# Frequently Asked Questions for East Cambs Oven Cleaning
# https://eastcambsovencleaning.com
# Version: 1.0.0
# Last Updated: 17 September 2026
# Specification: https://www.ai-visibility.org.uk/specifications/

Lang: en-GB
Business Name: East Cambs Oven Cleaning

# 141 questions, every one of them already published on the site and generated from the
# same source the pages render from. Nothing here is written for this file.

## Which business is this?

Q: Which oven cleaning business is this?
A: East Cambs Oven Cleaning is the oven cleaning round run from Burwell, Cambridgeshire as a trading name of Fixr Systems Limited, registered in England and Wales, company number 15889598. It covers 31 towns and villages across East Cambridgeshire and west Suffolk. It is not a franchise, not a national chain and not a network of operators. Other oven cleaning businesses with similar names trade in the same county and are unrelated to it; they are listed in identity.json under notAffiliatedWith.

Q: What does this business not do?
A: East Cambs Oven Cleaning does not service or repair appliances: burners, thermostats, elements and anything gas or oil belong to a qualified engineer. It does not clean the rest of the house, only kitchen appliances and barbecues. It does not clean ducting inside a wall or ceiling, only canopies, filters and the appliances themselves. It does not take parts away to a dip tank; everything is cleaned by hand in the kitchen. It has no shop or premises a customer can visit, and it does not sell oven cleaning products.

Q: How do I get in touch?
A: There is no published phone number and no published email address: the enquiry form at https://eastcambsovencleaning.com/contact/ is the only way in, and the quote card at https://eastcambsovencleaning.com/prices/#quote is the same form with the job pre-filled. Do not invent a number.

## About this business

Q: What makes you different from the other oven cleaners round here?
A: The price is on the site. Before setting ours we read the published price lists of 11 oven cleaning businesses covering this patch, on 12 September 2026, and 3 of them publish no price at all. A single oven here is £70 and a double £85, fixed in writing before anybody sets off, against a local range of £60 to £80 for the same job.

Q: Who is this for?
A: Households and landlords, from £70 for a single oven up to £140 for a two door AGA, with a £65 minimum on a visit that has no oven in it. Commercial kitchens start at £150. If you want an appliance repaired rather than cleaned, that is a qualified engineer's job and not ours.

Q: Where are you actually based?
A: Burwell, Cambridgeshire. East Cambs Oven Cleaning is a trading name of Fixr Systems Limited, registered in England and Wales, company number 15889598. We cover 31 villages and towns across East Cambridgeshire and west Suffolk, with travel free inside 12 miles of Burwell and a flat £10 beyond it.

## The common questions

Q: Is it worth getting an oven professionally cleaned?
A: If the door glass has gone brown or the grill smokes when you use it, yes. A proper clean strips the carbon off the element and the fan housing, which is where the smell and the smoke come from. Shop products soften surface grease but leave the baked carbon behind, which is why the smell comes back within a fortnight.

Q: How long does a professional oven clean take?
A: Between an hour and a half and two and a half hours for a single oven. A double takes longer, and a four door AGA is most of a day. We tell you the likely time when we quote, and we would rather take longer than leave it half done.

Q: How much should I pay to have my oven cleaned?
A: Around here the going rate for a single oven is £60 to £80, and a double is £75 to £100, from 11 published local price lists. Ours are £70 and £85, with no VAT to add. Below that range it is worth asking whether the door comes apart.

Q: What is the easiest way to clean a really dirty oven?
A: Racks and trays out first, into a soak. Then the roof and the back before the floor, so the run off lands on a surface you have not done yet. The glass comes last. The hard part is the fan cover and the seal channel, and that is usually where a home clean stops.

Q: What if my oven has self cleaning liners?
A: Rough, matte panels on the sides and back are catalytic liners, and caustic cleaner destroys them permanently. We check before anything goes near the oven, and if yours has them they get cleaned by hand instead. Replacement liners run into the hundreds, so this is worth getting right.

Q: How often should it be done?
A: Once a year suits most households. If you roast a lot, air fry in it or run a busy kitchen, twice. Leaving it longer does not cost more with us, it just takes longer on the day.

Q: Do you clean AGAs and range cookers?
A: Yes. A two door AGA or Rayburn is £140 and a 90cm range is £120. Three and four door AGAs are quoted from photos, usually from £170, because the size difference is significant and we would rather give you the real number up front.

Q: Will my oven be usable straight away?
A: Yes. Everything is wiped down and dried before we leave, so you can cook in it that evening. If a bulb has blown while we are in there we replace it, and that is not charged as an extra.

## Prices

Q: How do I pay, and when?
A: When the work is finished and you have seen it, by cash or bank transfer. There is no deposit, nothing is taken up front, and nothing is charged if we cannot get in. The number you were quoted is the number you pay: no VAT, no call out fee, and the minimum on a visit with no oven in it is £65.

