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I foolishly used a sheet of aluminum foil on the bottom of my oven while baking pizza. The aluminum melted.
I managed to scrape three-quarters of the foil off with a razor. I also used oven cleaner for about 10 minutes, and tried the oven’s short automatic cleaning function. Neither of these had any effect. Now I’m left with six slightly whitish spots and two spots with flecks of white. The bottom of this oven is not removable or replaceable.
I searched Google and found recommendations for using Naval Jelly (phosphoric acid) and a toilet bowl cleaner called the Works, which contains hydrochloric acid. I am reluctant to use either for fear of further damaging the oven. What do you recommend?
Unbeknown to many people who buy newer ovens, the heating element today is sometimes under the bottom panel. So although it might have been possible to line an oven bottom with foil in the past without a problem, these ovens produce intense heat there that can melt aluminum when the oven is on even briefly. Then the aluminum coating is very difficult to remove.
Because you have already scraped off as much as possible, the safest, cheapest solution is to just live with what remains. It is purely a cosmetic issue.
If you can’t bring yourself to accept that, chemicals are your only option. With these, though, your prime concern isn’t just the oven finish but protecting your eyes, skin and lungs. Before you buy one of these products, look it up online. Stores usually provide a link for the SDS, or safety data sheet, sometimes called the MSDS. It will describe the hazards and what you must do to protect yourself.
Anything that dissolves aluminum is powerful, so wear goggles and rubber gloves if you use one of these products. And because you cannot remove the bottom panel to clean it outside, open up all the doors and windows so you have plenty of ventilation.
Some people report wonderful results with the Works toilet bowl cleaner, which costs $2 for a 32-ounce jug at Home Depot and is 9.5 percent hydrochloric acid. Others are fans of Naval Jelly, which is 10 to 30 percent phosphoric acid (a 16-ounce bottle of Loctite Naval Jelly Rust Dissolver is $7 at Home Depot). And there are those who recommend oven or drain cleaners with sodium hydroxide (lye).
You mention that you already tried oven cleaner, but what type was it? Some kinds depend on ingredients other than lye. One of these is Easy-Off Fume-Free Oven Cleaner ($6 for a 24-ounce can at Home Depot), which is advertised as being safe to use even without rubber gloves.
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