1

I have a high-temperature home electric Pizza oven. Despite my best efforts to keep it spotless, There are places (stainless and glass surfaces) where spatters of oil/grease have become hard baked on, to the point where they are shiny and hard.

I am struggling to find a product that will remove this stuff, it's so hard that it could be scraped off with a blade but I don't want to damage the surfaces. I've tried general oven cleaner, which did have a cleaning effect but won't touch this stuff. Tried some harsher stuff like acetone, thinners etc; no effect, baking soda; nothing.

Even tried "Pyrolytic" cleaning (i.e full temperature: 400C) but that's angered it and made it harder!

EDIT: This appears to be "oil polymerization"

Improve this question
7

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
3

Raw metal and glass are extremely durable at least partly because you can clean them with harsh chemicals if needs be. I had a similar situation, my oven got extremely dirty with baked on grease, the strongest cleaner I could find in the store barely made a dent in it. I tried applying a paste of baking soda and dish soap, which also barely made a dent in it.

In the end what worked for me was to use a razor blade window scraper on the glass and metal parts, and repeated applications of the strongest oven cleaner I could find in the areas I couldn't scrape. There's no magic answer, it just takes elbow grease as my grandfather used to say.

As has been mentioned in comments if you glass is coated then you should think twice before using a razor on it. My ovens don't have a coating, but if you don't know don't do it!

Improve this answer
4
  • Cleaners aren't just about strength, but about what's appropriate - can we assume you used a strongly alkaline oven cleaner (sodium or potassium hydroxide)? In gel form is better than the runnier versions
    – Chris H
    Apr 4 at 10:49
  • 1
    Yes, I used a gel @ChrisH, the spray liquids did absolutely nothing.
    – GdD
    Apr 4 at 11:07
  • 2
    Somebody once used a razor blade 'safety scraper' on the glass door of my oven. I have never forgiven them. It was coated glass, now badly scratched. I would really not recommend this. As an added 'hurt', the scratches now gum up far more than the areas that survived intact.
    – Tetsujin
    Apr 4 at 16:41
  • @Tetsujin : they now make ‘plastic razor blades’ that shouldn’t scratch glass, but I suspect that the softer ones might not work to scrape something too hard. (I’ve gotten them twice, and the yellow ones from Ace Hardware were better than the black ones that I got in a bag at another place)
    – Joe
    Apr 4 at 21:52

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.