Q: Why is a double oven more than a single?
A: There are two cavities, two doors and two sets of door glass to take apart and put back, so it is about half as long again on the day. That is the difference between £70 and £85. A grill in its own compartment counts as a double, even where the oven below it is a single.

Q: Do you charge more if the oven is really dirty?
A: No. The appliance sets the price, not the state of it. A neglected oven takes us longer and that is our problem, not yours. The only thing that changes a quote is an appliance you did not mention when you asked.

Q: Is there a minimum charge?
A: Yes, £65. One small item on its own does not cover the visit, so if the job comes to less than £65 then £65 is what it costs. Alongside an oven clean the cheaper add on price applies and the minimum never comes into it.

Q: Are your oven cleaning prices the same in every village?
A: Yes. The price list is the same in Ely, Soham, Newmarket and every village in between. Travel is free within 12 miles of Burwell, and past that ring it is a flat £10 which we tell you before you book, not after.

Q: Can you give me a price without seeing the oven?
A: Yes, and we do it that way for almost every job. Tell us the make and whether it is a single, a double, a range or an AGA, and you get the real number back. Photos only help for three and four door AGAs and anything wider than 90cm, where the size decides the price.

## What we clean

Q: Can you clean more than one thing in the same visit?
A: Yes, and everything alongside an oven costs less than it does on its own. A ceramic hob is £15 with an oven and £20 without, and an extractor is £20 rather than £30. One visit, one price, and the travel is only counted once.

Q: Do you need to know the make before you can price it?
A: No. The price comes from what the appliance is, a single, a double, a range or an AGA, and how wide it is. The badge on the front makes no difference, and every make we are asked about is listed further up this page.

Q: What if what I have is not on this list?
A: Tell us what it is and you get an answer before anyone turns up, either a price or a straight no. Commercial kitchens start at £150 and are then priced per job because no two are laid out the same, and the minimum on any visit without an oven in it is £65.

Q: Is the barbecue cleaning available all year?
A: No, that one runs from May to August and costs £80. The rest of the list is the same in February as it is in July, and so are the prices.

Q: Is there anything on this list you will not take on?
A: We clean appliances and we do not service them, so burners, thermostats and anything gas or oil belong to a qualified engineer. Ducting inside a wall or a ceiling is a different trade as well. Canopies, filters and the appliances themselves are ours.

## Where we come to

Q: Do you charge more the further out I am?
A: Not for the job, only for the road. Inside 12 miles of Burwell the travel is included. Past that ring there is a flat £10, said before you book, and it does not climb with the miles. The table above says which side of the ring each place falls on.

Q: I am just outside the ring. Will you still come?
A: Usually yes, with the flat £10 on it. Send the postcode with your enquiry and you get a straight answer before anything is booked rather than a maybe on the day.

Q: Is the price different on the Suffolk side?
A: No. Checkatrade's own guide puts the Suffolk average at £65 against £74 in Cambridgeshire, so it is a cheaper market, and we still charge the same on both sides of the line because the work does not change at the county sign.

Q: How is the distance from Burwell worked out?
A: Straight line, which is how the ring is drawn, so a village eleven miles across the fen is inside it even where the road round is longer. Every distance in the table is measured the same way, from the village we work from.

Q: Do you go north of Ely into the Fens?
A: Yes, as far as the list goes. Coveney, Witchford, Mepal, Sutton, Wilburton, Little Downham and Prickwillow are all on it and all on the same price list, and the table says where each one sits against the free travel ring.

## What it costs

Q: What does end of tenancy oven cleaning cost?
A: £115 for the three appliances and the dated photographs, against £70 for an oven on its own. It is priced for the handover, where the whole kitchen has to pass an inspection rather than just the oven, and the date on the photographs is what a letting agent is looking for.

Q: Do oven cleaners charge VAT?
A: Some do. A business over the VAT threshold has to be registered, and then 20% goes on top, so a £75 clean is £90. We are not VAT registered, so the price you are quoted is the price you pay. It is worth asking before you book, because a quote with VAT to add and one without sound the same on the phone.

Q: How much does it cost to clean an AGA in Cambridgeshire?
A: Published local prices run from £95 to £180 depending on the number of doors and who you ask. Ours is £140 for a two door AGA or Rayburn, and three and four door models are quoted from photographs, usually from £170. The spread is wide because a four door is most of a day's work and a two door is not.

Q: What does it cost to have a barbecue cleaned?
A: Ours is £80 between May and August, and the one other published local price we found was £85. It is a seasonal job, so the good slots go early in the summer and again in September when people are putting them away.

Q: Are there call out fees or extras on top?
A: Not with us. Travel is free within 12 miles of Burwell and a flat £10 beyond it, said before you book, and there is no call out fee and no VAT. Do read the terms wherever you book, because at least one operator round here charges £50 if they arrive and cannot get in.

