Baking Power orBicarbonate of Soda?

Got the following email not too
long ago asking about the difference
between baking powder and
bicarbonate of soda:

Hello Ed

I am very interested in using
your unique method of oven cleaning.

I have a problem though we (here in
England) have baking powder
or bicarbonate of soda and I
am unsure which one I should be using.

Could you advise please.

Regards

C. Day

Baking soda and bicarbonate of soda are
the same thing. Use baking soda.

Do not use baking powder. While baking
powder often contains baking soda, it also
contains other ingredients.

For best results, use baking soda only.

Ed Abbott

Can Baking SodaBe Used Ona Self-Cleaning Oven?

Lately, I've been getting email from people
who have self-cleaning oven. It has slowly
dawned on me that these ovens have a different
interior surface that needs to be treated with
care.

Put the wrong chemicals on the interior surfaces
of your self-cleaning oven and you damage it.
This is what I'm hearing over and over again.

This begs the question: Can a self-cleaning oven
be damaged by baking soda? Is it safe to use
baking soda on a self-cleaning oven?

This web page seems to think it is OK. It mentions
making a paste with baking soda in it to clean your
oven:

Self Cleaning Oven Repair and Care

Here's another web page that seems to think it
is OK to use baking soda on a self-cleaning
oven:

How to Manually Clean an Electric Self Cleaning Oven

This web page seems to strongly favor baking
soda as a cleaning agent for a self-cleaning
oven:

Self Cleaning Ovens – Toxic For Humans or Only Birds?

I'll be looking at other sources to see if they
agree. I'm not an oven cleaning expert myself so
I depend on outside sources for better information
than I can provide.

Update: June 7, 2013:

Most oven manufacturers provide you with an 800 number
you can call for consumer level information. I'd call
them and ask whether or not you should use baking soda
on your oven.

Oven technology, like all technology these days, changes
so quickly that I'd be reluctant to make a definite
recommendation as to whether or not baking soda is appropriate
for your brand new oven.

Ed Abbott

Two Kinds of Self-Cleaning Oven

I received the following email yesterday:

I used a conventional oven cleaner
on a self cleaning oven.  What damage
did I do and what should I do about
it?  Do I need a new oven?  Replace
the inside racks?  Other.....?

I don't really have an answer to this
question. I'm starting to realize that
self-cleaning ovens are more complicated
than I thought they were.

I always thought that a self-cleaning oven
worked by generating a high temperature. End
of story.

Now I'm starting to understand differently. I'm
starting to understand that the interior of a
self-cleaning oven can have a special surface
that must be treated with care. See the owner's
manual that came with your oven for cleaning
instructions.

Today I've been reading about two kinds of
self-cleaning oven:

• catalytic self-cleaning systems
• Pyrolytic self-cleaning units

I read about these two kinds of self-cleaning
oven here after scrolling down:

Self-Cleaning Ovens

Perhaps this information will help the
person above who wrote in. I'm not sure.
I'm not an expert on ovens and oven technology.

Ed Abbott