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

What metal is it?

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.

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.

Given that lye will attack aluminium, String Junky's question seems rather important.

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.

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,

 

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.

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.

First I would try boiling it in pot of hot water for hour.

If it is a really good pan like I have you can use thermal shock to remove the caked on carbon.

If it is cast iron you can turn it upside down on a gas stove and cook it off.

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

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.

I'm sorry I don't see you having mentioned its composition before.

 

Same thermal shock will crack enamel

Apologies I see your post in lucky number13 now

 

It was so long I missed it.

 

Thank you fiveworlds.

 

 

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.

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.