[Ian Gourlay]

From time to time Ive been thinking about adding Oven Cleaning to my services.

Saw one at work today decided not to enter the field too much hazzle.

Think Paul Chambers is right.

[martin19842]

we get involved in domestic oven cleaning for part ex properties, and you get the whole mix,

from the dirty never been cleaned, to sparkling clean.

i must admit, i think they are horrible, and some of the stuff on the market to clean them is a litle bit viscious.

regards

martin

[Mike Halliday]

just lately I've had an open mind to new bussiness ideas and I thought of oven cleaning but decided that I could'nt earn my needed hourly rate.

although on the positive side i think it would be a good option to get you through the winter months when carpet cleaning tends to slow down, the bad weather won't stop anyone wanting thier cooker cleaning.

Mike

[Len Gribble]

Had a leaflet though last week re oven cleaning wont give name as franchise, products are Safe and totally caustic free. Note the non bold from there leaflet

Not my avenue of cleaning.

Len

[Big_Fish]

While cc at a house recently there was a woman also there doing the oven. (The never been touched with a cloth variety).
She took apart everything she could, took it to her van where she emersed it in some kind of fluid.
She came back with wire wool and some more fluid and got stuck into the sides.
Put it all back together, fantastic job, 1 hour £50.

Disgusting job but she made fairly light work of it.
Not our thing but with the right equipment it was not too bad.

The woman said on average she does 4 ovens per day @ £50 each (average) = £1000 a week.

BFN

[stevegunn]

The franchise in my area had to drop her prices to get work having spent over £15000 on van and equipment she was struggling to make her management fee payments.The franchise company figures were based on charging from £50 but she had dropped her price to £35 just to get work i don't know if she is still doing it have not seen her for a while.

[paulchambers]

When i cleaned cookers , i used to paste one up and take all the bits home and then clean one off which i pasted up the day before.

So basically i had two on the go at one time,

The franchise ovenu says they can clean a cooker in 3 hours with a non caustic chemical , i used a chemical of ph14 (deadly) i tried to find what there chemical was but it was a safely guarded secret i asked a operator about the chemical they arent told what it is and they dont have or need a cossh sheet which i found hard to believe.

I also contact the chemical research centre porton down and asked the boffins what was the best chemical to use they instructed me to contact N.A.S.A ( true this is not bullsh -- ) i eventually had a reply that they had invented a water pressure washer which fired tiny molecules of water at the carbon and broked it down so it could be removed they sent the manufacture my details They forwarded a letter regarding this machine and the cost of £140,000 i carried on with my brillo    Paul

[david_h]

'Astonish' do "pan & deep fat fryer cleaner" which may be the same chemical..

Basically you drop two of these tablets into a pan of very hot water along with the item to be cleaned and hey presto! Half an hour later the grill is clean!

The key seems to be the hot water (They don't work well in cold water). Also the packet describes them as "Non-corrosive when dissolved in water"...

Astonish also say that they were developed for 'Professional' use...another clue maybe?

I suspect Ovenu use the same chemical and have a heated tank in the van.

[Ian Gourlay]

In this area they appear to be doing it for £30 however I overherd some Ken type oventalk and the guy was trying to sell some extras

It appears Oven Cleaning has bait and switch

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys,

The chemical with a pH of 14 which is used to clean ovens is NaOH otherwise known as Sodium Hydroxide or caustic soda.

I got a large bag approx 25 kg for about £20.

I only clean one commercial kitchen where I do lots of other stuff.

Sodium hydroxide is extremely corrosive and should only be used with great care.I wear gauntlets and safety goggles when using.

It will also give a strongly exothermic reaction when mixed with water i.e it will produce a lot of heat.

Most oven cleaners contain sodium hydroxide but at about 5% which is much safer but means they do not clean as well.

I think it would be difficult to do oven and carpet cleaning with the same van because of the dirty nature of oven cleaning.

Cheers,

Doug

[paulchambers]

Yes extremely dangerour stuff i used a ph 14 paste and splashed the tinyiest bit in my eye spent over 8 hours in casualty having my eye washed. Caustic Soda in the eye if not removed will penetrate all the way through the eye not like a acid as the eye prosduces a membrane to stop the acid but with a alkaline in will burn all the way through. so care must be taken  Paul

[The Great One]

Hi guys

I have also used caustic soda and had a few splashes (ouch!)

You can get it in a gel called SO20 (caustic gel) you paint it on with a paint brush and leave it for a while and scrub away, as with the liquid stuff, wear rubber gloves (ohh missus) and goggles.

Regards

Martin

[david_h]

Not sure the stuff Ovenu use is caustic soda as they claim their solution is "non-caustic"...

Just checked the Astonish stuff and it contains: Sodium Metasilicate, Sodium Dichlorocyanurate and Sodium Orthophosphate.

It's non corrosive (So they claim) and does a really good job of cleaning grill trays, but only when used in hot water.

I suspect Ovenu use the same/similar stuff.

[conallon]

a couple of years ago me and next door decided to stone and hedge our front ways, he had this bag of caustic soda, which he spread over both our front gardens ( it killed everything thing ) grass,weeds,worms the lot, ive never seen as many dead insects in one
place, looked like they had been a war   stay well away, there is a company in exchange and mart who will set you up with the gear for oven cleaning, around £4000 non franchise i believe as a spin of they change exstracta filters, oven seals, bulbs ect  

                               Conrad

[Dynafoam]

Some additional notes to Doug's' warnings regarding sodium hydroxide:

1) Always add the crystals to water, slowly, NEVER the other way about - the exothermic reaction would be so violent that dangerous spattering would result.

2) Always add to COLD water - never hot. The solution will self-heat.

3) In the event of skin contact, flush well then apply an acid (vinegar  will suffice). Burning can continue until neutralised.

John.

[John_Flynn]

I recall many years back (more than I can remember) my father put some Castic Soda into a Metal Bucket then added water,

BBBBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM

"There's a hole in my Bucket dear Liza dear Liza !!!"

[Len Gribble]

John

Slightly going off the subject on oven cleaning but has a relevance to any cleaning agents who dose what first?

Hope all understand my question!

Len