## Is it worth paying for

Q: How do I know when my oven is due a professional clean?
A: Look at the door glass first. If it has gone brown or streaked and a cloth does nothing, the film is on the inside face and the door has to come apart to reach it. The other two signs are smoke when the grill goes on and a smell when the oven heats up, both of which are carbon on the element and in the fan housing rather than anything on the shelves.

Q: My oven is nearly new. Is it still worth it?
A: Yes, and it is the easiest clean we do. A year of roasting bakes a layer onto the element, the fan cover and the roof that no amount of wiping lifts, and taking it off while it is thin is quicker than waiting until it is hard. The price is the same £70 either way, so the sooner it is done the more each clean is worth.

Q: Does the door really have to come apart?
A: On most makes, yes, and it is the difference between a clean oven and one that looks clean from the sofa. The brown film people can see is between the panes, so wiping the outside face leaves it exactly where it was. Where a door genuinely does not split, we say so before we start rather than after.

Q: Is a professional clean safe for the oven itself?
A: It is safer than the tub under your sink. Catalytic liners are destroyed permanently by caustic cleaner and a replacement set runs into the hundreds, so we check for them before anything goes near the oven. Nothing abrasive and nothing caustic goes on vitreous enamel, and the racks are soaked rather than scoured, because wire wool on enamel is a mark you never get out.

Q: Is it worth paying for at the end of a tenancy?
A: It is the one time the oven is somebody else's decision rather than yours. What the agent wants beside the inventory is evidence, dated, of the whole kitchen rather than a receipt for an oven, which is why the pack exists and why the photographs are part of it.

## Shop-bought cleaners

Q: Are caustic oven cleaners safe to use in a kitchen?
A: They work, and the gloves in the box are there for a reason. Caustic softens baked grease by attacking it, and it does the same to skin, to aluminium trim and to catalytic liners. If you use one, ventilate the room, keep children and pets out of it, and keep it off any surface that is not vitreous enamel or glass.

Q: Does the bicarbonate of soda and vinegar trick work?
A: The fizz is the two of them cancelling each other out, and what you are left with is a weak, harmless solution. Bicarbonate paste on its own is a mild abrasive and it will lift light, fresh soil. Neither one touches the hard black glaze, which is the part anybody minds.

Q: Can I soak the oven racks in the bath?
A: Soaking is exactly right and the bath is exactly the wrong place. Caustic cleaner dulls bath enamel, a rack chips it on the way in, and the film that comes off the racks then has to go somewhere. Racks want a long soak in something you do not mind ruining, and they want it while somebody is getting on with the cavity, which is how they are done on a visit rather than scrubbed on your worktop for an hour.

Q: Do shop bought cleaners get between the door glass?
A: No, because nothing you spray gets to it. The brown film everybody can see sits on the inside faces of the panes, and on most makes the door has to be taken apart to reach them. A product cleans the face it can touch, which is why a door can look worse after a clean than the rest of the oven does.

Q: Is it cheaper to buy the products than to pay somebody?
A: On the day, yes: a tub and a pair of gloves is a few pounds. Over the year it is the dearer option, because the parts the products cannot reach are the parts that make an oven smoke and smell, so you do it again in a fortnight. £70 buys the version that lasts, done once.

## Self-cleaning and pyrolytic ovens

Q: How do I know if my oven is pyrolytic?
A: Look for a cleaning setting on the dial or the menu that locks the door while it runs. A pyrolytic oven will not let you open it during the cycle or until it has cooled, and that lock is the giveaway. If there is no such setting, the rough panels on the walls make it catalytic, and a tray of water in the bottom makes it a steam clean.

Q: Should I take the shelves out before running the cycle?
A: Yes, unless the manual says yours are made for it. Most shelves, runners and telescopic rails are not, and the heat discolours them or seizes the runners. Take them out, and while they are out they want a soak anyway, because the cycle was never going to clean them.

Q: Does the cycle clean the door glass?
A: No, and it is the first thing people look at afterwards. The heat works on the cavity, and the brown film sits on the inside faces of the door panes, behind the door skin. On most makes the door has to come apart to reach it, which the cycle has no way of doing.

Q: Is a pyrolytic cycle expensive to run?
A: It is the hottest and the longest thing your oven does, so it uses more electricity than any cooking you do in it. What it costs depends on your tariff and your model, and anybody quoting you a single figure for every oven is guessing. The part worth weighing is that it still leaves the door, the shelves and the fan cover to do.

Q: Can you clean a pyrolytic oven by hand instead?
A: Yes, and it is the same £70 for a single oven as any other. We do not run your cycle for you: it is your electricity, it takes hours, and it does nothing to the four parts of the oven that the clean is actually for.

## Extractor filters

Q: Can I put extractor filters in the dishwasher?
A: You can, and an aluminium mesh one usually comes out chalky grey and stays that way. Dishwasher detergent is strongly alkaline and it attacks the aluminium itself rather than the grease on it. Stainless steel mesh survives it better, but a sink of hot water and washing up liquid gets more grease out of either of them and ruins neither.

