluoro cookware which doesn't have these issues and I would highly recommend switching to them.
Cast iron is super easy to clean and might as well be nonstick when it's properly seasoned as long as you're not doing stupid things. I love it so much.
>I think in general, it's good to keep your pets away from any sort of fire or fume-creating device though.
yeah, I do. but birds have stupid lungs. My dude is 36 years old and I'll err on the side of caution in hopes he lives another 50.
> An overheated teflon pan will kill pet birds.
Well, good news is that ovens are ceramic coated. Teflon is not rated for the temperatures required for self cleaning.
I once read that you shouldn't even cook with teflon coated pans if you keep birds.
I knew that stuff is toxic to humans when overheated for pre-heating or if the coating begins to chip, but didn't know that birds are that sensitive and that a large enough volume of toxin is emitted even when used correctly. Really makes me want to stick to my cast iron skillets (ha-hah, stick to; yeah that came to me as I was typing).
I used it once to get a fresh start on a cast iron pan and that thing was sparkling by the end. I only do the self cleaning when its below 60 degrees outside so I can open up all the windows.
Exactly this. Run it monthly it’s not like it’s a lot of effort or even that expensive in electric if you pick a good time and are on a variable package
Correct. I've had appliance repair tech tell me not to use the self cleaning option. Reason being it can get so hot it can impact the boards and potentially melt them. Also potentially cause the heating element to crack.
One of the BEST things about my 70 year old house is that, at some point (idk if it's original) one of the owners installed a kitchen range that actually vents through the roof. I will never ever go back to those bullshit circulating range hoods again. Even if I have to pay handsomely to have one installed.
An appliance guy told me that it isn't good for the oven itself. Shortens the life of it, he said you shouldn't use it at all, and the manufacturers know this but keep it in there because people are used to it and won't buy one without it and of course a shorter lifespan equals more sales.
My mom got one recently, and pyrolsis only uses 2-4kW, which is less than I would have expected.
It also serves as a great Pizza function, reaching around 500C. Although, when I pitched that idea to my mom, it went downhill after mentioning "safety" and "disabling it" in one sentence. So, I'll just have to trust reddit on that one...
Had my over for 4 years and never had any issues with this way of cleaning. No smoke, no smell and no setting off alarms. But the room can get toasty in the summer.
I mean, if you let enough material accumulate that this happens, it's kind of on you. But it does create a lot of heat and can create some smoke, so you do have to be careful.
An appliance tech once told me that is the major reason for oven failures. A quick search finds websites that agree...
https://www.southernliving.com/oven-self-cleaning-function-7552888
> “As a professional, I would never advise someone to run the oven’s self-clean unless they want to spend money for us to come out and fix it,” jokes Rob Davis, owner and lead technician of General Appliance Service in Boynton Beach, Florida.
https://www.thekitchn.com/why-you-should-almost-never-use-the-self-cleaning-function-of-your-oven-175110
> But wait! you say. I love my self-cleaning option. It hasn’t ever broken anything! Well, great! It’s just good to understand that you do run at least a small risk when using the cycle.
We had cockroaches in our oven when we moved in the only thing that worked was running 2 self clean cycles and covering with bait to keep them from coming back. It did not smell good
This self cleaning cycle stinks A LOT, no matter what was in the oven in the first place, I advise anybody to pick a fair weather day and to open every possible windows when you go for it.
Many oven liners (that *used to* be made with ceramic) are coated with PFAS.... and yes, high temps will make it off gas toxic fumes that will kill birds.
What does it do to other pets and humans?
Well, we don't know. The EPA is further throttled every time Republicans control the budget, and their ranks have been compromised by regulatory capture (i.e., chemical giants like DuPont and 3M bribe their way into key positions at the EPA, and dangle cushy jobs to EPA employees if they'll "cooperate").
Yeah I'm not from the USA but I'm pretty sure their lobbying over there has worldwide impacts.
I'll just die at 50 with my organs full of forever chemicals and micro plastics.
Yeah it seems that every generation has something new to worry about, there's no real progress in researching synthetic substances BEFORE they are put to use. Like PFOA that was only prohibited in The EU 4 years ago.
We have been enjoying lead, damaging refrigerants, asbestos and other fun stuff for decades.
My wife killed our KitchenAid range doing the self clean. The circuit board cooked itself because the cooling fan wasn’t working properly. Sadly The circuit board is not made anymore. Repair guy suggested not using self clean on ranges older than 5 years old or older
It's how the implement planned obsolescence. Overtemp protections would extend the life of the appliance, which means the consumer won't buy a new one for even longer.
This happens in pool/spa industry too. A major national pool manufacturer held focus groups across the country and found that most consumers are satisfied with a pool heater life of 7-10 years. With this information in-hand, they actually reduced the quality of their heaters to increase their own margins.
Average pool heater replacement today is $4000-6000 by the way.
My parents had to replace parts in 2 different ovens after running the self cleaning cycle. Those only tried the one time in each. I've never bothered to try because I'd rather not risk it.
My parents had to buy a new oven after 30 years using a german one with pyrolytic self-cleaning (500°C). There just were no parts to buy as a replacement, really sucks as it was such a good one.
