Water Bowl Neglect


 
J

James Bea

TVWBB Member
I have been bad and not foiling my empty water bowl during cooks. I now have thick hard nastiness in there. Recommendations on best way to get it out? It can't be adding good flavor to my cooks.
 
Actually it can, mine is like that too.

Easiest way to clean it is to burn it out. If you have a kettle, fire that sucker up with a good pile of lump. When it's all burning, set the water bowl on it. Yes, right on the coals. It'll burn off the gunk inside to the point that it can be basically wiped out like ashes.
 
I recently cleaned my bowl. I used oven cleaner and used a spatula to remove the stubborn parts.
 
Dave Alvarado said:
Actually it can, mine is like that too.

Easiest way to clean it is to burn it out. If you have a kettle, fire that sucker up with a good pile of lump. When it's all burning, set the water bowl on it. Yes, right on the coals. It'll burn off the gunk inside to the point that it can be basically wiped out like ashes.
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This will work. I have done this. It's also a great way to clean a neglected CI skillet. You can do it right in the base of the WSM.
 
I never foil mine anymore. I use it naked (the water pan, not me!) and I just bring it in and wash it out after every cook. It cleans easily.
 
If it is that nasty and I have not done this but I would take it to a pressure car wash and make it happy again
 
I would be careful to not heat or cool the water pan too quickly, for fear of cracking the porcelain finish. In other words, don't heat it directly on the coals and then quench it with cold water. Let it cool slowly. Or try multiple applications of oven cleaner.
 
I would recommend spraying it with a heavy coat of oven clean and placing it in a contractor garbage bag in the sun for an hour or so. Then go at the thick stuff with a plastic putty knife then go at it with some cheapo soap pads like you get at the Dollar Store washing it off with a garden hose. Depending on how bad it is, it may take several iterations. I have done several old kettles this way with very good results. This will make it look just like new.
 
I had the exact same thing on my water bowl. Get a can or two of spray on oven cleaner, a black plastic trash bag and hopefully a sunny day. Spray the bowl liberally with the oven cleaner (wear gloves!) and then put it in the black trash bag, tie it closed and then set it in the sun for a few hours (see what the oven cleaner bottle says). When I did this I pulled the water bowl out and 99.9% of the stuff on it sprayed off with the garden hose. The other parts came off with a bit of scraping with a stiff nylon brush. I liberally sprayed it with water and then gave it a good washing inside and it was like new.
 
You could also buy some Krud Kutter -- it's sold at Home Depot, Lowe's, and I guess other places as well. It cleans ANYTHING easily and there's nothing corrosive in it either. You mix it with water or you can use it full strength for really tough jobs. A friend turned us onto it several months ago and the stuff is AMAZING!
 
You can also do as stated above, then after you rinse it out put it in your oven inside and put it through a oven cleaning cycle
 
That has happened to me when my water pan has boiled dry. I just put hot water back in and let it reach boiling. It's amazing what will lift off after an hour or so. I do the same with cast as well. What does not lift off will soften and with a little elbow grease you should be able to get it off, after all it is only stuck to porcelain.
 
If you have a pot big enough(something like a turkey fryer) you can put it in pot fill with water dishwasher detergent and boil it.
 
Gary S said:
That has happened to me when my water pan has boiled dry. I just put hot water back in and let it reach boiling. It's amazing what will lift off after an hour or so. I do the same with cast as well. What does not lift off will soften and with a little elbow grease you should be able to get it off, after all it is only stuck to porcelain.
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I do the same thing ( add a little Dawn ) and scrape with a wooden spoon.

Tim
 
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