Hellobee Boards

@MUI831: I googled it last month and I, too, read reports about lots of smoke or some reports of fires! So that's why I decided to go with an oven cleaner. I didn't want to chance aggravating my DH's asthma.

Although, I got the Easy off 'fume-free' oven cleaner and I was coughing while spraying that stuff. Gross!

@Cherrybee: We lived in our apartment for 5 years and never cleaned the oven. Uhh, oops! Now, that we have the oven cleaner on hand, we'll use it more often.

@Cherrybee: Haha. Yup, you're probably right! It will sit in the back of my cleaning supplies cabinet until I move out of this house. Haha.

@RubyCali: So most ovens have a self cleaning option, you lock the oven and push self clean button. What it does it is, it turn the oven at a very high temperature to pretty much burns off anything stuck to the oven.

You can read more about it here. http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/tools-and-techniques/question559.htm

I googled this and decided against the self cleaning. First, I heard it can cause a lot of smoke and I didn't want it to be smokey in my apartment. My husband has asthma so I didn't want to risk it.

Also, I've heard it can cause fires. (Need to find the link where I saw this.)

Lastly, when you run the self cleaner at a high temp, it can burn out the fuse.

Just google self cleaning ovens and you'll find quite a bit of links on the good and the bad.

Our apartment has an older oven and I'm not quite sure when the last time the self cleaner was done and so I decided to just go out and buy a oven cleaner. Easy Off Oven cleaner had good reviews on Amazon, so I got that.

Our new house has a newer more modern oven, so I might be okay with using the self cleaner. It's kinda easier. You simply spray it on and wait 2 hr and wipe it off. It's gross wiping it off but it does eventually get clean.

Although, I think I'll just use the cleaner, something doesn't feel right (and safe) using the self cleaning feature where it heats the oven up to 900 degrees.

@spaniellove: Oh, I didn't know about that. Well, we handed in our keys, so I guess it's not our problem anymore.

@spaniellove: Yeah, maybe I should use that feature more often instead of waiting 5 years. haha.

@spaniellove: @Mae: Yeah, it sounds like self cleaners can be safe for self cleaning ovens. Though, this is what the internet says. http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r23352219-Oven-cleaner-in-a-self-cleaning-oven

http://community.cookinglight.com/archive/index.php/t-81855.html

It looks like if it is a 'Continuous Cleaning' oven that has a special coating that that's when you shouldn't use oven cleaner.

Oven manufacters says, 'no oven cleaner!' While oven cleaner makers, say it's safe. I need to find a professional (non biased) review. There has to be one out there.

@Mae: Ah, well, I didn't want to risk sending my husband to the hospital for the smoke. He has asthma, so I try to prevent asthma attacks. Plus, it was 5 years of stuck on stuff. The cleaner worked for me. Maybe I'll try the self cleaning option on my new oven in our new place. Maybe it will get me to clean my oven more often.

If we buy a home and buy a new stove, I'm sure I'll be more careful with cleaning it and following the manufacturers' directions.