I don't think ours works because I left the Mr muscle and cloths in front of it last night but it was still filthy in the morning

Seriously , how do these things work? Our gas oven has a button that says "clean" as well as the usual "bake" and "broil" options.

So , bearing in mind that I'm not a huge fan of housework, and cleaning ovens was bottom of my list of favourite household jobs, what will happen when I press said button?

What does the self clean button do ?
How long does it take?
what input is required from me?
are any extra cleaning products needed?
do i put them in before or after pressing the button?

In the Uk I discovered a lovely company that came to your house and did the loathed job for me. However seeing as I'm currently not working , I can't really pull the "I don't have time" line

Any help would be great as oven is fast approaching the stage where it sets off the (incredibly badly placed) smoke alarm whenever you cook above a certain temp.

It's just a pyrolytic clean, you sweep out the ash after. Mine have both said don't use any chemicals to clean at all, particularly on the seal as it knackers it.

It does take a long time, maybe 3hours or so? I remember we had to find a weekend that we were going to be around for the duration to do it - didn't fancy leaving it unsupervised the first time in case the house burnt down too

It locks itself whilst it cleans so there's no danger of Jr opening a door and carbonising himself.

Apparently it just heats up to a very hot temperature and vaporizes (boils, sublimes?) off any gunk. We haven't tried it yet. The idea scares me.

I've used our self clean function a couple of times, and, boy, is it fierce. Set off the smoke alarms and almost poached the dog who happened to sit by the oven door.
It's effective but as Biiink says, it takes forever and isn't for the faint hearted.

If you are going to use the self clean function and there's nothing wrong with doing so.

One major suggestion. Take out the oven racks before you start. The process ruins the chrome like finish on the racks and pots, pans and the like no longer slide easily on the racks if you clean them along with the oven.

Mrs_P always removes the racks and cleans them with oven cleaner or some other such item.

Cheers
Steve

I love mine - use it once a month or so when there's been a particularly bad food explosion in the oven or else a bit of a build up

Like Biiiink said, just gets really, really hot for a while, then you open and wipe off the ash. Remember to take out the racks first (and leave a window open) - then mine gives you the choice of 2-4 hours I think.

Enjoy

Others have told you what happens - extreme heat for a few hours to burn off the soil. They haven't told you the most important point:

the oven door LOCKS while this is going on. So NEVER use the self-clean cycle BEFORE cooking the big holiday meal. The cycle will start, the door will lock, and the mechanism will bollix up leaving you with a locked-up, nonfunctional oven at exactly the wrong time. Wait until AFTER the big family dinner to do this. Trust me, you can thank me later.

I'd just move, it's easier.

Ok this sounds like a really bad idea , due to some wonderful design feature we have a smoke alarm about 2 ft from our kitchen, its wired into the condo system so no way of turning it off (unless anyone out there wishes to enlighten me!).

I love our open concept condo but the smoke alarm placement is really bad . If i'm cooking something that is likely to get smokey we have the wonderful system whereby Ben holds a dish over the smoke alarm whilst I open the oven.

So i guess its icky chemical time for me as I dare not risk setting off all the smoke alarms in the place. If nothing else they do my head in!!

Thanks for the posts but looks like I'll have to do it the old fashioned way <stomps away grumbling>

OH turned ours off once with the end of a brush shaft - if that's any help

Same here, or I used to wave the tea-towel at it as soon as the alarm started. Good exercise as long as you change arms now and then.

I love my self-clean oven, I clean it once a year whether it needs it or not, LOL. It takes about 3 hours, so you need to schedule it for when you are staying most of the day. And don't forget it takes ages for the oven to cool day to the point that it unlocks.

My oven is filthy, but I am not going to use the self-cleaning feature until the weather is warm enough that I can open the window and turn the fan on in the dining room. The oven gets really hot and it doesn't smell great, so doing it when the house is shut up is likely to make the house smell not great.

Enlightenment.

Temporarily disable the smoke alarm by standing on a chair beneath it, place a plastic bag over the alarm and secure the bag with a large elastic band.

Once oven has been cleaned and smoke dissipates remove plastic bag.

Cheers
Steve

About right. Have you any idea how much power the self clean uses? Just make the most of it by turning off the heating and all sitting in the kitchen for the day to balance the expense.

According to wikipedia approximately 44 cents for every two hours.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_appliances

Not exactly going to break the bank.