Does Baking Soda Ever Turn Hard After You Heat it?

Just got the following email:

Hi

I have been using the baking soda
prescription since Christmas and,
though there has been a great
improvement, I still have 2 patches
that need more.

I have cleaned up all of the soda
and need to use the oven as my
microwave has died and I have not
been able to get out to pick up a
new one.

I have not used the stove oven
while the soda was in it. If I
use the oven as is, will it be
more difficult to clean it later
or shall I start over from square
one and overcome my fear of using
the oven while the wet soda is in
it?

Thanks for any help you can give me.

The question seems to be, Will
turning my oven on with baking soda
in it make my oven harder to clean?
This implies yet another question: Does
baking soda ever turn hard after it
has been heated?

In my experience, baking soda never
hardens due to heat. In this respect,
it is much like table salt. You can
heat table salt to any oven temperature
desired and it still is table salt.

My experience is that baking soda remains
a powder that is easily wiped out of the
oven no matter what temperature you cook
at. Turning the oven on with baking soda
in the oven does not seem to be a problem.

Note that baking soda and baking powder
are two different things. I've written
about this here:

Baking Power or
Bicarbonate of Soda?

Ed Abbott

Super Strong Cleaner Wipes Numbers Off Oven Dial

Just received the following email:

Dear Ed,

Not sure if you can help but was
just googling and found your site!

I have just tried to clean my landlord's
oven with super strong spray on cleaner...
thought I would clean in and out.. When I
wiped the outside, the numbers around the
dials wiped off! What shall I do?

Thanks!

That is one powerful cleaner! Your email
has caused me to go upstairs and look at
the dial on our oven.

OK. I've just taken a look and I see that
the dial on our oven is actually a knob
that comes on and off. Is this the case
with your oven? I'm not really an expert
on ovens, so I don't really know.

I suppose that I would respond to this problem
differently depending on how bad the situation
is. Are the numbers completely wiped off the
dial? If so, then I might go to an oven appliance
store is see if they have a replacement part.

My first option would be to talk to someone
about a replacement part. For example, here
is an online retailer that seems to have a
selection of oven dials in stock:

Dials and Knobs

I'm not recommending this online retailer
because I don't know them. I'm just saying
that I would start looking around. For example,
I might call the 800 number for the above
online retailer and start asking questions.
As you can see, the number they give at the
top of the above web page is 800-525-5556.

It seems to me that a replacement part is
the simplest and most straight-forward solution
to your problem.

Of course, I'm just guessing, plus using a little
common sense. I'm not an oven appliance repair
guy. Nor am I an expert on ovens.

Ed Abbott

Removing PlasticFrom Floor of an Oven

Just got the following email:

HELP......my wife  turned on
the self cleaning feature on
our DACOR..... only problem.....
she left the plastic drip
catcher sheet in the oven......
now there is a white bumpy film
in oven & on glass.....any way
to remove????

Wow! This sounds like a tough
tough problem. Here's where
some people have posted to a
website who also have melted
plastic in their oven:

Melted plastic inside oven - help!!

Perhaps a razor-blade might help
get the plastic off the window.

What kind of surface is the oven?
I assume it is metal with an enamel
type paint. However, these days, this
is not always a safe assumption as
some ovens are coated with non-stick
surfaces.

Here's someone who claims to have
successfully removed plastic from
the bottom of their oven:

How do you remove melted
plastic from electric oven?

If it were me, I'd try to remove
the bulk of the plastic before cooking
again. If I could do it with a putty
knife without damaging the surface, I
might try this.

The reason I would want to get most of
the plastic out before cooking again is
the problem with plastic fumes. Plastic
smells pretty toxic to me.

A thought that occurs to me is that plastic
softens and melts before it burns. It might
take some careful experimentation, but the plastic
might be softer at say, 300 degrees, than it is
at room temperature. Of course, you don't want
to risk burning your skin doing this It might make
sense to wear burn-resistant gloves or mittens. For
example, you might wear welding gloves or pot holders
on your hands.

Note that I've never tried to warm plastic up
myself to the point where it melts. Therefore
my thoughts on this are purely speculative and
not based on experience. I'm not sure if it
would be possible to heat the plastic somewhat
before removing it.

Write to me if you have a better idea or if you
find something that works. Anyone else have
suggestions? Please post below.

Ed Abbott

Smoke ComingFrom Oven Door

This week I received the following
email from a woman:

Hope you have run across this problem
because I am going a bit nuts. This is
my third time scrubbing my oven, and
I still have smoke originating from
the inside oven door.

The door is spotless, I have cleaned
around the insulation stripping, and I
literally see the smoke coming off of
where the window would be... It doesn't
actually have a window. I use a brillo
pad and repeatedly wiped away gunk and
residue, so that isn't causing the
smoke. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

L.

It sounds to me like there must be a
vent on the door. Otherwise, how could
smoke come out of the door?

She mentions that the smoke seems to be
coming from where the oven door window
would be, if she had an oven door window.
I'm finding this hard to visualize. I can't
imagine smoke coming out of the center
of the oven door.

There is one possibility. It seems to
me that someone wrote to me about having
vents underneath the oven door handle.
If she has vents there, then she could
have smoke coming out of the frontside
of her oven door.

I've just found the post from a few
months ago that describes a situation
where the oven door vents are found
behind the oven door handle:


Oven Door Vents
Are Behind Handle
and Very Hard to Clean


Perhaps this is the answer. If she has
vents underneath her oven door handle,
and some food has gotten into these vents,
maybe this is where the smoke is coming
from.

Anyone have a better idea?

Everything comes from somewhere. The smoke
coming out of her oven door must be coming
from somewhere too.

Ed Abbott