Cleaning your oven. A warning/reminder

Horseofadifferentcolor

Horseofadifferentcolor

Jedi Council Member
Cooking bacon and other fatty meals in our oven had gunked up the inside pretty quick with grease. I had not cleaned mine out as much as I should have and had a pretty scary experience the other night. I really did not know it was such a hazard. My husband dropped part of our meal when pulling out dinner and a fire erupted. The fire within seconds became completely unmanageable licking up over the stove top towards a shelf with cookbooks and a roll of paper towels. Luckily we had a fire extinguisher under the sink and that saved the day. I feel like a complete idiot that it happened but I am very thankful it did not burn the cabin down. It made a huge mess to clean up. That white stuff got everywhere. So, I thought I would share a reminder to everyone to make sure your fire extinguishers are up to date and keep that stove clean!
 
Thanks for sharing your experience Horse of a different color, and congratulations on your lucky escape! That sounds like it could have gotten nasty. I have always underestimated an oven's capability of catching fire so reading this was a bit of a shock. Thanks again for the heads up on this and stay safe :)
 
Really glad to hear that nothing bad happened and that you and your husband are save and sound. Hopefully lesson is learned that heat and fat are a dangerous combination. Something similar happened a while back, when there still was dried baking paper in the oven from my flatmate and it also suddenly caught fire when touching the heating element.
 
I had a similar event years ago with an overflowing turkey. It was crazy! Having a fire extinguisher in the kitchen is a MUST!!! I think I used baking soda then.

Also, keeping the oven cleaned is a very good idea. Funny that you bring this up today as I was just earlier thinking that we need to pyrolyse tonight.
 
me too have a similar incident happened to me, I was cooking and I left the pan with oil too long on the fire and it started to smoke, I did not had a fire extinguisher :-[ then it burst in to flames that I called the fire department which they came by :-[ really fast while I was trying to put it off and it was not pretty, all the top part got burnt, but thanks goodness it was not a mayor thing, and the moral of this story is I should have an extinguisher handy.... :-[ :-[ :-[ :-[
 
One thing I do is putting aluminium foil at the bottom of the oven. That way I can catch all dripping easily and change the foil every couple of bakes.
 
Cooking fat all the time does some bad things to the oven. A couple of years back I had a roast in and it shot grease all over the inside of the oven and on to the heating element.
To my surprise the coil actually melted through and started to spark and make cracking noises which was very scary. I think we had to unplug the stove altogether.
We now have a fire extinguisher and baking soda close by just in case and I would NOT like to repeat that again so your post serves as a reminder for me to clean the oven.
 
Keyhole, I also did not really have a good understanding of how dangerous a oven is capable of being either.

Gawan, thank you. It was a good lesson that thankfully it just involved a lot of cleaning up. Went to bed a little hungry though.

Laura, when I was in my early twenties, I decided I wanted to make my first thanksgiving turkey for just my roommate and I. We cooked it in a glass dish and set it down on the top of the stove. We had not realized the front burner was still on until we saw it starting to boil over. As I reached to turn off the dial it shattered into hundreds of pieces. We both looked at each other and then down at ourselves. Behind us about twelve feet away, glass was stuck into the wall. We had been standing right in front of it and did not have one scratch. I still do not know how that was possible. Crazy, I forgot about that until you mentioned the turkey.

Xico, I'm glad it turned out o.k. for you, even though an awkward moment with the fire fighters.

Nickleblue, that is a good idea about the foil. I think I will try that out.


And just in case I am not the only person that has forgotten this :-[ Water does not put out a grease fire! Do not try this at home. Tip #2 would be to never try and skoop out the fire with a spatula and stick in another pan. You will then end up with multiple fires that will not go out. Don't ask me how I know this.
 
Drea said:
Cooking fat all the time does some bad things to the oven. A couple of years back I had a roast in and it shot grease all over the inside of the oven and on to the heating element.
To my surprise the coil actually melted through and started to spark and make cracking noises which was very scary. I think we had to unplug the stove altogether.
We now have a fire extinguisher and baking soda close by just in case and I would NOT like to repeat that again so your post serves as a reminder for me to clean the oven.
Click to expand...