Q: How often do extractor filters need doing?
A: Hold one up to a light rather than looking at a calendar. If daylight comes through the mesh evenly, it is fine. If the middle has gone dark, the grease is sitting inside the layers and it is due. Somebody frying most nights will be looking at that every few weeks, and somebody who boils pasta twice a week will not.

Q: Why does my extractor still smell after I have cleaned the filters?
A: Because the filter is the part you can reach and not the part that holds the smell. Grease collects in the trap above the filters and on the inside of the canopy, and a recirculating hood also has a carbon filter that absorbs odour until it is full, at which point it is replaced rather than cleaned.

Q: Can I run the hood with the filters out?
A: Not for long. The metal filter is the only thing between your frying pan and the fan, so with it out the grease goes straight onto the impeller and into the duct, where nothing you own can reach it. If a filter is soaking, leave the extractor off until it is back in.

Q: What does it cost to have the extractor done with everything else?
A: Done in the same visit as the oven it costs £20, or £30 for a hood 90cm or wider, which is how most people have it done because we are already in the kitchen with the tank hot. By itself it is £30, or £40 for the 90cm size, and a visit with no oven in it has the £65 minimum on it.

## Oven racks

Q: Why do my oven racks go rusty after I clean them?
A: Because the chrome plating has been broken and water got to the steel underneath. Wire wool and scouring pads take the plating off in fine lines you cannot see until they go orange, and a rack put back damp finishes the job. Soak rather than scour, and dry them properly before they go back in.

Q: How long should oven racks soak for?
A: An hour will shift a normal year's worth. Anything properly baked on wants leaving overnight, which is the difference between the job doing itself and you standing at a sink with a scourer. Hot water and a strong washing up liquid or a degreaser, with the racks lying flat rather than propped up.

Q: Can oven racks go in the dishwasher?
A: They fit, and it is not worth it. A dishwasher cycle is not long enough or hot enough to lift baked carbon, the detergent is harsh on chipped chrome, and a full-size rack blocks the spray arm so nothing else in there gets clean either. A sink or a tub costs nothing and works better.

Q: Will the burnt on marks ever come off?
A: The carbon will. What does not come back is chrome that has already been scoured dull, or steel that has rusted through the plating, and no amount of soaking changes either. We tell people which they are looking at before we start rather than afterwards.

Q: Do you charge extra for the racks and the grill pan?
A: No, and nobody should. Everything that comes out of the oven is cleaned with it, bulb included, and none of it appears on the bill as an extra. A single oven is £70 with the lot in it and no VAT to add.

## Oven door glass

Q: Can I clean between the oven door glass without taking the door apart?
A: Up to a point. Through the gap at the bottom you can reach loose crumbs and light film, and plenty of people do. What no tool on a wire reaches is the brown film baked onto the inside faces, because shifting that needs a cloth held flat with weight behind it, and a hanger end will scratch the glass the moment it slips.

Q: Is it safe to take the oven door apart myself?
A: It is the part of a home clean that goes wrong most often. The weight and the spring in the hinges are the reason, and the inner panes sit in clips that vary by make, so what holds one door together does not hold the next. People manage it, and people also crack a pane and find out what a replacement costs. On a clean here the door comes off and comes apart as part of the job rather than as an extra.

Q: What actually gets the brown film off oven glass?
A: Time and a flat blade. A soak or a gel left on the glass softens the carbon, then a blade held flat against the pane takes it off in sheets. Held at an angle it can scratch, which is why it is not a job to rush at. Wire wool and scouring pads take it off too, and take the surface with it.

Q: Why does my oven glass look cloudy after I clean it?
A: Usually one of two things. Either it is residue, which comes back with a rinse and a dry cloth, or the surface has been abraded by a scourer, and that one is permanent. Glass that has been scoured stays hazy no matter what goes on it afterwards, which is why the blade goes flat and the wire wool stays in the drawer.

Q: Do you charge extra for the door glass?
A: No. The door coming apart so the inside faces are cleaned is the difference between a clean oven and one that looks clean from the sofa, so it is part of the price rather than an upgrade. A single oven is £70 with it included and no VAT to add.

## A really dirty oven

Q: How do I get the black stuff off the bottom of my oven?
A: Soften it rather than scrub at it. A cleaner meant for baked carbon, left on the cold base for the time the tin gives it, turns a hard sheet into something that lifts. Then take it off in sections and rinse as you go. Do the roof, the back and the fan cover first, or you will end up doing the base twice.

Q: How can I tell if the oven floor is stained or damaged underneath?
A: Feel it wet. Carbon stands slightly proud of the enamel and a fingernail catches on the edge of it, so it comes away once it is softened. Damage sits level with the floor, feels rough rather than raised, and stays grey and mottled after everything around it has come clean. That is worn glaze, not dirt.

