OT cleaning off burnt on oil and grease

[Britcheflee]

I have collected about 20 saute pans which were on the way to the dumpster - I was going to take them to recycling as they are aluminium - however when I got them home I realized they are only dirty and need a clean - the stuff on them is burnt on grease and oil from years of use - the backs are really bad with that shiny brown glaze - the insides are bad but the bottoms are not so dirty - I tried a wire brush first - nothing, wire brush on drill, nothing, round grinder, just clogged it with goop, I have a pint of Berrymans cleaning stuff inside it and going to let it soak overnight - I am thinking that if I can get them back to shiny new I could actually sell them for more than recycle - also made me wonder if there might be a market for restaurants where I go and clean the pans back to new for them - do you think sandblasting would work? Any other cleaner you think might get that stuff off?

Lee
 

[Den N Ms]

Britcheflee Use some cheap oven cleaner on them to remove the carbon burnt on gunk. Or even some paint remover will work great.
 

[Ron-MO]

In a previous life at work we had a furnace we used for heat treating, and on occasion we would "burn off" items like that. I recall doing a lot of paint stripping that way, as well as cleaning items such as you mention. I think that small electric furnace (fire brick lined) ran roughly 1000 degrees and would make short work of cleaning things up. Simply wash off the ash that was left, then we usually bead blasted it, and refinished (on painted items). Probably not very environmentally friendly, and I often wondered about how exposive the fumes coming off it, but worked good. How hot does a gas bbq run? (I use charcoal, so I have no idea)
 

[old]

I would still recycle them since I do not use aluminum cook ware at all due to the health risk ya it maybe a myth but I'll stay with my cast iron stuff
 

[HCooke]

Oven cleaner (Lye, NaOH) and aluminum are a bad combination.
 

[Britcheflee]

This is probably what 99% of your food is cooked in at a restaurant:

http://www.instawares.com/gatorgrip-aluminum-fry-pan.971138.0.7.htm

Actually, because of the amount of oil and grease which builds up and seasons the pan I really doubt much aluminium ever gets into the food - boiling products in large aluminium pots may be a different story though.

Lee

I will try the oven cleaner and see if that works. Wouldnt an aluminium pan melt at 1000 degrees!!!
 

[HCooke]

No oven cleaner on aluminum. Look up NaOH vs
Aluminum.
 

[old]

Would you believe I might eat out once maybe twice a year?? Things like tomato's it is not good to cook in aluminum and any other high acid food. All my cook ware and yes I call it may because I do 99% of the cooking is cast iron or stainless steel or glass
 

[Den N Ms]

Most oven cleaner is only 10% NaOH
 

[Ron-MO]

No, aluminum (good grade) will not melt at 1000 degrees. The furnace we were using was used primarily to heat treat cast aluminum and laminated steel parts for manufacturing electrical components. We often went as high as 1200 degrees without melting the aluminum, and shrink fit the part onto an assembly using that method. But I am sure you could likely burn off those with a gas bbq as well at much less than 1000 degrees. "Pot metal" or some alloys will melt at those temps.
 

[Bob Harvey]

Your intent is good. However, JUNK them (or recycle) The effort to reclaim is NOT worth it.
 

[Cliff(VA)]

It will still eat away at the aluminum and create LOTS of explosive hydrogen gas.

Cliff(VA)
 

[TheOldHokie]

[showcrop]

Unless it changed over the weekend, and I could call into the plant and check, NaOH is still what is being used at food service operations to clean burned on grease. And yes they are cleaning aluminum pans. I have customers who sell concentrated oven cleaner in 55 gal. drums to restaurants. I sell the 55 gal. drums to the distributors. Most restaurants don't keep up with them and the bottoms get very crusted, but some places do and during the cleaning they avoid getting it on the inside. but even if the cleaner etches the aluminum a little, a quick scrub removes the oxidation and shines the surface again.
 

[TheOldHokie]