Hello, We're overhauling an old damp caravan and now its dry and repaired we've moved on to the nice part -decorating and cleaning it up. Anyway, the trivet part of the hob (the chrome wire thing you put pans on) was grim - covered in thick baked on fatty lumps. I put it through the dishwasher but it didn't do anything so I picked up a box of Brite Oven Power from Poundland. You put the cruddy trivet in the big bag they give you, pour in a bottle of liquid and leave it overnight. Well...this morning the trivet was caked in clear jelly stuff, when I rinsed it off all the fatty chunks sort of just peeled off!! It was great, very satisfying! With a bit of a scrub the wire is now smooth and clean, just looks a little sooty. Just thought it might be useful to let you know about it in case you have a van which was once owned by filthy pig people who never cleaned anything.
For your home oven as well: If you get ammonia (can by it in hardwear shops and sometimes chemists. Get a thick plastic bag like the type that you might use for rubble (from supermarkets). Put in your racks etc and half a cup of the ammonia. Tie up the bag and leave at least overnight. Be careful when you open back up as it is very strong smell. However then with even just a dish cloth they wipe clean back to silver. No elbow grease required.