Four Common Issues With The Self-Cleaning Function On Stoves
Posted on: 19 May 2015
Many stoves come with a self-cleaning function. Self-clean is extremely useful... but often poorly understood. The self-cleaning process is essentially designed to heat the interior of the oven to an extreme degree, such that food particles on the interior of the oven are charred.
Once the food particles have been reduced to ash, they can be easily cleaned off the oven. But self-cleaning isn't always enough to clean an oven entirely, and how it works can seem rather mysterious:
1. The Door Won't Open
Some self-cleaning stoves will not open when the self-cleaning function is on. This is for your own safety; often the self-cleaning function is incredibly, dangerously hot. In order to open the stove, you'll have to first cancel the self-cleaning process. Depending on the stove, you may need to wait a little while before you're allowed to open it. If your stove does open during self-cleaning, you should still avoid trying to open it until the process is complete.
2. There's an Unpleasant Smell
You should always brush out as much of the food in the stove as possible before turning the self-cleaning function on. However, there could be another source, too -- you may have used chemicals in the stove. You should not use any cleaning chemicals in the stove before initiating the cleaning function. Instead, you should use those after the stove has fully cooled.
3. The Stains Are Still Baked On
A self-cleaning function isn't perfect. If the stains are stubborn enough, they will stay on; the self-cleaning function just attempts to bake everything into an easy to clean ash. If the stains are still baked on, you can wait until the oven cools and then use a razor tool to try to gently lift up the stuck on food.
4. The Self-Clean Doesn't Do Anything
Many stove owners believe that their self-clean function doesn't do anything when, in fact, it's just taking a long time. The self-clean function usually runs for at least a couple of hours and the temperature may rise only slowly at first. If your self-clean doesn't seem to be working, wait a few more hours before you make a decision.
If your self-cleaning function doesn't seem to be doing anything at all, it may be time to call in the stove repair company. The self-cleaning function should be fairly obvious, and it should never run for more than a few hours unless the unit is particularly old. To learn more, or if you have other questions, try contacting a company like All Brands-Appliance Repair to get help.
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