What's the best way to remove baked on grease/carbon from a smooth-top stove?

[jjbaer]

I have an electric smooth-top stove and occasionally I'll get really tough baked-on grease which carbonizes or just appears as black marks on the glass top. I use the normal cleaners for glass top stoves and most of the marks are removed but some WILL NOT come out and NOTHING works. I've tried a gentle scraping with a razor blade, "carbon out" remover and special other stuff Lowes sells in a small bottle that is suppose to remove these but they won't budge. What have you found that works successfully to remove these tough black marks on glass, smooth-top burners?

 

[Hogwildz]

You can try GOJO hand cleaner, make sure you use the NONE gritty formula.

 

[njtomatoguy]

I made a very expensive mistake on a new boat that I was working on, and the guy that fixed it used soft scrub GEL. It worked on fiberglass, but I don't know if it will work on glass surface-but I don't see why not.
Hope this helps.
Bob

 

[senorFrog]

Rutland White-Off. Same stuff I use to clean the wood stove glass. I actually used this stuff to clean up my rims and remove some old bumper sticker glue. Works great! I think web posted they are a forum sponsor too.

(broken link removed to http://www.northlineexpress.com/itemdesc.asp?ic=5RU-565)

 

[Webwidow]

Try a small area first with "Bar Keepers Friend" found in the cleanser section in hardware stores and neighborhood markets.

 

[struggle]

Sharp flat razor blade first and then use the smooth stove top cleaner that can be had anywhere house hold appliances are sold.

 

[webbie]

If the surface can take oven cleaner, try Mr. Muscle (that brand only)......we used to use it for the toughest creosote on glass problems!

 

[jjbaer]

Sharp flat razor blade first and then use the smooth stove top cleaner that can be had anywhere house hold appliances are sold.

I previously tried both of those and neither works. These are really tough baked on or carbonized stains and they won't come out. I normally use Easy Off oven cleaner made for smooth top stoves and this takes off most stains but not the really tough stains. I then tried Cerama Bryte (small bottle sold at Lowes) made for baked on grease and it wouldn't work. I also just tried a combination of creosote remover that I use on my wood burner glass doors with the Cerama Bryte and it didn't work so then I tried the same thing and creosote remover made for stones, and again, it won't remove the small areas that are black.

The cook top has a pattern of white dots on it and the black obscures the dots but in some cases I can see the faint white dots below the black areas. On other areas, the black is thick enough that it totally obscures the white dots. The black areas are small (about 1/10 of an inch by 1/10 of an inch) but it's noticeable because the white dot pattern ends, then begins again before/after one of these areas.........

Edited this to add this thought: you don't suppose that these glass tops are all black with white dots overlaid on top of the black and that what I'm seeing is areas where the white dots have been partially or totally scraped away, thus showing black behind them???? In which case I'm incorrectly assuming that the black carbon is on top of them when in reality the white dots have been worn away....???? If this is so, there's nothing to remove as the white dots are abraded and thus worn away, in which case more "scraping" only wears more away........... Anyone know how these tops are made????

 

[jjbaer]

Try a small area first with "Bar Keepers Friend" found in the cleanser section in hardware stores and neighborhood markets.

Thanks but even with that and creosote remover and carbon-out, it's still there.

 

[Mmaul]

Try the "Oven Off" with windows open and turn it on to get it hot. This usually works but you still my have to scrub it when its still warm.

 

[myzamboni]

I've heard people use Coca-Cola as an oven cleaner. Maybe spill some on this stain, let it bubble for a while and see what happens? Not much wasted expense (unless you don't have any Coca-Cola in the house).

 

[Harley]

As a last resort, if it is baked on grease and stuff.... go to the plumbing section and pick up some "red devil" drain cleaner. It's a powder (Lye), but it really does eat up grease (make it into a diluted solution first, and wear gloves). I don't know what those glass tops are made of, but I doubt it would hurt it. I know if you soak an old cast iron skillet that has millions of years of cooked on crap - you soak it in a bucket of that stuff overnight and all of the stuff is gone - then you just clean and re-season the pan.

If those "white spots" are actually on the surface.... it may take those out too though.

 

[saichele]

Something slightly less aggressive than the Lye would be TSP. Really all depends on the chemistry of the stain. For that matter, a compress of moist dishwasher powder for a while would probably go a long way.

Steve

 

[babalu87]

A Gas Stove

 

[jklingel]

One of the drain cleaners is "hydrogen chloride", which is hydrochloric acid. I bet it would clean it. The brand I bought has the best concentration of HCl, which I think is 40%.