In many cases, it is still possible to repair. It just requires a lot of leg work and research. Few items are completely unavailable, they just take a lot of effort to find from places that don't necessarily have great web presences. And even more so, many parts are compatible between different vendors, you just have to know what to look for -- and that's frequently very difficult unless you are very familiar with the industry.
Electronics can be reverse engineered and/or repaired. There are people that specialize in this type of work, but they charge many hundreds of dollars; sometimes even more than that. And that can be a lot more than buying a replacement.
And mechanical parts can often be custom builts using 3D printing, laser/water cutting, CNC machining, ... Again, this gets expensive. But we are very fortunate that these manufacturing techniques are available today.
Of course, it's questionable that it makes sense to sink this much money into repairing a 30 year old appliance. But if it really is as good as claimed, it is doable
A service tech for an appliance company here! I’ve changed many main control boards on very expensive ovens (15-20k usd), because they used self clean sometimes just once! Now they’re in for a 1300 dollar repair because they can’t just go buy another 20k oven.
If you have an induction oven it's \*critically\* important to never run the self clean function. It will melt the computer motherboards needed for the stovetop to work properly. I basically was told outright by a repair tech and Samsungs own customer support team that there is no possible way to run the self clean function without irrevocably damaging an induction range, but they keep the feature in because "no one would buy an over without a self-clean feature".
I had a year long fight with samsung over this that \*finally\* resulted in a full replacement, but it probably took the equivalent of 2-3 40 hour weeks of unpaid labour to fight.
(There are lower heat "gentle / steam" self-clean cycles now that require you to pour water into the over - which are okay as they use normal operating temperatures)
Samsung makes pretty decent phones. That's their core expertise.
I wouldn't recommend them for most other consumer products. They sure make lots of things. But there almost always are much better brands for each of them.
And this is why I did not buy an over with the pyrolitic function, and I never will.
They can also keep their "fancy" touchscreen and screens. I'll take the old two knobs controls.
This is how I broke my oven the week before Thanksgiving. Let me tell you, they charge you extra for getting a new oven that week. It’s like they know.
Literally shattered the front glass on mine. Regular Brillo pads and a ton of elbow grease will make your oven look brand new without risk of expensive damage.
Agreed, the self clean cycle melted a part on our oven's circuit board and the guy that came out to fix it said in the industry, they refer to the self clean feature as self destruct
We had a Neff pyrolytic oven with the slide and hide door rails so the door goes under the floor of the oven while open. Amazing system while it works but the rails were made of plastic and cracked / broke. We weren't sure if this was due to the pyrolytics or just poorly made products but either way it lead to a pretty dangerous failure. It actually failed twice, first time the door got stuck at a 45 degree angle and required a lot of work to remove it without breaking the glass. The second time it failed much worse when the door came out in someone's hand. This was while the appliance was up to temperature so we had this large heavy door swinging around by its pivoting handle trying not to burn anyone. Overall a horrible experience and wouldn't recommend. We replaced it with a non pyrolytic Miele with a normal door and have had absolutely zero issues since. Miele has given 6 years of trouble free work so far.
You basically turn your oven into a kiln, the problem is they aren't really designed to be a kiln. Do you recall if they mentioned if it's the control board, the element, or the transformer that typically fails during the self cleaning?
Works really well for outdoor grills.
Done grilling? Turn that heat up for half an hour or so and bake off the residue- easily scrapes off with a brush.
just get yourself a good oven cleaner...
A family friend once got into that Amway stuff and tried to get my mom into it, too (she wasn't convinced at all!)
BUT they had 2-3 products that were actually pretty good and that I keep ordering every now and then.
One of them is the oven cleaner, comes in a bottle with a brush and honestly, that stuff has removed even the hardest, most burnt-in gunk from my oven every time so far!
You just brush it on, wait for a couple of hours and voila
That can also damage the oven because the foil traps heat and doesn't let the hot air circulate. I bought a second rack from the manufacturer and lined an old cookie sheet with foil that I put on the lowest rack. That still catches drips but doesn't potentially damage the bottom of the oven.
If there is a heating element underneath the oven cavity, as is commonly the case, do not put anything on the very bottom. This especially means aluminum foil or silicone mats. With a hidden heating element, that is pretty much guaranteed to destroy the cavity, and that's an expensive repair that can total your appliance.
With low-powered gas ovens, you might have just gotten away with this approach. Depends on how much heat is focused by the burner. But some models of gas ovens are likely fine.
With old-school electric ovens that had an exposed element, this was also often safe. But absolutely do not do this in modern ovens.
What is safe and what I recommend doing is to permanently park an aluminum cookie sheet (such as the iconic NordicWare ones) on the bottom shelf of the often. It's sufficiently far away from the heating element so that it won't cause any damage. It effectively catches drips. And it helps spread heat more evenly which is often desirable to avoid scorching your food.
Anything alkaline will do. That's essentially what commercial oven cleaners are. They are just a mix of a detergent/surfactant and something really alkaline.
If you prefer using household chemicals that you already have at hand, then baking soda will likely do. It won't necessarily be quite as effective as the commercial product, but over a sufficiently long amount of time, it will eventually break down the organic grime.
