CLEANING · 5 MIN READ
Oven cleaning: what a professional does that you can't
The dip tank, the door that comes apart, and the chemistry that isn't caustic soda. What a two-hour professional clean actually involves, what it costs in Dublin, and why the spray can under the sink carries a Danger label.
IN SHORT
- A professional oven clean in Dublin is about €80–€100 for a single oven and €100–€130 for a double on current price lists, roughly two hours for a single and three to four for a double or range. Hobs and extractors are priced separately.
- The difference is the kit: racks and extractor filters soak in a heated dip tank in the van, the door comes off and apart so the inner glass is cleaned, and the products used are caustic-free.
- Supermarket oven cleaners are sodium hydroxide: the label says Danger, Corrosive, 'causes severe skin burns and eye damage'. In a UK poisons-service study of 780 cases, 71% of people exposed developed symptoms.
What's in the van
The reason a professional clean leaves an oven looking new and a Saturday with a spray can does not comes down to three things that do not fit under a kitchen sink.
The dip tank. Every removable part, racks, shelves, trays, the metal extractor filters, goes into a heated tank of cleaning solution in the van and soaks while the oven itself is being worked on. Oven Wizards, which covers Dublin, Meath and north Kildare, describes it plainly: all racks and shelving into the dip tank, left to soak. Paper extractor filters are replaced rather than cleaned.
The door. On almost every oven the door lifts off, and most doors come apart, which is the only way to clean between the panes of glass where the brown film sits. Oven Wizards says 99% of doors are easily removed; the Oven Clean Team's four steps are arrive and inspect, soak the removable parts, deep-clean the cavity, reassemble.
The chemistry. The professional products are described by the Dublin operators as caustic-free or with no added caustic, fume-free and biodegradable. Carbon is lifted from the cavity by hand rather than dissolved, which is why the job takes two hours and not twenty minutes. The oven can be used as soon as the technician leaves.
How long, and what it costs
Current Dublin price lists put a single oven at €80–€100 and a double at €100–€130; range cookers €120–€175 depending on doors; a ceramic hob about €10 and a gas hob €30–€50; an extractor hood €30–€50. Clean Oven prices an Aga or Stanley at €170–€230. Dublin Oven Clean quotes about two hours for a single oven and three to four for a double or range. Most operators cover the Dublin postal districts; at least one lists exceptions, so check your district when you book.
Why not just use the spray
The oven cleaner on the supermarket shelf is a sodium hydroxide gel or foam. The label on the €3.69 can says Danger, Corrosive, "causes severe skin burns and eye damage", "wear protective gloves", "do not breathe spray". The safety data sheet puts the sodium hydroxide at 4.4% and advises flushing eyes for 20 to 30 minutes.
That is not a theoretical warning. A 2017 study by the UK National Poisons Information Service reviewed 780 patients exposed to oven cleaners between 2009 and 2015. Ninety-six per cent of the products were sodium or potassium hydroxide; 71% of the people exposed developed symptoms; there were 91 skin burns; 85% of eye exposures were symptomatic; and 182 people had eaten food they believed was contaminated by residue. Ireland's National Poisons Information Centre took 11,455 enquiries in 2025, 60% of them about children under 15, and its clinical director singled out oven and drain cleaners as particularly corrosive.
If you do it yourself: gloves, eye protection, windows open, nobody small in the kitchen, and the door glass will still be brown on the inside.
Why the oven decides the deposit
Landlords and agents compare the home at check-out with the check-in inventory, and the RTB's guidance is that a dwelling should be left clean and tidy, with deductions only for deterioration beyond normal wear and tear and the onus of proof on the landlord. An oven that was clean on day one and is not on the last day is the easiest deduction in the book to evidence with a photograph. A €90 professional clean, with a receipt, is the cheapest way to take it off the table.
“Causes severe skin burns and eye damage.”
Hazard statement H314 on a standard sodium-hydroxide oven cleaner (safety data sheet)
€80–€100
single oven, Dublin price lists, October 2026
2 h
typical single-oven clean; 3–4 h for a double or range
71%
of people exposed to oven cleaner developed symptoms (NPIS study, 780 patients)
By the numbers — figures from the sources listed at the end of this piece.
WHAT TO DO NEXT
Oven cleaners near you with their price and score — no account needed to look.WRITTEN WITH
The listed providers who gave their checklists and time for this piece. Real names, real listings — nobody is invented.
Sinéad WalshEnd-of-tenancy cleaner · Crumlin · ★ 4.9 · 120+ reviews
Bright & Co CleaningCleaning company · Tallaght · ★ 4.8 · 85 reviews
Aoife BrennanCleaner · Drumcondra · ★ 5.0 · 30 reviews
Questions this piece gets asked
Can a professional clean a pyrolytic (self-cleaning) oven?
Ask when booking. Irish operators' public price lists do not single pyrolytic ovens out; a self-clean cycle handles the cavity but not the door glass, racks or hob.
Do they do Agas and range cookers?
Yes. Clean Oven lists Aga and Stanley at €170–€230 and four-door ranges at €175; Dublin Oven Clean quotes ranges from €150.
Can I use the oven straight after?
Yes. Because the products are caustic-free the oven can be used as soon as the technician leaves.
Sources
- The Oven Clean Team, Dublin — prices and process
- Clean Oven, prices (Dublin, Kildare, Meath, Wicklow)
- Dublin Oven Clean, prices and times
- Oven Wizards, Dublin, Meath and North Kildare
- Oven Wizards, Our services (dip tank, door removal)
- Oven Cleaning Dublin, How much does oven cleaning cost in Dublin, 10 Jul 2024
- Day R. et al., Toxicity resulting from exposure to oven cleaners as reported to the UK NPIS 2009–2015, Clinical Toxicology 2017
- Mr Muscle Oven Cleaner, product label (Tesco Ireland)
- Mr Muscle Heavy Duty Oven Cleaner, safety data sheet (sodium hydroxide 4.4%, H314)
- Echo Live, National Poisons Information Centre 2025 figures, 28 Aug 2026
- RTB, What is wear and tear?
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Comments 3
TopNewest
- REAoife M.Customer · Dublin 8EDITOR'S PICK2 h ago
Moved out in July and did exactly this with the photos. Deposit back in nine days without a word said. The oven took the whole of a Saturday though.
- PRMarta R.Provider · End-of-tenancy cleaner · Crumlin1 h ago
From the other side: the oven, the extractor filter and the inside of the wardrobe doors are what we get called back for. Do those three and the rest is detail.
- RECiara D.Customer · Cork40 min ago
The tribunal report is worth reading in full. The tenants won on photos alone.
Signed-in Locufy customers and providers only. Comments close 30 days after publication. Report anything that names a person unfairly — we act on every report.
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