Please help!! I’ve fucked up my oven!!

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Oh fuckkk.

I’m such an idiot!!!

Put some stuff in a baking tray to cook in the oven earlier.

I hadn’t realised, but it seems like there was a plastic/rubber heatproof mat attached to the bottom of the baking tray!!

Can’t believe I didn’t notice. I kept on hearing weird popping sounds from the oven while the stuff in the baking tray was cooking. Fuck.

Anyway, the plastic or rubber heatproof mat thing (or whatever it was that was attached to the bottom of the baking tray) has melted after being in the oven!! And it’s covering the bottom part of the oven! It looks weird and clingfilm-y.

Any ideas about how I can get it off please?

I’ve turned the oven off, and am waiting for it all to cool completely.

Fuck, I’m such an idiot!!!

Will it scrape off once it's cooled down? I would suggest warning it slightly and then wiping it but I think the fumes might knock you out?!

www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/cleaning/q-and-a/a2487/remove-plastic-meltdown-oct01/

Oh no! I would let it cool completely before you do anything as I imagine it’s extremely hot and will stick to your skin if you have an accident.

If it were me, I would be on gumtree looking for a professional oven cleaner! Sorry that’s no help I’m useless at these things.

Let it cool for a few hours or even overnight...hopefully it will solidify and just break off in big satisfying chunks if you get a knife under it.

Let it cool and take a look. You might find it peels off nicely.

Thanks so much, everyone. I’ll let it cool and then see what happens!!

As above! Let it cool & peel it off! It looks like it would come off in one piece! Let us know how you get on!

Thanks again everyone!

Just abc update - I’ve managed to peel off the whole plasticky bit off the bottom part of the oven, so it looks fine now! Thank you so much!

It’s just the metal racks that have gunk on them now.

Any ideas about what I could do to get th gunk off them please? I thought about gently heating the oven and then pouring on a mixture of water and washing-up liquid to get the gunk off. Scared about the fumes though!!! Is it stupid of me to even suggest this as a possible option?

Does heating the oven slightly to then wash the gunk off with soapy water sound like a reasonable idea?

Or should I just put the racks straight in the sink and scrub them with really hot soapy water?

The gunk on the metal racks is solid, but quite sticky and not really easy to get off.

Acetone aka nail varnish remover, is a good solvent for plastics. I'd try warming a little then acetone on a cloth or sponge. Wear rubber gloves.

Do you have a dishwasher? I'd try putting the shelves in on the hottest wash. It might get the worst of it off if not all of it. Or it may soften it enough for you to scrub them.

Isn’t this where sex lube and a fish slice comes in?

I wouldn't put it in the dishwasher. It might simply transfer the gunk from the racks to the dishwasher spray arms and pipework

Acetone and steel wool might be a good start.

Thanks so much for all of your suggestions!!

I’m a bit worried about putting it in the dishwasher for the reasons posters have mentioned above.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any nail polish remover with acetone with it.

I tried warming the racks in the oven, but the rubber gunk isn’t melting at all, just smoking! The filament bit at the top of the oven then started glowing and there was quite a bit of smoke, so I thought it would be best to switch the oven off!!

What do I doooo?

New shelves?

Any nail polish remover will take it right off.

Ummmm ... Stop until you can go out and buy some acetone?

I’ve ordered new shelves I feel so bloody stupid for not checking to see what caused this mess in the first place!! If I’d done that, none of this would have happened I’m definitely learning from this.

Thanks so much again for all of your help!!

Does anyone know how I can get rid of the old oven shelves please? I won’t dump them, but I’m not sure if they can be recycled as they’re quite dirty.

I’m sure they’d normally be okay for recycling, but the main one is still covered in the plasticky gunk (the support shelves aren’t as bad). I wonder, if I took the shelves to a metal recycling place, if they could chip the gunk off or just use it as scrap metal maybe?

Can you remove the shelves and our boiling water on them to get the plastic off? Or will that not be hot enough?

Thanks ChineseChicken - I tried that yesterday, and it didn’t work unfortunately.

Just wondering as well if anyone knows if I took the shelves to a metal recycling place, if they could chip the gunk off or maybe use it as scrap metal?