Grill
The part of a cooker that carbonises fat by design. The manufacturer keeps oven cleaner away from every part of the oven, and adds a fire warning about foil.
Precautions
- Check the manufacturer's instructions
- Do not apply to a hot surface
- Ventilate the area
Start here
What this is, what tends to go wrong with it, and what to do about it.
Made from
What tends to go wrong
Food heated until it carbonised and bonded to the surface. Time and softening do the work; scouring powder does the damage.
Why it is difficult: Contact time, Carbonisation, Adhesion and cohesion, Why old stains are harder
Fats and oils, which water alone cannot lift. Removed by surfactants, by heat, by solvents, or by alkalis that convert the fat into soap.
Why it is difficult: Why oil resists water, Emulsification
- Fingerprintsvia its material
Skin oils transferred by touch. A greasy soil rather than a dirty one, which is why water alone does not shift them and why they return immediately.
Why it is difficult: Surfactancy
- Water marksvia its material
What hard water leaves behind when it evaporates instead of being wiped away. A mineral film, not dirt, and the fix is at the drying stage.
Why it is difficult: Water hardness, Evaporative deposition
- Rustvia its material
Hydrated iron oxide from corroding iron or steel. Distinguish a surface deposit, which cleans off, from active corrosion of the item itself, which does not.
Why it is difficult: Corrosion and passivation, Why old stains are harder, Adhesion and cohesion
- Heat tintvia its material
The rainbow or brown bloom on stainless steel that has been heated. Not a deposit and not dirt: the metal's own surface oxide, thickened by heat.
- Limescalevia its material
A hard, chalky calcium carbonate deposit left by hard water. Dissolved by acids, essentially untouched by detergents.
Why it is difficult: Water hardness, Crystallisation, Adhesion and cohesion
The science behind this: Corrosion and passivation, Water hardness, Chloride attack, Cleanability is designed in
In detail
A grill cooks by radiant heat from above, which means fat is exposed directly to a very hot element and carbonises rather than simply melting. That is why the grill pan and grid are the dirtiest components in a cooker and why they are the ones most often attacked with the strongest product available. The manufacturer's own instruction excludes it from the oven: no commercial oven cleaner is used in or around any part of the oven, and residue from oven cleaners will damage the inside of the oven when a self-clean cycle is used. The same manual carries two fire statements worth repeating. Soil under the drip pans, especially grease, may catch fire. And if foil is used on a broiler grid it must have the grid's slits cut into it, or fat cannot drain and the collected juices could become hot enough to catch fire. The general rule the appliance teaches is that grease left on a surface that will be heated again is a fire risk rather than an appearance problem.
Related
- Grill is made from Vitreous enamel
- Grill is made from Stainless steel
- Grill is commonly affected by Burnt-on food and carbon deposits
- Grill is commonly affected by Grease
Sources for this page
Sources
Use and Care & Installation Guide: Self-Cleaning Electric Range
GE Appliances · Manufacturer documentation
Relied on for: That commercial oven cleaner is prohibited in or around any part of the oven, that residue from oven cleaners damages the oven interior when the self-clean cycle is used, that soil under the drip pans especially grease may catch fire, and that foil on a broiler grid needs the grid's slits cut in it or juices could become hot enough to catch fire. (states this directly)