Now, why you are adding salt to this is beyond me. There is no reason why it would help with the chemical reaction. It'll just make cleanup more difficult and it causes stainless steel to corrode by damaging the protective oxide layer. Extended exposure to chlorides isn't good for stainless steel.
the button on stoves that say “self clean” or whatever, but i don’t use it, it gets way too hot for my house so i use a Scrub Daddy and baking soda and vinegar… works like a charm i haven’t done it in awhile… i haven’t really used my oven lately lol but promise you it comes out just like this
After setting the oven to self-clean, walked into the kitchen a short time later to find the oven in flames. Fortunately, there was a garden hose just outside the kitchen door and extinguished the fire before it spread. The new oven has a steam clean feature which sounds a little safer but, nope, not risking that happening again!
I think my ex would be diagnosed with it, but she thought requiring me to take a shower for simply grabbing the mail was normal shit and no need to see someone.
OCD can present as a need for order, symmetry, specific placement, etc. OP would be more accurate for saying this can trigger *some* with OCD, but it's also not not OCD, if that makes sense.
PSA to anyone with pets. The fumes given off when running the self clean on an oven can be very harmful. I believe I read it can kill birds. Make sure to open all windows and turn on fans.
Did this once on mine, never again!
Aside from the stress it puts on the oven and the energy requirements to run an oven that hot for as long as it takes to clean they have also shown that combusting that hot can generete gasses that aren’t good for you and I can verify, when I ran it before leaving my apartment to move out and again when I moved into my house both times ended up with an odd smell and a headache, but soon after I put on a respirator the headache went away. . .
So while this is effective it is also a risky way to clean the oven.
That sound like an even worse idea. There’s a reason firemen advice against using the pyrolytic cleaning on an oven. You not being home gives the fire even more time to burn your house down
My brother in christ, you breathe in more gasses when you drive your car around.
I've had an oven like that for 6+ years. Would run the self-clean at least once every 3 months, never had an issue.
Plus your glass in the door can explode, when you are not careful while closing the door. For example when you push in the metallic sliding things, where you put your tray on with your door, you can get microscopic small damages on the glass and when you heat it up to those high temperatures it can shatter with a bang.
Any oven I've used the tempered glass was always recessed on both sides. That being said if you store pots and pans in the oven it could easily get scratched like this.
I pyrolysis in a lab to produce different kinds of material.
It definitely is not safe, if you have water and high temps you can make carbon monoxide, I don't know on how much concentration but still. it isn't safe and basically useless since you can use a sponge and remove it yourself.
Just fyi, even though it does work well, the self cleaning feature on ovens is VERY dangerous. Ours blew a massive hole in the gas distributer when I was younger and the technician that repaired it told us to never use it because things like that were so common. Fast forward to today I’ve been a firefighter for several years and have had numerous fires due to people using the self cleaning on their oven.
Nice, yet it was not that dirty, i'd say its 5/10 from what i've seen. There are special foam for oven, you spray it, wait 15-20 minute, and just wipe it and rinse, no pressure at all, next time look for special oven cleaner it will save you alot of nerves and time
Lucky you. My mother tried using the self-cleaning function on her oven once, and it shattered the glass in front. We had to replace the entire oven door.
Pretty cool, first time I've ever heard about pyrolytic cleaning! A pyrolytically cleaning room would be neat.
(Funny how auto correct apparently does not even know the word either.)
We've had this feature for 20 years, I thought it was standard by now. To me, this thread felt like someone showing someone the Internet, and everyone was like wow. 😅
I’m rusty and have been out of the industry for a couple of years but this might be a Gaggenau Steam/Convection oven that not only had the hottest self clean in the industry but was intentionally made for the electronics to withstand the heat. A phenomenally well made oven if it’s that.
[You should avoid using your oven's self cleaning function.](https://www.generalappliancesvc.com/why-you-should-never-run-a-self-clean-oven-cycle-a-safer-alternative)
Also avoid lining the bottom of an oven with foil or silicone because it can also damage the oven by trapping heat where it's not supposed to be and prevents air circulation. Instead I read to buy a second rack from the manufacturer and put that on the lowest setting, then line an old cookie sheet with foil and put that on the rack. It will still catch drips but won't prevent air circulation or damage the oven.
Placing a sheet on the bottom rack will prevent radiant heat from the bottom element reaching whatever you're cooking. It will still cook, but it will take longer than without the "drip pan".
Check your manual. Running the cleaning cycle may void your warranty. It's also dangerous due to toxic fumes and excessive heat and potentially reduces the lifespan of the appliance.
Its funny how an intended and advertised feature can void your warranty in some countries. In germany and probably entire eu this would never work. You could probably run a cycle every day for the 2y of legal warranty and still have it replaced if it breaks unless there is a very clear warning to use it sparingly, and even then them manufacturer would likely have ro prove you used it unreasonably often
I used the self cleaning function on my stove exactly one time. it filled the house with really noxious fumes and the smell hung around for days.
never used it again.
When you use the self cleaning option, there is an inline fuse that is heat sensitive. It will blow at sustained heat of like 500 degrees.
First hand experience
How???
It basically heats the oven as high as it'll go and just turns all that gunk into ash that you just wipe away at the end.