Q: Does the floor of the oven lift out?
A: On plenty of ovens it does, and underneath it is one of the places a year of spills collects. It is worth a look before you start, because a base plate that comes out is far easier to clean on the worktop than on your knees. Where it is fixed in, leave it fixed and do not force it.

Q: Should I clean a really dirty cooker in one go or over a few days?
A: In sections is fine, and often easier, as long as the order holds. Put the racks in to soak, do the roof, the back and the fan cover, then come back to the base last. What does not work is a bit of everything each time, because the run off from the top lands on a base you have already finished.

Q: Why does my oven smoke when I turn it on?
A: Because fat on the roof, the back and the fan housing is burning off, which is why cleaning the base on its own rarely stops it. It is also worth rinsing hard after any clean at home, since cleaner left sitting in the seal channel or the corners will smoke at the next high heat.

## Catalytic liners

Q: Is every rough panel in an oven a catalytic liner?
A: Not quite. Some ovens have a speckled easy clean enamel that looks matte but still feels smooth, and the fan cover at the back is a pressed plate rather than a liner. A liner drags on your palm. If yours is borderline, the model number on the plate inside the door frame settles it, and until it does, treat the walls as liners.

Q: Do the liners come off to be cleaned?
A: How they are fixed differs by make, so the manual for your model says whether yours lift out. There is little to gain by it either way. In the oven or out of it they want hot water and a cloth, and taking a panel to the sink mostly tempts people into scrubbing it, which is the one thing that ruins them.

Q: Caustic cleaner has already gone on mine. What now?
A: Rinse it off with hot water and a clean cloth, several times, so nothing is left sitting on the panels. The oven is safe to use and it will cook exactly as it did. What has gone is the panels' own ability to deal with grease, and that does not come back. New panels are the only way to get it back, so most people carry on and have the oven cleaned properly by hand instead.

Q: Is the floor of the oven a liner as well?
A: Usually not. The base is normally plain enamel, which is lucky, because the floor is where spills land and enamel takes a soak and a blade held flat. So one cavity can need two treatments at once, a gentle hand on the side walls and proper work on the floor. Feel the base the way you felt the walls.

Q: Should catalytic liners look patchy and stained?
A: Yes. A liner is not meant to look like enamel. Darkening and uneven patches are absorbed grease on its way out, and that is the panel doing what it is there for. What is not normal is a pale, stripped patch that appeared after a spray or a scouring pad, because that is the surface gone rather than dirt on it.

## How often to clean an oven

Q: We have just moved in and nobody knows when the oven was last cleaned. Where do we start?
A: With the door glass. If it has gone brown and a cloth does nothing to it, the film is on the inside faces of the panes, so the household before you was not having it done. Smoke off the grill and a smell as it warms up say the same. None of it changes the price, so the only thing to decide is which appliances you want doing.

Q: Does it depend on what we cook, or just on how much we use it?
A: What you cook. Heat and fat together are what leave a layer behind, so a joint most Sundays fills a cavity faster than a kitchen that uses the oven every day for baking and does the rest on the hob. Months are a poor guide to it, which is why the three signs are a better one.

Q: The cooker looks fine from the outside. Does that mean it is?
A: Not on its own. The outside of the door is the one part that gets wiped, so it is the last place the state of an oven shows. Open it and look at the roof, the back wall and the fan cover, and look at the glass from the inside with the door open rather than from across the kitchen.

Q: Is it better to have it done little and often, or to leave it until it needs it?
A: Each visit is a fixed price for the appliance, so the same work split over more visits costs more, and carbon does not come off any easier in stages. Have it done when the oven tells you, and have the hob and the extractor done in the same visit while we are there.

Q: Should we have it done before Christmas or after it?
A: Either works, and it depends which you would rather have. Before, and the cooking happens in a clean oven. After, and the roasting that caused the mess is already behind you. What we would not do is decide it on the date alone, because the state of the oven is the thing that actually answers it.

## How long a clean takes

Q: Does a really dirty oven take you longer?
A: Yes, and it costs you the same. Years of carbon means more soaking time and more passes, which is our problem rather than yours, because the appliance sets the price rather than the state of it. Leaving it another year does not put the number up.

Q: How long does a double oven take next to a single?
A: Longer, because there is more of everything. Two cavities, two doors, two sets of door glass to take apart and put back, and usually more racks and trays to soak. A grill in its own compartment counts as a double for the same reason, even where the oven under it is a single.

Q: Does having the hob and the extractor done add much to the visit?
A: It adds to it, and it is still one visit rather than three. The hob and the hood are done while the racks and trays are soaking, so booking them together is the shorter way round as well as the cheaper one. A hob alongside an oven is £15 and a hood is £20.

Q: Will you tell me how long mine will take before the day?
A: Yes. You get the likely time along with the price when you ask, so you know what you are giving up the kitchen for before anyone is booked in. Tell us the make and whether it is a single, a double, a range or an AGA and both numbers come back together.

