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Comment by gambiting | Hacker News Reader

Yes, if you happen to own an oven that has this feature. It's not exactly common.

Edit: because of course I triggered a storm. Maybe it's common elsewhere. I've lived in few EU countries, rented then owned a few houses, exactly only one of them had an oven with the self cleaning(by heating up to like 500C) feature, I don't think we ever used it. When we bought our current oven none of the ones we looked at had that function. A fancy Candy we looked at had a function where it cleans itself with steam(where you fill up a provided container with water and then it heats it up to fill the oven with steam and in theory that softens the gunk. No idea if that actually works).

If it's common where you live, then my apologies for this comment.

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Not sure where you're writing from, but it's very common in the US. This article (https://www.thekitchn.com/why-you-should-almost-never-use-th...) quotes someone who works for an appliance store in Cincinnati who says it's difficult to sell an oven without that feature. And as others have said, every oven I have every owned (or that my parents owned when I was around and capable of forming memories) has been self-cleaning.

Maybe it sounds fancier than it is? Is not like it has a little robot that cleans the oven. It's just a mode where the oven can get the internal temperature very high (up to 1000 degrees F according to that article) that just incinerates any organic material stuck to the oven walls.

Its not fancy, but I guess it requires a bit more resilient engineering/materials than 250C ovens. Its definitely not a norm in budget/medium priced ovens in Europe, even for new. I mean brands like Bosch mostly don't have it here, I never had one (house, 2 apartments, couple of rental apartments all with full kitchen, kitchen < 10 years old).

Do you guys use electric ovens?

Most ovens in the U.S. burn natural gas, which burns at 1000 degrees F (which is the self-cleaning temperature).

In my experience it was fairly uncommon 30+ years ago, but common today.

Mine doesn't, but that's because it's too fancy, and has a special coating on the inside that's supposed to make stuff just come off. Freaking Whirlpool. It doesn't work.

Really? I figured most ovens had a self-cleaning option... I did this trick to recondition several cast iron pans and it works great, but be prepared for massive amounts of greasy smoke.

Afaik it's just not a thing in europe. Only high end models have it, and even then it's an optional feature that costs extra. Even in a kitchen I rented where just the sink faucet did cost 1000€ the self-cleaning module of the oven was not installed.

We tend to have pretty different ovens in Europe vs the US.

Just a random thought (lived both in the US and in the EU): could it be that US ovens are more often gas ovens while in the EU it's mostly electric? (might be easier to get higher temperatures with gas).

Couldn't find statistics on this with a quick search...

I'm in Canada, but I don't think I've ever seen a gas oven. All my ovens have been electric, and nearly all of them had a self-clean option.

I’ve lived in the US and EU too. My experience was we have fan assisted ovens in the EU whereas ones I saw in the US had a top and bottom element with no fan assist.

Fan assisted ovens are also called "convection ovens." They certainly exist in the US, but I think they are more high end? I personally have one, it also has a self-clean function. The stove part is gas but I think (?) the oven is electric.

Ovens are smaller here typically and you’ll more often than not find the oven and hob (stove) as separate appliances.

It's the opposite... my oven in the US doesn't have the cleaning thing, turns out it's because it's gas only. The gas stovetop + electric oven version of this model has it. Seems to be a thing even with other manufacturers and models.

interesting - both electrolux ovens i have had in the last 10y do have self cleaning. that just - heat as much as possible mode.

Yes it is, it's marketed as 'pyrolytic', it's the norm above roughly £350 and unusual roughly below.

But yes, it is just an element that can go hotter and a shell that can withstand it. Ovens are incredibly overpriced for how rudimentary they are IMO. Ripe for 'disruption' if you had something non-bullshit to compete on but price - sizing is already standardised.

`pyrolytic` does not exist as a keyword for ovens in my country. I just checked at the biggest retailer for such stuff.

The cleaning module of the one oven I'm aware of that had that option was more than just a heating thing. The manual talked about foam and how to refill it. Different countries, different mechanisms I assume.

Never seen it in Australia either but maybe I'm sheltered.

You can do it with a propane grill as the temperatures are hot enthused to carbonize any polymers.

Or just use easy off which is a spray on acid.

Easy Off is a spray on with a pH well above 7, thus a base. Not an acid.

http://www.rbnainfo.com/product.php?productLineId=2704

I lived in some of the crappiest places, never had a fancy oven. Every single one had a self cleaning option.

Some wackos disable the safety latch and then cook pizza in their ovens on the self clean cycle:

https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=268.0

Thank you for the most informative post on this HN discussion!

I’ve never had a non-self-cleaning oven.

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