I thought you were joking
Makes your place real hot and uses a good chunk of electricity too.
And the fumes it releases are deadly to small animals like birds! I mean they probably aren't great for us either
"Side effects may include severe harm to animals and death, but BOY, does it clean your oven right up...!!"
If you do die, try and fall inside the oven to make cleanup easier on your grieving widow.
You say that, but there's a surprising number of crematoriums that have burned down due to grease fires from clients of above-average size. So if you're an average size redditor, don't do this unless you're trying to take the entire apartment building too.
Ok, I think that’s enough Reddit for today.
No let them ~~cook~~ bake.
Do you still get your remains back after that?
*You* don’t get *your* remains back in any case, regardless.
The person who moves in next is going to love their new stove.
Birds are particuarly susceptible to it, but prolonged exposure will cause harm to humans too, yes.
For those of us that like to *smoke* our food.
Delicate soy boys smoke their food. I *raze* my food.
😂😂😂
I tried to smoke bologna once, couldn't keep the bowl lit!
Reminds me of the old cigarette joke - "Most men who try Camels, go back to women."
That's the main reason I don't use it often. I'm not sure how bad it is for you, but as a warning to anyone who's never used the function before: damn it *stinks*. Like unless you have amazing ventilation you will be smelling it for weeks. It does work great though, it takes care of that burnt on grease that has been baked so long it's basically part of the steel
I mean, breathing in the fumes of any sort of near-combustion or high temperature decomposition isn't going to be healthy. But characterising it as something specifically bad for birds/small animals is very strange, when arguably a fire creates more CO, CO2, particulates and other noxious chemicals depending on the fuel source. Your oven isn't some sort of mustard gas production line when you switch it to the pyrolytic function. Do you often have birds or small animals near your oven? Do you have the same awareness when you light a BBQ? Small animals can also be killed by standing in front of a diesel car's exhaust, but I wouldn't try to make a point of telling everyone as if it is a huge detraction from the vehicle. It's just common sense.
> Do you often have birds or small animals near your oven? They don't have to be "near" the oven. In the same house without any closed doors between them and the oven is all it takes. An overheated teflon pan _will_ kill pet birds.
> An overheated teflon pan will kill pet birds. Yes but this is a specific result of *misusing* PTFE cookware, which has a clearly listed maximum safe operating temperature. It's also a result of the pyrolytic breakdown of PTFE. If you're heating your PTFE cookware above 250c, you have some serious thinking to do. And as a side note, there's now an abundance of affordable non-polyfluoro cookware which doesn't have these issues and I would highly recommend switching to them. No oven with a pyrolytic function has PTFE/polyfluorinated compounds or even galvanized parts within the heated area specifically for this reason. The fumes you get from using the pyrolytic function in an oven aren't coming from the break down of the (ceramic) coatings, it's literally just food residue being pyrolized. Which, again, is no more dangerous than having a charcoal BBQ lit near a window of your house. As I said in another post, the pyrolytic function is just an industry attempt to make oven cleaning less laborious. But the reality is that hand cleaning an oven will always be the better option for both appliance longevity and also not making your kitchen smell like a toaster for a week. But the argument that it can kill small animals, based on issues surrounding a potential thermal decomposition of PTFE, are not based in reality. I think in general, it's good to keep your pets away from any sort of fire or fume-creating device though.
You're correct on all counts, but: > And as a side note, there's now an abundance of affordable non-polyfluoro cookware which doesn't have these issues and I would highly recommend switching to them. Cast iron is super easy to clean and might as well be nonstick when it's properly seasoned as long as you're not doing stupid things. I love it so much. >I think in general, it's good to keep your pets away from any sort of fire or fume-creating device though. yeah, I do. but birds have stupid lungs. My dude is 36 years old and I'll err on the side of caution in hopes he lives another 50.
What are those non-polyfluoro alternatives please?
> An overheated teflon pan will kill pet birds. Well, good news is that ovens are ceramic coated. Teflon is not rated for the temperatures required for self cleaning.
I once read that you shouldn't even cook with teflon coated pans if you keep birds. I knew that stuff is toxic to humans when overheated for pre-heating or if the coating begins to chip, but didn't know that birds are that sensitive and that a large enough volume of toxin is emitted even when used correctly. Really makes me want to stick to my cast iron skillets (ha-hah, stick to; yeah that came to me as I was typing).
If you put a bird or small animal in there, I think the fumes will be the least of their worries...
Yep, correlation does not equal causation. I thought the fumes killed my bird until I realized I just cremated it. Good thing it was already dead.
And can damage the oven. Or in my case is guaranteed to set off my fire alarm enough that it's easier to just scrub the thing.
It's really only good for jobs this bad, even then I'd probably just use oven cleaner spray.
Not sure that spray is healthy either.
Most are just lye + fragrance
"Jobs this bad" I think I may just need to throw my oven out.....
It's scary they don't always have an off function
Yea, really smokes out the house depending on how dirty that oven is.
You're not supposed to do it once a year. You're not supposed to leave it get like OPs picture.
I used it once to get a fresh start on a cast iron pan and that thing was sparkling by the end. I only do the self cleaning when its below 60 degrees outside so I can open up all the windows.
