Read This Before Using Oven Cleaner On Your Grill
There are few chores worse than scrubbing down the grill before a big backyard barbecue. Of course, it was great fun and great food that put it in its dirty state in the first place, but all that burnt, caked-on food from grilling meals during weeks past can be downright gross. Obviously, you should be cleaning your grill between uses with your grill brush, but every so often, you need a deep cleaning — the type of cleaning that revitalizes your grill to its youthful glory days and makes it feel as clean as it did the first time you used it.
For Your Grill recommends you do your grill's deep clean once a year if you are a seasonal griller and twice if you use it year-round. The cleaning generally should be done at the end of the season so there is little prep work that needs to happen when you go to fire it up the next year. That said, when it does come time to clean your grill, your first instinct might be to reach for the oven cleaner, after all, it works so well to clean up your oven grime. But before you do, SF Gate shares that if you don't use the oven cleaner properly, you risk damaging your grill.
Don't use oven cleaner on the outside of your grill
You can definitely use oven cleaner to clear your grill grates of all that grimy food residue that has accrued, but if you do use a standard oven cleaner, SF Gate cautions not to get any of this chemical spray on the outside of your grill. If you do, it could lead to some unsightly damage to the enamel. That said, you can definitely use it on the grates and inside of the grill, and it'll take roughly 20 to 30 minutes for the chemicals to do their work. After that, remove the grates and wash them with soap and water. You'll also want to wash down the interior and use soapy water to clean the outside, too.
For Your Grill also warns that while oven cleaners work well when used properly to clean your grill, this chemical cleaner should not be broken out with great frequency. And when you do use oven cleaner, remember to protect your hands and wear your rubber dishwashing gloves.