Elite Engineer Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 I'm trying to clean a heavily stained broiler pan that is covered in lots of oily, black deposits from cooking. Are most of the deposits just charred carbon, or mostly nonpolar substances "cooked" on to the pan? I was thinking about using xylene, or some other nonpolar solvents to possibly dissolve the deposits...or is the only way to clean it is by the casual soap and elbow grease..I hope not ~EE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StringJunky Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 What metal is it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acme Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 Use oven cleaner. It has lye in it, usually either sodium hydroxide (NaOH) or potassium hydroxide (KOH). Let it sit after applying and then add the elbow grease. You may need several applications depending on how bad the gunk is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiot Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 1) Boil up a generous tablespoon of Persil for 1/2 hour to 1 hour. 2) Stubborn stains can be removed with sodium hydroxide, cheaply obtainable as drain cleaner. Best done outside. Flush with lots of water after. 3) Finally polish with metal polish so yes then you will need the elbow grease. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Cuthber Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 Given that lye will attack aluminium, String Junky's question seems rather important. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acme Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 Given that lye will attack aluminium, String Junky's question seems rather important.Could be, though I've not seen any aluminum broiler pans. The ones I have seen are steel or enameled steel. If it is aluminum, is there a chemical you recommend? If it is aluminum I'd go with a wire wheel on a drill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StringJunky Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 Given that lye will attack aluminium, String Junky's question seems rather important. Yes, If he doesn't want to make life too hard for himself grinding/polishing it afterwards, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiot Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 JohnCuthber Given that lye will attack aluminium, String Junky's question seems rather important. I have a crepe pan with aluminium base that blackens/burns on the underside/base because it has very low sides. The blackened aluminium base gets regular cleaning with hydroxide based spray oven cleaner. Yes it dulls the surface and probabaly removes a microlayer. But equally that microlayer is probably smaller than the one removed by mechanical wire brushing/grinding processes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acme Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 Looking around a bit, I see potassium bitartrate, i.e. cream of tartar, is recommended for cleaning aluminum. ... Household use Potassium bitartrate can be mixed with an acidic liquid such as lemon juice or white vinegar to make a paste-like cleaning agent for metals such as brass, aluminum or copper, or with water for other cleaning applications such as removing light stains from porcelain.[4] ... If the pan is enameled or bare steel, oven cleaner is the way to go from my personal experience. Wear gloves and eye protection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sensei Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 First I would try boiling it in pot of hot water for hour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fiveworlds Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 If it is a really good pan like I have you can use thermal shock to remove the caked on carbon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zapatos Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 If it is cast iron you can turn it upside down on a gas stove and cook it off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elite Engineer Posted April 4, 2015 Author Share Posted April 4, 2015 The pan is actually enameled steel as mention numerous times. I have plenty of sodium hydroxide so then I just soak in a sodium hydroxide bath for a few minutes then scrub? ~EE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiot Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 The pan is actually enameled steel as mention numerous times. I have plenty of sodium hydroxide so then I just soak in a sodium hydroxide bath for a few minutes then scrub? ~EE I'm sorry I don't see you having mentioned its composition before. However, enameled steel is safe with hydroxide, so as you take safety precautions about yourself. Oven spray is the most convenient, likely you will need several applications. I would warm the pan with some hot water first. Discard the water, take the pan outside and spray on. You will need to leave for at least half an hour. Then sluice off the excess with water. Then scrub off as much as you can with one of those non-scratch sponge and plastics scourers. Repeat several times until as clean as you want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fiveworlds Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 I'm sorry I don't see you having mentioned its composition before. Same thermal shock will crack enamel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiot Posted April 4, 2015 Share Posted April 4, 2015 Apologies I see your post in lucky number13 now It was so long I missed it. Thank you fiveworlds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elite Engineer Posted April 4, 2015 Author Share Posted April 4, 2015 I'm sorry I don't see you having mentioned its composition before. . Oh no, I was mentioning the fact that everyone else was suggesting it was enameled steel, you're fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Cuthber Posted April 7, 2015 Share Posted April 7, 2015 The pan is actually enameled steel as mention numerous times. I have plenty of sodium hydroxide so then I just soak in a sodium hydroxide bath for a few minutes then scrub? ~EE I have used a blow-torch to clean enamelled steel. It stinks a bit, but it doesn't take a lot of hard work. Sodium hydroxide solution will remove a lot of the dirt, but it may also attack the enamel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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