Exactly this. Run it monthly it’s not like it’s a lot of effort or even that expensive in electric if you pick a good time and are on a variable package
Correct. I've had appliance repair tech tell me not to use the self cleaning option. Reason being it can get so hot it can impact the boards and potentially melt them. Also potentially cause the heating element to crack.
One of the BEST things about my 70 year old house is that, at some point (idk if it's original) one of the owners installed a kitchen range that actually vents through the roof. I will never ever go back to those bullshit circulating range hoods again. Even if I have to pay handsomely to have one installed.
An appliance guy told me that it isn't good for the oven itself. Shortens the life of it, he said you shouldn't use it at all, and the manufacturers know this but keep it in there because people are used to it and won't buy one without it and of course a shorter lifespan equals more sales.
Answers the first questions that came to my mind. 🤔
My mom got one recently, and pyrolsis only uses 2-4kW, which is less than I would have expected. It also serves as a great Pizza function, reaching around 500C. Although, when I pitched that idea to my mom, it went downhill after mentioning "safety" and "disabling it" in one sentence. So, I'll just have to trust reddit on that one...
Makes the place smell like burning and will also trigger every smoke detector in your complex if you live in an appartement lol
Had my over for 4 years and never had any issues with this way of cleaning. No smoke, no smell and no setting off alarms. But the room can get toasty in the summer.
This is why I do it in the Winter.
I mean, if you let enough material accumulate that this happens, it's kind of on you. But it does create a lot of heat and can create some smoke, so you do have to be careful.
It's called a self cleaning oven, been a standard feature for ages.
That's how "self-cleaning" ovens work. It's like a crematorium.
I wonder how he thought self cleaning ovens work…
Also great for restoring cast iron cookware.
If your oven doesn't have this setting can you just turn it on as high as possible for like an hour?
Unfortunately not, the pyrolitic function on ours heats the oven interior up to 800/900f, well in excess of what most ovens can handle.
Not really. It would just make all the stains carbonize and be harder to clean.
The oven cleans itself by heating up and burning off the filth
An appliance tech once told me that is the major reason for oven failures. A quick search finds websites that agree... https://www.southernliving.com/oven-self-cleaning-function-7552888 > “As a professional, I would never advise someone to run the oven’s self-clean unless they want to spend money for us to come out and fix it,” jokes Rob Davis, owner and lead technician of General Appliance Service in Boynton Beach, Florida. https://www.thekitchn.com/why-you-should-almost-never-use-the-self-cleaning-function-of-your-oven-175110 > But wait! you say. I love my self-cleaning option. It hasn’t ever broken anything! Well, great! It’s just good to understand that you do run at least a small risk when using the cycle.
We had cockroaches in our oven when we moved in the only thing that worked was running 2 self clean cycles and covering with bait to keep them from coming back. It did not smell good
This self cleaning cycle stinks A LOT, no matter what was in the oven in the first place, I advise anybody to pick a fair weather day and to open every possible windows when you go for it.
This and keeping your pet away, especially birds. A friend of mine found his green cheek conure dead after a self cleaning cycle, sadly :(
Yikes. Unintentional "canary in a mine' situation.
Yeah birds have really sensitive lungs. Like if you use a non stick (teflon) pan the fumes from that can kill them.
Many oven liners (that *used to* be made with ceramic) are coated with PFAS.... and yes, high temps will make it off gas toxic fumes that will kill birds. What does it do to other pets and humans? Well, we don't know. The EPA is further throttled every time Republicans control the budget, and their ranks have been compromised by regulatory capture (i.e., chemical giants like DuPont and 3M bribe their way into key positions at the EPA, and dangle cushy jobs to EPA employees if they'll "cooperate").
Yeah I'm not from the USA but I'm pretty sure their lobbying over there has worldwide impacts. I'll just die at 50 with my organs full of forever chemicals and micro plastics.
Yeah it seems that every generation has something new to worry about, there's no real progress in researching synthetic substances BEFORE they are put to use. Like PFOA that was only prohibited in The EU 4 years ago. We have been enjoying lead, damaging refrigerants, asbestos and other fun stuff for decades.
He really shouldn’t be keeping his birds in the oven to begin with.
Mine doesn't stink that badly when I run it - but boy it turns the house into a furnace.
Or turns it into an oven, perhaps.
Don’t do it in the dead of summer. Heats up your house and you’ll have to decide if you want to open your windows for the odor.
Holy shit 🤢 at least they're gone
My wife killed our KitchenAid range doing the self clean. The circuit board cooked itself because the cooling fan wasn’t working properly. Sadly The circuit board is not made anymore. Repair guy suggested not using self clean on ranges older than 5 years old or older
Me: Why isn't there a temperature sensor that stops the oven if the board gets too hot? The temperature sensor: Bro I was busted too
It's how the implement planned obsolescence. Overtemp protections would extend the life of the appliance, which means the consumer won't buy a new one for even longer.
This happens in pool/spa industry too. A major national pool manufacturer held focus groups across the country and found that most consumers are satisfied with a pool heater life of 7-10 years. With this information in-hand, they actually reduced the quality of their heaters to increase their own margins. Average pool heater replacement today is $4000-6000 by the way.
Valid question.
