How to get rid of the self-cleaning oven smell? [7 Tips]
A self-cleaning oven goes back to about 1963. Back then, the renowned General Electric was the first that introduced these kinds of ovens to the international market. At present, there are two types of self-cleaning ovens available commercially- the traditional ones which most of us have, and then there are the steam-cleaning ones.
If you have purchased an oven within the last ten years, you probably have one that offers a self-cleaning cycle.
While the inside of a traditional self-cleaning oven has an enamel coating which makes things easy to come off once they are loosened or softened, steam cleaning ones instead of just burning up all the junk in there put off steam which soaks the stuff that’s on the walls and thus al the liquid falls to the bottom of the floor pan.
However, self-cleaning ovens leave an awkward smell like burning plastic, which makes people living around them pretty uncomfortable. This article aims to help you get rid of unwanted things.
How to get rid of the self-cleaning oven smell?
Self-cleaning ovens basically work by using high heat to disintegrate food ingredients’ molecules and turning them to ash so that the waste can be cleaned smoothly.
But the self-cleaning feature has its disturbing disadvantages. Ovens generally smell rotten either because of stuck-on grease or food elements. Sometimes oven rack materials that aren’t meant to be exposed to extreme self-cleaning heat also cause a bad odor.
To be precise, if you want to get rid of self-cleaning ovens’ bad smells, avoid using any extra cleaning products as they get mixed with the oven steam, producing harmful noxious fumes.
Moreover, before the self-cleaning procedure begins, remove metal stuff as they also generate a bad smell while coming into close contact with oven steam.
What can you do to get rid of the self-cleaning oven smell?
While trying the self-cleaning feature of the oven, it might seem to smell up the whole house, certainly bad. It gets pathetic if you can’t leave the house and stay inside while consuming the bad odor coming from the oven.
Here, I’m going to discuss some methods which aim to help you in this regard.
Proper Ventilation
While self-cleaning, remember not to leave the oven unattended as that might turn out to be dangerous. You need to be around making sure there’s enough chance of disclosure for the fumes.
A decent air circulation system is one of the easiest and most effective ways to get rid of your oven smell. To ensure that, activate your kitchen’s vent hood and open the windows all around your home as wide as possible.
Even generally speaking, inside the home, closed windows and lack of ventilation increase the risk of severe damage. Life-threatening incidents might occur due to gas leakage from your stove. So in terms of the self-cleaning procedure too it’s urgent.
Along with this, make it inevitable that the particular appliance is vented. Some people use traditional fans or invest in range hoods which help to air out the space and get the fumes moving a bit.
Quick Pre-Clean
Though the whole point of self-cleaning ovens is to save time and energy without the user needing to get involved, this step could really help from occurring any undesirable situation afterward. For this, all you have to do is take a waste old rug or paper towel and then rub it across the inside of the oven to get the biggest lumps and portions of dirt out of there.
Baking soda
Baking sodas have been used for a long time to manage bad odors at home and outside. Place a box of soda inside your oven without anything mixing further. It makes a huge difference in terms of spreading the bad odor. The box can be left there overnight or even longer if necessary to eliminate the oven smell.
Vinegar and Distilled Water
The age-old trick of boiling water and mixing it with vinegar works like magic in many ways. Especially when it’s about eliminating a certain awful odor. It’s quite handy to remove the self-cleaning oven smell as well.
Furthermore, water steaming really helps in cases of acute odor. If your oven seems to stink after self-cleaning, try pouring about a cup or two of distilled water into the floor of the oven. It’ll help reduce the bad smell.
Removing Metals
While you need to clean up any visible rubble beforehand, don’t forget to take out the racks too! As the steam feature’s chemical reaction with the metallic racks generates an unpleasant odor they are advised to remove it in advance to avoid oven smell.
Moreover, if left inside the oven during the cleaning, these racks may distort and discolor because of the excessive heat exposure during this cycle.
Along with the racks, eliminate all pots, pans, metal oven grates, or aluminum foil shards. The debris on scalded metal grates might catch fire while foil can dissolve onto the oven’s interior lining and deform it.
After clean-up
When the self-cleaning oven’s smell doesn’t go away on its own, you need to put some extra effort to clean up the entire sensitive area of your oven. As soon as the oven gets cool after self-cleaning you can wipe the ceiling and upper side walls with a water-dampened fresh rag mixing into some hygienic, eco-friendly cleaning liquid as per manual instructions. Also, there’s this way to vacuum out the residue.
This always helps when self-cleaning leaves an awful smell all around. Wiping the inner portion with scented and safe liquid eliminates awful odor expeditiously.
Owner’s Manual
Each oven company has its own instructions regarding the self-cleaning feature. Before you put your oven into self-cleaning mode, read out the guidelines properly. When the smell doesn’t go away after trying the alternatives, consider talking to their staff or local technicians to make sure everything is safe. As the saying fits here perfectly, proper preparation is the key to getting rid of your oven smell easily.
Last but not the least, although self-cleaning ovens have an automatic locking feature, don’t forget to check out further if the door is shut down from the inside tightly and properly. Otherwise, the smell will spread all around your house instead of remaining isolated inside the oven.
Frequently Asked Questions about “How to get rid of the self-cleaning oven smell”
1. Is the smell from self-cleaning ovens toxic?
Researchers who have been working on Carbon monoxide mentioned that many self-cleaning ovens tend to generate and release carbon monoxide emissions into the whole house. When baked-on food in an oven is exposed to high heat, they release it into the air which sometimes becomes poisonous.
However, this gas is odorless, tasteless, and invisible. Ovens’ inside walls are coated with Teflon coating which is absolutely safe so long as we bake or boil food ingredients. Nevertheless, as soon as the oven warms to 600° Fahrenheit or more during the cleaning process, it produces Teflon fumes which are really virulent and can cause flu-like symptoms such as chills, chronic coughing, excessive perspiration with breathing difficulties.
2. How long does a self-clean oven smell last?
There’s no exact duration of the self-cleaning oven’s smell as to how long they would last. As these ovens are generally made by diverse companies, their working procedures are sure to vary. Regardless, on a normal basis, the self-cleaning ovens’ washing cycle takes somewhere from 30 minutes to approximately 6 hours.
Moreover, some ovens have the option to specify the length of the cleaning so you can personalize the timing according to your convenience. Though most ovens, particularly the cheap ones don’t come with this incredible option.
Final thoughts on “How to get rid of the self-cleaning oven smell”
Despite the tricks and tips mentioned above, one shouldn’t aspire to use the self-cleaning feature regularly as it involves multiple adversities along with the facilities.
Self-cleaning should be considered only when the oven is heavily soiled, the food elements are absolutely adamant and hardened and can’t be cleaned manually. Experts recommend using the feature once a year or around six months, not before that depending on the intensity of the customers’ usage.
