Never Press Your Oven's Self-Clean Button (Do This Instead)

I run my mother's cleaning crew, and every autumn I get the same phone call. Somebody pressed the self-clean button a few days before a holiday, and now the oven will not turn on at all. Here is what that button actually does to your oven, the rules the manufacturer wrote down that almost nobody reads, and the way my mother cleaned an oven for twenty-six years for about a dollar. CHAPTERS 0:00 The brown film you can't see through 0:46 What that button actually does 1:17 The rules almost nobody reads 1:30 Rule one: the racks come out 1:54 Rules two and three: air, and somebody stays home 2:34 Rule four: only on an oven that already works 2:49 Never on an old oven, never before a holiday 3:13 The Steam Clean button nobody presses 3:49 My mother's method: baking soda and one night 4:46 Twelve hours, then wipe it out 5:44 The vinegar step 6:17 The door glass 6:37 The racks, and two things to never use 7:39 How to stay out of this job altogether 8:13 When the button IS the right call 8:48 If the door will not unlock 9:49 What the repair actually costs 10:25 Gas ovens 10:48 All of it, in one list WHAT YOU NEED FOR THE CHEAP METHOD Half a cup of baking soda Three tablespoons of water White vinegar in a spray bottle A cloth, a sponge, and a plastic scraper One night of leaving it alone A NOTE ON SAFETY This is general advice from years of cleaning other people's kitchens, not a repair manual for your specific appliance. Read your own oven's manual before running any cleaning cycle, and if the door latch sticks or you have ever seen an error code on the display, call somebody instead. #ovencleaning #cleaningtips #homemaintenance