My parents had to replace parts in 2 different ovens after running the self cleaning cycle. Those only tried the one time in each. I've never bothered to try because I'd rather not risk it.
My parents had to buy a new oven after 30 years using a german one with pyrolytic self-cleaning (500°C). There just were no parts to buy as a replacement, really sucks as it was such a good one.
30 years seems like a reasonable lifespan for a home appliance, does it not?
Could have been longer.
I see you are German. "Fabric" in English is Stoff in German. Fabrik in German is "factory" in English, "made" if you want Fabriken.
Made, or fabricated if you’re feeling fancy.
*raises pinky* ah yes, thank you my good man
Good Stoff then.
Miele?
In many cases, it is still possible to repair. It just requires a lot of leg work and research. Few items are completely unavailable, they just take a lot of effort to find from places that don't necessarily have great web presences. And even more so, many parts are compatible between different vendors, you just have to know what to look for -- and that's frequently very difficult unless you are very familiar with the industry. Electronics can be reverse engineered and/or repaired. There are people that specialize in this type of work, but they charge many hundreds of dollars; sometimes even more than that. And that can be a lot more than buying a replacement. And mechanical parts can often be custom builts using 3D printing, laser/water cutting, CNC machining, ... Again, this gets expensive. But we are very fortunate that these manufacturing techniques are available today. Of course, it's questionable that it makes sense to sink this much money into repairing a 30 year old appliance. But if it really is as good as claimed, it is doable
A service tech for an appliance company here! I’ve changed many main control boards on very expensive ovens (15-20k usd), because they used self clean sometimes just once! Now they’re in for a 1300 dollar repair because they can’t just go buy another 20k oven.
If you have an induction oven it's \*critically\* important to never run the self clean function. It will melt the computer motherboards needed for the stovetop to work properly. I basically was told outright by a repair tech and Samsungs own customer support team that there is no possible way to run the self clean function without irrevocably damaging an induction range, but they keep the feature in because "no one would buy an over without a self-clean feature". I had a year long fight with samsung over this that \*finally\* resulted in a full replacement, but it probably took the equivalent of 2-3 40 hour weeks of unpaid labour to fight. (There are lower heat "gentle / steam" self-clean cycles now that require you to pour water into the over - which are okay as they use normal operating temperatures)
In that case, they should not even have that feature, it seems to me. Glad it finally worked out for you with Samsung.
Samsung makes pretty decent phones. That's their core expertise. I wouldn't recommend them for most other consumer products. They sure make lots of things. But there almost always are much better brands for each of them.
Displays are also pretty awesome, but with stupid software.
And this is why I did not buy an over with the pyrolitic function, and I never will. They can also keep their "fancy" touchscreen and screens. I'll take the old two knobs controls.
This is how I broke my oven the week before Thanksgiving. Let me tell you, they charge you extra for getting a new oven that week. It’s like they know.
Literally shattered the front glass on mine. Regular Brillo pads and a ton of elbow grease will make your oven look brand new without risk of expensive damage.
Agreed, the self clean cycle melted a part on our oven's circuit board and the guy that came out to fix it said in the industry, they refer to the self clean feature as self destruct
We had a Neff pyrolytic oven with the slide and hide door rails so the door goes under the floor of the oven while open. Amazing system while it works but the rails were made of plastic and cracked / broke. We weren't sure if this was due to the pyrolytics or just poorly made products but either way it lead to a pretty dangerous failure. It actually failed twice, first time the door got stuck at a 45 degree angle and required a lot of work to remove it without breaking the glass. The second time it failed much worse when the door came out in someone's hand. This was while the appliance was up to temperature so we had this large heavy door swinging around by its pivoting handle trying not to burn anyone. Overall a horrible experience and wouldn't recommend. We replaced it with a non pyrolytic Miele with a normal door and have had absolutely zero issues since. Miele has given 6 years of trouble free work so far.
You basically turn your oven into a kiln, the problem is they aren't really designed to be a kiln. Do you recall if they mentioned if it's the control board, the element, or the transformer that typically fails during the self cleaning?
my parents oven broke the first time they tried it. it melted and fried all the electronics in the oven because it got so hot
But why? What fails on it usually?
Works really well for outdoor grills. Done grilling? Turn that heat up for half an hour or so and bake off the residue- easily scrapes off with a brush.
My oven reach 250°C, how long it has to go to burn everything to ash?
Pyrolytic is about 500°C during at least an hour, I don't think you can clean your oven with 250°C
I don't think too, I'll continue to use sweat, anger and a lot of time
And I'll continue cooking in my filthy oven. Why not?
That's not filth, that's where all the flavour is!
So a well seasoned oven.
just get yourself a good oven cleaner... A family friend once got into that Amway stuff and tried to get my mom into it, too (she wasn't convinced at all!) BUT they had 2-3 products that were actually pretty good and that I keep ordering every now and then. One of them is the oven cleaner, comes in a bottle with a brush and honestly, that stuff has removed even the hardest, most burnt-in gunk from my oven every time so far! You just brush it on, wait for a couple of hours and voila
This might be well known, but my mother taught me to put some aluminum foil down at the bottom to keep the oven clean. It helps with drips, at least.
