Chapter 3. The Laws of Hag‘alah of Utensils

alef One who is able should preferably buy new utensils and not perform hagalah on old utensils from chametz for Pesach1 .

bet One should not perform hagalah on a utensil that was used within the 24 hours preceding the hagalah [and preferably, even the cleaning of the utensil should be done 24 hours before the hagalah]2 , and some are careful not to use it for 3 days before the hagalah3 .

gimel One may not perform hagalah on a utensil if it is not completely clean, that is, if it has dirt or rust with tangible substance4 .

dalet For utensils that have folds or crevices, hagalah is not effective; light libun is required at the place of the folds or crevices5 .

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A pot that has handles: if the handles can be removed, they must be removed and hagalah performed on them. If they cannot be removed, libun is required in the places of the crevices; and since many times the pot may be damaged by libun, there is no remedy for it. Likewise, knives made of two parts that have crevices at the point of connection require light libun, as above6 .

vav Goblets whose use is with cold items, even if they have folds, may be treated leniently with hagalah; and according to the Shulchan Aruch, since most of their use is with cold items, rinsing is sufficient. Even for Ashkenazim, if it is known with certainty that they did not touch hot chametz [or kavush, i.e., something soaked], rinsing is sufficient7 . 

zayin One may not perform hagalah on Teflon utensils, or on utensils with a ceramic coating or any other coating8 .

chet Baking trays cannot be kashered, and there is no remedy for them9 .

tet One may not perform hagalah on plastic utensils that absorbed in a kli rishon or through irui from a kli rishon.

yod One may not perform hagalah on glass utensils — crystal,10  and therefore chametz glass cups are prohibited for Ashkenazim; for Sephardim, since most of their use is with cold items, it is sufficient to rinse them.

yod-alef When performing hagalah on several utensils together, one must be careful that they do not touch one another; therefore one should not put in too many utensils. When performing hagalah on several utensils, one must shake the basket well inside the water11 .

yod-bet When performing hagalah on utensils from chametz for Pesach, one should perform the hagalah in a utensil that is kosher for Pesach. Therefore, if the utensil is not kosher for Pesach, one must first perform hagalah on the utensil in which the hagalah will be done. The manner of hagalah, as well as the methods of hagalah for one who wants to use on Pesach the utensil in which he performed hagalah on other utensils, will be explained below in section yod-dalet12 .

yod-gimel As stated, one should perform hagalah on the utensils in a utensil that is kosher for Pesach. Therefore, if the hagalah utensil is a chametz utensil, one must perform hagalah on it for Pesach in the following way: fill the utensil with water and place it on the fire until the water boils and bubbles rise. Since the water must overflow slightly over the sides, take a chametz electric kettle that is boiling and bubbling and pour into the pot until the water overflows slightly over the sides; then one may perform hagalah in it on the chametz utensils13 , as explained in the next section.

yod-dalet When performing hagalah on the chametz utensils inside a utensil prepared for this purpose as above, one must wait until the water boils and bubbles rise; then place into it the utensils requiring hagalah, leave them there for approximately two seconds, and remove them. After hagalah of chametz utensils, they should be rinsed in cold water; they may also be rinsed under the tap. The rinsing is not indispensable. If one wishes to use on Pesach the utensil in which he performed hagalah, after he has performed hagalah in it on all the utensils, he should perform hagalah on it a second time, as explained above in section yod-gimel; and there is no difference whether the kettle from which he pours is a chametz one or a Pesach one [though a chametz kettle is preferable]14 .