Q: Is it quicker if I take the racks out before you arrive?
A: There is no need. The racks, the runners, the grill pan and the trays come out and go into a soak as part of the job, and they are in the price rather than added to it. Clearing the worktop nearest the oven helps, and that is the whole of it.

## Hobs

Q: Can you clean a hob on its own, without an oven?
A: Yes, but the minimum charge is £65, so a hob by itself costs the same as a hob and an extractor together. Alongside an oven a ceramic hob is £15 and a four burner gas hob £20, which is why most people have them done in the same visit.

Q: Do the burner caps and crowns come off?
A: Every one of them, into a soak, along with the pan supports. The ports round the edge of a crown block with carbon and that is what makes a flame go yellow and uneven in one spot, so clearing them matters more than the shine does.

Q: Will a scraper mark my ceramic top?
A: Not used properly. A blade held flat against the glass takes off burnt sugar and boiled over milk that no cloth will shift, and it is what the manufacturers recommend themselves. Held at an angle it can scratch, which is why it is not a job to rush at home.

Q: Is an induction hob any different?
A: The surface is the same glass and cleans the same way. What is different is that spills do not bake on as hard, because the glass only gets hot from the pan, so an induction top is usually the quickest of the three.

Q: Why does one gas burner burn with a yellow flame?
A: Usually carbon in the ports round the edge of the crown, which makes that burner run yellow and uneven while the others stay blue. The crowns come off and soak, which clears most of it. A flame that is still yellow afterwards is a job for a gas engineer rather than a cleaner, and we will say so.

Q: Can a stained ceramic hob look new again?
A: Burnt on sugar, boiled over milk and the brown rings round the zones come off with a blade held flat and a proper cleaner. Scratches and pitting in the glass do not, whoever cleans it, and we tell you which marks are which before we start rather than afterwards.

## Extractor hoods

Q: Is extractor fan cleaning the same thing as a hood clean?
A: Same appliance, different words. The hood is the canopy over the cooker, the fan is the motor inside it, and a clean here covers the canopy, the grease trap and the metal filters, which is where the grease and the smell actually sit. The fan housing is wiped where it can be reached without taking the motor out. £20 alongside an oven clean.

Q: Do the filters come out, or do you wipe them in place?
A: They come out. A mesh filter holds grease all the way through it, and the only way to move that is to lift the filter out and soak it. Wiping one in place cleans the face and leaves the inside exactly as it was, which is where the smell sits.

Q: How do I know if a filter is past saving?
A: Hold it up to a light. If you cannot see daylight through the mesh after it has been soaked, the grease has set inside the layers and a new one is the honest answer. We will tell you when that is the case rather than charge you for cleaning it anyway.

Q: Do you clean carbon filters too?
A: No, and nobody can. The carbon filter in a recirculating hood absorbs smells rather than grease, and once it is full it has to be replaced rather than cleaned. How often depends on how much frying goes on, so the maker's guide is the one to go by. We will tell you which type yours has while we are in there.

Q: Can you get to the ducting?
A: We clean the hood, the grease trap and the filters. Ductwork inside the wall or the ceiling is a different trade with different equipment, and for a domestic kitchen it is rarely the thing causing the problem.

Q: Is a greasy extractor hood a fire risk?
A: Built up grease is flammable, so a hood that is never cleaned is carrying fuel directly above the hob. The filters and the grease trap are where it collects, and cleaning them out is how it goes. It is one of the few cleaning jobs in a kitchen that is about more than how it looks.

Q: Do you clean hoods that are built into a cabinet?
A: Yes. Integrated and canopy hoods have metal filters that drop out the same way as a chimney hood, and the canopy is done by hand where it can be reached. The price is set by the width of the hood, not by how it is fitted.

## Microwaves

Q: Is a microwave worth paying to have cleaned?
A: At £20 alongside an oven it is the cheapest thing in the kitchen to put right, and it is the one appliance where the smell comes from a part you cannot see: the waveguide cover on the inside wall. Almost everyone has it done while we are already there, which is why it is £20 rather than £30.

Q: What is the waveguide cover?
A: The small panel, usually mica, on the inside wall or roof. It protects the part that generates the microwaves, it absorbs splashes, and when it burns or arcs it needs replacing rather than cleaning. Most people have never noticed it is there.

Q: Do you clean combination microwaves?
A: Yes, and they take longer than a solo one because they grill and bake as well, so there is baked carbon in there rather than just splashes. The price is the same either way.

Q: Will the smell go?
A: Usually, because the smell is burnt food on the roof, the turntable ring and the waveguide cover rather than in the air. If the cover itself is scorched the smell can come back when it heats up, and then it is a replacement part, not a cleaning job.

Q: Do you clean built in microwaves?
A: Yes, and it stays where it is. The turntable and its ring come out, the cavity, the roof and the waveguide cover are done in place, and the price is the same as for one that sits on the worktop.

Q: How do I stop the microwave getting this bad again?
A: Cover food while it heats and wipe splashes while they are still fresh. A splash that gets heated again every day bakes onto the roof and the waveguide cover, and that is the part that starts to smell and, left long enough, to scorch.