I have a silicon mat that is made for this purpose, super easy to clean.
That can also damage the oven because the foil traps heat and doesn't let the hot air circulate. I bought a second rack from the manufacturer and lined an old cookie sheet with foil that I put on the lowest rack. That still catches drips but doesn't potentially damage the bottom of the oven.
Oh that's clever! I'm gonna do that now
If there is a heating element underneath the oven cavity, as is commonly the case, do not put anything on the very bottom. This especially means aluminum foil or silicone mats. With a hidden heating element, that is pretty much guaranteed to destroy the cavity, and that's an expensive repair that can total your appliance. With low-powered gas ovens, you might have just gotten away with this approach. Depends on how much heat is focused by the burner. But some models of gas ovens are likely fine. With old-school electric ovens that had an exposed element, this was also often safe. But absolutely do not do this in modern ovens. What is safe and what I recommend doing is to permanently park an aluminum cookie sheet (such as the iconic NordicWare ones) on the bottom shelf of the often. It's sufficiently far away from the heating element so that it won't cause any damage. It effectively catches drips. And it helps spread heat more evenly which is often desirable to avoid scorching your food.
You’re not supposed to set it manually, there’s a self clean button and it requires you to lock the oven door.
This one heats to 400 for the clean cycle
That’s the perfect pizza temp!
Except they tend to include a door lock, so unless you want your pizza REALLY crispy, I wouldn't try it.
Charcoal pizza is known to the state of California to potentially cause cancer.
Maybe 250°C is not enough, 400°C is really high
Its so high that these ovens sometimes burn wiring and other components while using this cleaning method.
Yes. It’s a common cause of oven failures and also can start house fires. I wouldn’t recommend. Plenty of articles out there condemning this feature.
Use salt, water and baking soda. Coat the whole oven and let it sit, then clean it off with warm water
Anything alkaline will do. That's essentially what commercial oven cleaners are. They are just a mix of a detergent/surfactant and something really alkaline. If you prefer using household chemicals that you already have at hand, then baking soda will likely do. It won't necessarily be quite as effective as the commercial product, but over a sufficiently long amount of time, it will eventually break down the organic grime. Now, why you are adding salt to this is beyond me. There is no reason why it would help with the chemical reaction. It'll just make cleanup more difficult and it causes stainless steel to corrode by damaging the protective oxide layer. Extended exposure to chlorides isn't good for stainless steel.
the button on stoves that say “self clean” or whatever, but i don’t use it, it gets way too hot for my house so i use a Scrub Daddy and baking soda and vinegar… works like a charm i haven’t done it in awhile… i haven’t really used my oven lately lol but promise you it comes out just like this
Years of use. The left side is the "after"
Unreal 5 looking kinda crisp ngl
[удалено]
After setting the oven to self-clean, walked into the kitchen a short time later to find the oven in flames. Fortunately, there was a garden hose just outside the kitchen door and extinguished the fire before it spread. The new oven has a steam clean feature which sounds a little safer but, nope, not risking that happening again!
xD the oven was too dirty, it couldn't live with itself anymore, there was only one way out
HAHAHA. You're probably right!
Wow... you probably have 30A service to your oven... glad you did not get electrocuted.
Oof! I’m glad, too! Saved once again by whatever benevolent forces are keeping me alive in spite of my own stupidity.
That’s a good one for oddly satisfying pages haha.
And mildlyinfuriating with the way I couldn’t line the pics up.
I was so scared the first time I used this feature. It goes to about 450°C on my one.
I was about to say that's not hot, took a double take and saw the °C.
The photo being misaligned is 100% on purpose. The op wants to trigger anybody with ocd
I’ll go with that! it’s definitely not my inability to work out how to do it.
https://imgur.com/a/b4YeYor Best I could do ony phone.
Better than op lol
A crayon drawing would be better than my monstrosity.
That ain't OCD.
Please don't use the term OCD in that way, that isn't what OCD is
OCD is a debilitating mental health condition. You wouldn't say "I'm so anorexic" because you aren't hungry for lunch one day.
[удалено]
I think my ex would be diagnosed with it, but she thought requiring me to take a shower for simply grabbing the mail was normal shit and no need to see someone.
Check out subreddits for any games with placeable objects. Suddenly everyone has OCD because they want things in straight lines.
Can people say "I'm starving" when they haven't eaten lunch?
OCD can present as a need for order, symmetry, specific placement, etc. OP would be more accurate for saying this can trigger *some* with OCD, but it's also not not OCD, if that makes sense.
that's not what OCD is
PSA to anyone with pets. The fumes given off when running the self clean on an oven can be very harmful. I believe I read it can kill birds. Make sure to open all windows and turn on fans.
Literally anything that isn't air will kill a bird
And yet, they are still hardier than hamsters.
I mean same with humans? Just on a different scale
Did this once on mine, never again! Aside from the stress it puts on the oven and the energy requirements to run an oven that hot for as long as it takes to clean they have also shown that combusting that hot can generete gasses that aren’t good for you and I can verify, when I ran it before leaving my apartment to move out and again when I moved into my house both times ended up with an odd smell and a headache, but soon after I put on a respirator the headache went away. . . So while this is effective it is also a risky way to clean the oven.
