Recently retired and have an older 009 unused for minimum 5 yrs. but in excellent condition. Mostly concerned about safety. Please suggest the best way to prepare the interior for safe way to clean and sanitize to start using again. Anxious to get back to it again now that I have the time.
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My 2 cents: I would start by scraping off all the heavy and loose stuff using plastic putty scrapers and remove. Wipe it down and fire it up. If it heats up good, spray the interior all around with oven cleaner and make sure your drip tray is in place. Your choice as to whether to leave the racks in or clean them separately. After cool down, wipe and rinse to remove all residue. Heat it up again and look for any leftover cleaner as it should be white or hazy. Wipe and season with wood of your choice.
Thanks Sarge, most appreciative for your answer and was what I was thinking. Reading the manual it suggested not to use this type of product because of the grills. Made me concerned about other components. I was thinking I should see if anyone had similar concerns or experience.
I had a mouse set up housekeeping inside a few winters back. I pulled the racks and used oven cleaner on the interior. All stainless steel and no harm. The rack were washed hot soap and water as I clean mine after every use. But follow the guidance from Cookshack as they know best.
I agree with oldsarge. Oven cleaner is not kind to chrome plated grids. Also, take extra care in wiping out all the oven cleaner with damp sponge or cloth that you rinse often. Good luck!
A 50/50 mix of vinegar and water makes a good rinse/ wipe down solution for use after cleaning with oven cleaner.
Clean forgot about the vinegar. Thanks.
Great tip! Never used vinegar, but I will next time. Makes sense that the acid tends to neutralize the caustic oven cleaner. Thanks.
Thanks everyone for your help! I at first step used "Outdoor Paradise" BBQ Cleaner and Degreaser" I use on my grill. Had this for a while from Amazon but they show unavailable for now. This and others are in watery form and sprayable. I chose to brush on and scraped the first panel which took several steps. I found that if coated, wallpapered with paper towel, saturated again, and waited 10 min, when damp paper comes right off and took off 99%. Do one panel at a time. Still yet for me to do 50/50 vinegar/water wash. Wanted to get this right out to you.
Looks great.