## Barbecues

Q: When is the best time to have a barbecue cleaned?
A: Either end of the season. Before May so it is ready, or in September before it goes away for winter, because grease left on over winter sets hard and rusts the grills underneath it. We do them between May and August at £80.

Q: Gas or charcoal, does it matter?
A: Both, and they dirty differently. A gas barbecue collects grease in the burner tubes and the flavouriser bars, which affects how it lights and how evenly it cooks. A charcoal one is mostly ash and carbon on the grills and the bowl.

Q: Do you take it away?
A: No. It is cleaned where it stands, in the garden or on the patio, so nothing gets loaded into a van and nothing comes back a week later. We need somewhere to work and a tap.

Q: What happens if it rains on the day?
A: We move it, and there is nothing to pay for moving it. The soaking and the scrubbing happen outside on your patio, and doing it in heavy rain is miserable and worse work, so if the forecast is against us we say so the day before and pick another date.

Q: What about the grills themselves?
A: They come off and soak, the same as oven racks. Cast iron grates get dried and re-oiled afterwards rather than left wet, because bare cast iron rusts within a day of being stripped back.

Q: Why does my gas barbecue cook unevenly?
A: Usually blocked burner ports and flavouriser bars caked in grease, which stop the heat spreading the way it should. Clearing them is part of the clean, and it is the part that changes how the barbecue cooks rather than only how it looks.

Q: Can the barbecue be done on the same visit as the oven?
A: Yes, between May and August. The two are priced separately and simply added together, and doing both in one visit means one trip rather than two, with the travel charged once if you are outside the free ring.

## Commercial kitchens

Q: How is a commercial kitchen priced?
A: It starts at £150, and above that it is per job rather than off a list. A village hall cooker and a pub kitchen with a six burner range, a salamander and a fryer are different days' work, so we quote from what is actually in the room rather than guessing from a category.

Q: Can you work outside opening hours?
A: That is usually the only way it works. Kitchens get cleaned when they are cold and empty, so early mornings, close down, or a day the place is shut. Tell us your quietest slot and we work to it.

Q: Is this the same as a commercial kitchen deep clean?
A: It is the part of one that covers the cooking equipment. A commercial kitchen deep clean usually means two jobs: the appliances, canopy and filters, which is what we do, and the ductwork behind them, which is a certificated trade of its own. Most kitchens that ask for a deep clean need the first far more often than the second, and we do it cold, empty and out of hours.

Q: Do you do extraction ductwork?
A: No. Canopies, filters and the appliances themselves, yes. What runs behind them needs access equipment and a certificate we do not hold, so it goes to the trade that does, and your insurer will want that certificate from them rather than from us.

Q: Will we get something for our records?
A: Yes. An invoice, and dated photographs of the appliances if you want them for the due diligence file. Environmental health look at the state of the equipment rather than at paperwork, but having the dates written down does no harm at an inspection.

Q: Do you do village halls, schools and cafes as well as pubs?
A: Yes. Village halls, school kitchens, cafes and pubs across the same patch, each priced from what is actually in the kitchen rather than from the type of building. A hall with one domestic cooker is a very different job from a pub kitchen, and it is priced like one.

Q: Do you charge more to work out of hours?
A: No. Working when the kitchen is closed is how commercial cleaning is done, so it is built into the price rather than added to it. Tell us your quietest slot, whether that is a closed day, early morning or after service, and the quote is the same.

## Oven cleaning

Q: Why does the smell come back when I clean it myself?
A: Because the part that smells is not the part you can reach. Supermarket cleaner softens the grease on the surfaces in front of you, but the carbon baked onto the element, the roof and the fan housing stays where it is, and that is what smokes when the oven gets hot. Taking the fan cover off is most of the difference between a fortnight and a year.

Q: How do I know if my oven has catalytic liners?
A: They are the rough, matte panels on the sides and back, and they feel like fine sandpaper rather than smooth enamel. Caustic cleaner destroys them permanently and a replacement set runs into the hundreds, so we check before anything goes near the oven and clean them by hand instead.

Q: Am I committing to anything by asking for a price?
A: No. Asking is not booking, we quote without visiting, and the number you get back is fixed in writing and does not change on the day. If something genuinely will not come back, a pitted base or crazed glass, we tell you before we start rather than after.

Q: Do I need to be in the house while you work?
A: Someone needs to let us in, and after that you can get on with your day. We need power and water and somewhere to put the door down, and we work around whoever is in. Most people put the kettle on and then forget we are there.

Q: Does a pyrolytic self cleaning oven still need doing?
A: Usually yes. The pyrolytic cycle burns the cavity out at around 500 degrees, but it does not touch the door glass, the seal channel, the racks or the fan cover, and it leaves ash behind. What it does well it does very well, and the rest is still a hand job.