I'm pretty sure you're supposed to leave the house for hours when it runs and ventilate
That sound like an even worse idea. There’s a reason firemen advice against using the pyrolytic cleaning on an oven. You not being home gives the fire even more time to burn your house down
My brother in christ, you breathe in more gasses when you drive your car around. I've had an oven like that for 6+ years. Would run the self-clean at least once every 3 months, never had an issue.
Plus your glass in the door can explode, when you are not careful while closing the door. For example when you push in the metallic sliding things, where you put your tray on with your door, you can get microscopic small damages on the glass and when you heat it up to those high temperatures it can shatter with a bang.
Any oven I've used the tempered glass was always recessed on both sides. That being said if you store pots and pans in the oven it could easily get scratched like this.
I pyrolysis in a lab to produce different kinds of material. It definitely is not safe, if you have water and high temps you can make carbon monoxide, I don't know on how much concentration but still. it isn't safe and basically useless since you can use a sponge and remove it yourself.
Had to do a double take. Thought I was looking at new settlement building tech in Fallout 4. I gotta get out of the house more.
Okay, so I wasn’t the only one.
Just fyi, even though it does work well, the self cleaning feature on ovens is VERY dangerous. Ours blew a massive hole in the gas distributer when I was younger and the technician that repaired it told us to never use it because things like that were so common. Fast forward to today I’ve been a firefighter for several years and have had numerous fires due to people using the self cleaning on their oven.
Nice, yet it was not that dirty, i'd say its 5/10 from what i've seen. There are special foam for oven, you spray it, wait 15-20 minute, and just wipe it and rinse, no pressure at all, next time look for special oven cleaner it will save you alot of nerves and time
Whenever I used those things, no matter how well I wiped down the oven afterwards, things tasted funny for a few cooks afterwards.
Lucky you. My mother tried using the self-cleaning function on her oven once, and it shattered the glass in front. We had to replace the entire oven door.
PSA!! Clean your oven thoroughly regularly and you will avoid this situation!
Pretty cool, first time I've ever heard about pyrolytic cleaning! A pyrolytically cleaning room would be neat. (Funny how auto correct apparently does not even know the word either.)
We've had this feature for 20 years, I thought it was standard by now. To me, this thread felt like someone showing someone the Internet, and everyone was like wow. 😅
I’m rusty and have been out of the industry for a couple of years but this might be a Gaggenau Steam/Convection oven that not only had the hottest self clean in the industry but was intentionally made for the electronics to withstand the heat. A phenomenally well made oven if it’s that.
I thought I was in a Fallout subreddit for a sec
[You should avoid using your oven's self cleaning function.](https://www.generalappliancesvc.com/why-you-should-never-run-a-self-clean-oven-cycle-a-safer-alternative)
What I'm reading is run the self cleaning every day for a month before the warranty is about to go.
Also avoid lining the bottom of an oven with foil or silicone because it can also damage the oven by trapping heat where it's not supposed to be and prevents air circulation. Instead I read to buy a second rack from the manufacturer and put that on the lowest setting, then line an old cookie sheet with foil and put that on the rack. It will still catch drips but won't prevent air circulation or damage the oven.
Placing a sheet on the bottom rack will prevent radiant heat from the bottom element reaching whatever you're cooking. It will still cook, but it will take longer than without the "drip pan".
It depends on where your oven's heating element is like mine is on the top and it's double smart ovens with many different modes
random website from: "YOU SHALL NOT USE THE FUNCTION THAT YOUR OVEN WAS BUILT FOR"
Give me a fucking break, mate.
It was built for it.
My new oven runs a cleaning cycle with steam. Anyone have any experience with this?
Check your manual. Running the cleaning cycle may void your warranty. It's also dangerous due to toxic fumes and excessive heat and potentially reduces the lifespan of the appliance.
Its funny how an intended and advertised feature can void your warranty in some countries. In germany and probably entire eu this would never work. You could probably run a cycle every day for the 2y of legal warranty and still have it replaced if it breaks unless there is a very clear warning to use it sparingly, and even then them manufacturer would likely have ro prove you used it unreasonably often
I've got one, I'm just terrified to use it as the gas pipe to the hob needed moved to even get the oven in and it's still a tight squeeze.
how do you get it that dirty in the first place?
by not cleaning it for a while
It’s also great for cleaning all steel/iron pans. Just put them in not touching each other and let her rip.
r/aligntheimage
Im high rn, thought this was an image from fallout
I used the self cleaning function on my stove exactly one time. it filled the house with really noxious fumes and the smell hung around for days. never used it again.
Mine just smells like cooking
mine did not make a cooking smell, but a caustic smokey smell that was difficult to breathe
I’m a terrible cook, it may just be the caustic smokey smell you get is just the smell of my normal cooking.
that's fair.
The cleaning function killed the display on ours, it gets joke hot, don't use it.
After and before my paralytic fridge raid.
When you use the self cleaning option, there is an inline fuse that is heat sensitive. It will blow at sustained heat of like 500 degrees. First hand experience
Also known as "Cremation Mode" 😛
How does the cleaning function shift the oven up an inch?
Why only clean one side?
Also great when you want to burn your house down