Lancer85
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Best thing/way to clean hotplate?
It’s had everything and cooking oil spilt on it over time and burnt on. What will be the miracle cleaner that will get all this off?
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jackchem2001
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I think the questions to ask are:
- What is the surface of the hot plate made of?
- Any recommendations from the manufacturer?
- Is it even needed? A thin film of crap is not going to appreciably affect heat transfer.
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Cathoderay
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Corning recommends non-abrasive cleaners
You might try a "Glass cook top" cleaner. It may similar to "cold oven" cleaner which could also be tried.
Although technically an abrasive cleaner, an old school thing to try as a last resort would be
"Bon-Ami".
Don't clean it hot.
I realized a stained hotplate might be viewed as a badge of a true chemist by some, but in truth stains should be removed as soon as possible.
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Deathunter88
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The best way I have found (which you will not find mentioned anywhere else) is to heat the hotplate to about 250C and then slowly drip on hydrogen
peroxide in the stained areas. 3% drugstore variety works, but 12% or 30% works better. It's almost like magic as you watch decades of burned on
blackness evaporate into thin air (oxidized to CO2) leaving behind a pristine white surface. Give it a try and let me know how it works for you!
[Edited on 7-3-2025 by Deathunter88]
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imidazole
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Long ago, I worked at a grill. At the end of the night, when the grill got incredibly dirty, with burned on carbon and such, we splashed a mixture of
mysterious composition onto the hot grill, to amazing results with or without scrubbing. Because you mentioned cooking oil, I thought of that stuff.
Out of a quick look online, I found a few SDS sheets for varied brands made of essentially two things: just Potassium Carbonate and Glycerin 
https://sds.chemtel.net/webclients/cheneybrothers/10051142SD...
https://safety365.sevron.co.uk/substances/accessSDS/SDS-8551...
https://cdmsweb.3m.com/ingredientcommunication/file/Media/h9...
Taking the over-under of a few SDS sheets, it looks like the stuff is about 10%, glycerin makes another 50%, and the rest can be water, maybe a little
soap.
NOTE: if you try this, while I'm pretty sure it won't damage a hot plate, I don't know. It's probably a good idea to test a little of this solution on
the side to make sure it doesn't hurt the enamel coating.
If you want to give it a try, you can try an approximate mix of the two in the ranges mentioned, set your plate to something hot, and then unplug it.
Wear something that will protect you from hot steam, pour it on hot, and scrub with a sponge/melamine sponge, and spray and wipe with water.
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Dr.Bob
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I use acetone and ethanol (while cold) to clean the top and side of the organics. Then I try a few things like soap/water on the top, then typically
a green scotchbrite pad on the top. At some point, it is hard to remove burned on stuff, and I have had a few small accidents that really made a
mess of some. For exmaple, conc H2SO4 in DMSO (catalyst and solvent for some horrible cyclization I did years ago.) is really bad for paint, metal
and everything, but cleans the top well. Gotta be careful not to drip it on anything. And Friedel Craft/AlCl3 reactions are also very dark and
messy on them. But H2O2 reactions in DMSO make a mess, but clean up well from on the hotplate. Not so creat for the hood walls... But just don't
get water inside them...
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Cathoderay
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Since the hot plate top is a ceramic and not a steel grill I would be very careful about dumping much liquid on a hot surface. The issue would be
thermal shock.
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Sulaiman
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out of curiosity I found that the ceramic is Pyroceram.
The wikipedia article is interesting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyroceram
(corning glass-ceramic commonly seen as white glass cookware from 1950's until now)
There must be uncountable YT videos on cleaning.
So chemically and physically I would treat it as glass...gently, to be on the cautious side.
PS I have never touched one, just from reading.
On the bright side, glass, ceramics and presumably glass-ceramic can be ground and/or polished.
[Edited on 29-3-2025 by Sulaiman]
CAUTION : Hobby Chemist, not Professional or even Amateur
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