Baking soda/vinegar did not work to clean my oven this time. Suggestions?

[JustMe]

I have used baking soda to clean the inside of my oven in the past successfully. However, I tried it last night and it did next to nothing (and I do know I have to do some scrubbing in the morning) Now that I am thinking about it, I am wondering if I just used water with the baking soda, while this time I used vinegar.

Anyway, just wanted to see what you all would suggest. I read the recent thread asking about using the self-cleaning feature. I tried mine once, but only kept it of for a little while as the smell was awful, and I knew of the mixed experiences so felt it wasnt worth it.

Suggestions, anyone? There is quite a lot of burned stuff on the bottom :bag

[solsister]

I just did it over the last two days, and cleaned it last night. I was amazed with the results, as was my husband.
Mine was really bad (like hadn't been cleaned in 5-6 years), and I made a gloppy water/baking soda paste, and spread it all over the oven. The sides, the bottom and the back. I let it sit for two days. I have a spray bottle of straight vinegar, so I sprayed that on, one section at a time, and used a thin metal spatula to scrape it up. It worked like a charm. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but somehow, a fridge magnet (toxic plastic, with a metal magnet on the back) must have attached itself to the bottom of a pan, and fell off, into the bottom of the oven, and melted all over. It became part of the oven. I never thought I could get it off. My husband had tried prying it a couple of times, and it would not budge!

[JustMe]

Hmmn, interesting. I really have no idea why mine didn't work this time--I wondered if maybe I had too much of a paste going, but that doesnt seem to be the case according to your experience. Did you do the vinegar spray after the 2 days?

[legaleagle]

I use the recipe near the bottom of this link http://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2011/05/natural-oven-cleaners-an-update.html

The one with dawn washing soda baking soda vinegar - it works really well. I let it sit overnight. Works on the racks tio

[lil_acorn]

What is washing soda??

[JustMe]

I use the recipe near the bottom of this link http://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2011/05/natural-oven-cleaners-an-update.html

The one with dawn washing soda baking soda vinegar - it works really well. I let it sit overnight. Works on the racks tio

Wow, great website. Thanks! It looks like washing powder is similar to baking soda, but not the same (I learned this by googling). Have you tried it wthout the washing powder? I may try the one with the salt, as I have everything to do that one and don't have issues with the sides of the oven grease/dirt, only the bottom.

[solsister]

I just used plain old baking soda. My husband, accidentally, sprayed some vinegar on some of the paste, but, that didn't seem to make a difference. I did a pretty thin paste, and then straight vinegar. When I sprayed the vinegar, it fizzed up, and was really cool to watch, actually.

[truly scrumptious]

I just used this recipe a couple of days ago and it really worked.
http://yumuniverse.com/make-your-own-inexpensive-toxin-free-natural-oven-cleaner/
Our oven looked a lot like the one pictured.
I think the secret is having very little vinegar compared to the amount of baking soda so that it reacts slowly, and the soap helps lift the grease. I used Dr. Bronners.



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[JustMe]

Thanks!

Yes, my problem may be that I used too much vinegar---I did notice that I didn't get much of the fizz reaction this time.

Also, thanks for sharing the website--I am a vegetarian and love this website! Any favorite recipes from it?

[truly scrumptious]

This is the first thing I tried from that site and I was really happy with the results. I'll have to look at some of the others too. Let me know if you try any and like them!


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[ckso]

Thanks for sharing. Definitely going to try these

[JustMe]

Update-I tried homeremedies' recipe above twice. The smaller amount fit my need better as I had already cleaned the entire open, but had big globs in particular places to deal with. I did it twice--once of about 3 hrs (since it said you can leave only 15 min. and I had already cleaned before) and when that only got a little bit off overnight. Both times I had to scrub with brillo. It is coming off, but there is still a significant amount left.

I am not sure what this is so difficult, as I normally have only used baking soda and vinegar and only had to use brillo in a few difficult places---but it all still came off on the first try. The only thing I can think of is that I did let the kids have those "rising crust" frozen pizza a couple of times, which we have not done before. I cleaned my over thoroughly 4 months ago and while I'm not proud of that, its not like its been years either.

I will try again next weekend. There is still a signifcant amount of grease/dirt left. Any more suggestions would be appreciated. Definitely buying one of those over liners when I am done. I had one in the past, but when I got this oven it was so easy to clean that I never bothered.

ETA: I had left over baking soda/dawn/vinegar mix and used to to re-clean the top of my smooth top oven that I clean regularly with baking soda and vinegar only. The mixture did get off some spots that hadn't come off with just the baking soda and vinegar--I am very pleased with that.