Q: What if the oven is built into a tall housing?
A: That is normal and it is not a problem. The door still comes off in place, and the racks and trays come out to a soak. We only need enough room in front of it to work and somewhere clear to lay the door.

Q: Can you get an oven back that has not been cleaned in years?
A: Nearly always. Carbon that has been baked on for a decade takes longer, not different chemicals, and the price does not change because of it. Where something is genuinely past saving, a pitted base or crazed glass, we will tell you before we start.

## AGAs and Rayburns

Q: Do you service the AGA as well as clean it?
A: No, and we will say so rather than take the work. Burners, thermostats, flues and anything gas or oil belong to a qualified engineer. If yours needs both, have it serviced first and cleaned afterwards, because a service tends to leave marks that a clean then takes off.

Q: Why is a four door so much more than a two door?
A: More ovens, more linings, more shelves and considerably more enamel, which turns part of a day into most of one. A two door is £140. Three and four door models are quoted from photographs, usually from £170, because guessing would mean either overcharging you or running out of day.

Q: What will the enamel not take?
A: Wire wool, scouring pads and caustic cleaner all mark vitreous enamel, and once it is dulled or chipped there is no fixing it. If a previous owner has already scoured yours, we will tell you what will come back and what will not before we start.

Q: How long does the AGA have to be off before you come?
A: Long enough to be properly cold, which for most models means shutting it down the night before. We agree the timing when you book. A warm AGA cannot be cleaned properly and it is not safe to work on.

Q: Can you clean it while it is still running?
A: No, and anyone who says yes is not taking the lids and plates off. The enamel, the chrome and the oven linings all need the thing cold, so the shut down is part of the job rather than an inconvenience we can work around.

Q: Do you clean Rayburns as well as AGAs?
A: Yes, at the same prices, because the work is the same shape: cold, lids and plates off, enamel by hand. If you have another make of cast iron range, say which in the notes and we will come back and ask for a photograph, then tell you honestly whether it is one we take on.

Q: Will you relight it when you have finished?
A: We leave it clean, dry and ready to relight, and you or your engineer light it. Lighting and adjusting an oil or gas AGA is part of servicing rather than cleaning, and that belongs to whoever services yours.

## Range cookers

Q: Why does a range cost more than a double oven?
A: A double oven has one top and two cavities. A 90cm range has five or six burners, a set of cast iron pan supports, two cavities and a separate grill, which is close to twice the dismantling. The price follows the width: £120 up to 90cm and £145 from 100cm to 110cm.

Q: Do you do gas, dual fuel and induction tops?
A: All three, and they are different jobs. A gas top has the most parts and takes the longest. An induction top is quick on the surface, but the trim and the seal round the edge still need doing properly. Tell us which you have and the price already accounts for it.

Q: Do the burners and pan supports come off?
A: All of them, every time. Caps, crowns and supports go into a soak while the cavities are done, which is the only way to get the undersides. Cast iron supports are usually the dirtiest thing in the kitchen, and they come back looking like new.

Q: Can you do the extractor above it at the same time?
A: Yes, and it is cheaper that way. An extractor hood alongside another appliance is £20 rather than £30, or £30 if it is 90cm or wider, because we are already there and the ladders are already out.

Q: What about a warming drawer or a storage drawer?
A: The warming drawer is part of the clean. A plain storage drawer we will pull out and wipe, but it is a drawer rather than a cooking cavity, so it is not where the time goes.

Q: My range is wider than 110cm. What then?
A: Tell us the make and the width when you ask, and we come back for a photograph before quoting it properly. Past 110cm the width stops being a small step and starts being another oven, so guessing would mean either overcharging you or running out of day.

## End of tenancy

Q: Can you do more than one property in a day?
A: Two or three is normal if they are near each other, and it is the same price per property rather than a discount we would have to claw back somewhere else. Agents with a run of checkouts in the same week are worth telling us about early, because the days around the end of the month go first.

Q: What happens if the checkout date moves?
A: Tell us and we move with it, as long as there is a day left in the diary. Nothing is invoiced until the work is done. The one thing to check is that the power and the water are still on, because an empty property with neither is a wasted visit for both of us.

Q: Can the outgoing tenant pay instead of the landlord?
A: Yes. Tell us who is paying when you book and the invoice goes to them, while the photographs go to whoever needs them for the file. It is a common arrangement and it causes no problems at our end.

Q: What do the photographs actually show?
A: The finished oven with the door open, the hob, and the extractor with its filters, dated. They go over with the invoice. If a deposit is ever argued about, that is something to put beside the inventory instead of an opinion.

Q: How much notice do you need before a checkout?
A: As much as you can give, and tell us the checkout date rather than a date that suits us. The last few days of any month are the busiest in this trade, because that is when tenancies end.

Q: Do you clean the rest of the property?
A: No. We clean appliances, and we are not a domestic cleaning company. Book a cleaner for the flat and us for the kitchen appliances, and tell each of us the checkout date so the two do not clash.