Grease Dripping From Oven Roof

I received the following email:

I was hoping you can help me. I have
a very dirty oven. The grease is
actually dripping from the roof of
the oven.

How do I clean up there above the
element? I have oven spray and it
says that you should not spray on
the element.

How do you spray the roof of the oven
without getting it on the element? Would
your baking soda idea work on it? It's
not really carbon it's grease ---- well,
on the surface anyway --- there may be
carbon underneath!

Please help. Thanks.

I've never heard of using baking soda as
a degreaser. However this web page claims
that it can be used for this very purpose:

Sprinkle Baking Soda on Grease

Here's another that claims the same thing:

Five Natural Degreaser Ideas

Here's yet another:

Baking Soda Is an Effective Degreaser

One advantage of baking soda is that it will
not burn. I wonder about using things that will
burn in an oven. You want to take away from the
problem, not add to it.

I've never used baking soda as a degreaser myself.
Therefore I have no way of knowing how well it
actually works.

The other issue you mention is spraying the heating
element. I've covered that in an earlier blog
post:

Do You Spray the Heating Element?

Ed Abbott