Glad I could remind you. I don't know if our stove works yet. It looks o.k. and the glass tops still work alright, I don't feel like the four scrubbings I have done on the inside so far are enough. I worry about toxic residue and that the fire might have caused unseen damage. Thanks for sharing your experience because I really think we need a new one.
 
Horseofadifferentcolor, that was a timely reminder for everyone.
Handy hints:
When cooking, always have a lid handy of the right size for the pot you are cooking in.
Fire extinguishers only last for 45 seconds, if you have a big fat fire, you may need something else. Baking Soda and Salt are good options, and cheap.
A Fire Blanket may save your home and your life, and they're cheap.

DO NOT TRY TO PUT OUT A FAT FIRE WITH WATER !!! it will explode everywhere.
Covering is a good option, use lid or fire blanket.

If you are trying to put out a fat or oil fire with DRY POWDER or even a FOAM extinguisher, run the powder or foam down the edge of the pan, do not aim it straight at the fat as it will blow everywhere and get worse.

Remember you only have 45 seconds to get it out with an extinguisher!

Make sure you turn off the power or gas, or douse the coals to remove the heat source.

One other thing: flues and chimneys and rangehoods collect oil and fat in them, so clean them occasionally.

Take care out there!
 
Thanks for this post Horseofadifferentcolor. I don't actually have a fire blanket, so that is next on my purchase list. I also use foil to line the bottom ofthe oven and the grill plate nicklebkeu, it's a great way of minimizing cleanup of spills. Just out of curiosity, what does everyone use to clean their oven?
 
Horseofadifferentcolor said:
And just in case I am not the only person that has forgotten this :-[ Water does not put out a grease fire! Do not try this at home. Tip #2 would be to never try and skoop out the fire with a spatula and stick in another pan. You will then end up with multiple fires that will not go out. Don't ask me how I know this.
Click to expand...

Rueful LOL!

If nothing else is available, you can smother a fire with towels or a rug.

Another thing to remember: do not put an oven-hot glass baking dish down on a wet counter. If it contacts cold water, it will explode. Don't ask me how I know this either!
 
Arwenn said:
Just out of curiosity, what does everyone use to clean their oven?
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Yeah I've been wondering this, as the only "oven cleaners" are extremely high in chemicals to remove the "grime" and dirt. I don't really want to use so many chemicals in a product for cleaning my oven when I'm reheating the things I'm cleaning with these chemicals. There's an oven cleaner my partner's mother gave me which required you to use gloves whilst touching it and put parts of the oven in bags for 12 hours? wth?

I tried baking soda and apple cider vinegar attempting to clean it, but it just doesn't seem to work.

Thanks for the reminder though, because my oven starts to smell pretty funky with all the fat dripping to the bottom most of the time, will be sure to use some aluminum at the bottom!
 
Lilyalic said:
Arwenn said:
Just out of curiosity, what does everyone use to clean their oven?
Click to expand...

Yeah I've been wondering this, as the only "oven cleaners" are extremely high in chemicals to remove the "grime" and dirt. I don't really want to use so many chemicals in a product for cleaning my oven when I'm reheating the things I'm cleaning with these chemicals. There's an oven cleaner my partner's mother gave me which required you to use gloves whilst touching it and put parts of the oven in bags for 12 hours? wth?

I tried baking soda and apple cider vinegar attempting to clean it, but it just doesn't seem to work.

Thanks for the reminder though, because my oven starts to smell pretty funky with all the fat dripping to the bottom most of the time, will be sure to use some aluminum at the bottom!
Click to expand...

I use sodium bicarbonate and white vinegar, sometimes a little dish detergent if there is too grimy, and wire wool.
 
Glad it worked out without any major problem, horseofadifferentcolor. And thanks for the reminder. I take out the pan from the oven and wash it in the sink. Kind of a pain because the pans too big to fit in the sink and have to be careful water / soapy water doesn't run all over the counter and down the cabinets to the floor. The grill also gets guncked up which I leave above in the highest slot, and that's even harder to rinse.

By the way, a few weeks ago, I had a meatloaf in the oven, and after turning it off, for some reason the right quarter or so of the oval pirex glass it was in just broke off from the rest.

ADDED: Oh, I forgot to mention that I use cheap vodka in a spray bottle to clean the inside of the oven. Works OK. I'll try the baking soda and vinegar when it's real greasy.
 
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