How to Clean an Oven Face
How to Clean an Oven Face
A Maytag self-cleaning oven works by heating the oven to approximately 900 degrees for two to four hours. The excessive heat incinerates grease and spills, leaving only ash that can be easily wiped up. You should run an exhaust fan or keep your windows open while cleaning, as there will be some fumes from the burn-off.
Before You Begin
Be sure to remove the oven's broiler pan and any personal pans or other items you might have stored in the oven before you turn on the cleaning cycle. Also remove the oven racks. The high heat will cause the finish on the racks to become discolored, and the racks will be harder to slide. Clean the racks manually. See Resources for tips on various ways to clean oven racks.
You also need to do some manual cleaning on the inside of the door before you begin the self-cleaning cycle. Use a wet sponge and a non-abrasive cleaner to clean the door between the door seal gasket and the outer edge of the door. This area becomes hot, but not hot enough to incinerate grease or spills. As a result, if you run the clean cycle before manually cleaning this area, you actually bake on the mess.
Use a wet cloth to wipe up excessive spills on the oven floor. Although the self-clean feature will get rid of these, a lot of smoke and possible flare-ups could be produced in the process.
Clean Cycle
Maytag self-cleaning ovens have a safety latch on the door that must be locked before the self-cleaning process will begin. This latch is located at the top of the oven door, below the cooktop control knobs. Slide the latch right to the locked position.
Push the "Clean" button on the display panel. A medium clean time of three hours is automatically displayed. Press the "More+" button to increase the time to four hours for a very dirty oven or to "Less-" to decrease it to two hours for a lightly soiled oven.
In four seconds, the cleaning cycle will begin. The oven will heat up and run for the time you have set. When it is finished, the door will remain locked for one hour while the oven cools down. When the word "Lock" disappears from the display area, you can slide the latch to the left and open the door.
Then use a damp cloth or paper towel to wipe away the gray ash that remains after the oven has been cleaned.
Note that you will not be able to open the door or even unlock the door during the self-cleaning process. If you must stop the cleaning cycle, hit the "Cancel" button. The cleaning cycle will turn off, but you still will not be able to unlock the door until the unit cools down to a safe temperature.