So, last week I forgot a step when I ran the oven through the cleaner cycle – removing the racks – and now they are all tarnished instead of purty, shiny chrome-colored. I am indifferent to their appearance but they don’t glide in and out as smoothly as they used to; it takes more effort to push them in now. I’m guessing in addition to being oxidized, the chrome has become rougher.
Would hitting them up with a metal polish like Brasso restore the original smooth surface or merely strip everything off, exposing the steel wire underneath? Is there another tack I can try?
The “old appliance repair guy” on the AM radio this weekend talked about the problems he sees this time of year (Thanksgiving), in particular after people use the self-cleaning oven feature. One thing was he talked about was the racks being left in. He said it gets so hot (900F) that the chrome burns off. His advice was to take some steel wool or fine sand paper and polish the racks where they slide.
I was just reading this section in my new oven’s user manual (do you have one of those?), and their recommendation if this happens is to rub some mineral oil on the racks. So here you have two options.
Thank you, John. (Who are you, anyway?) I’ll try the oil first. I was hoping the tarnish is just on the surface but your OARG is right, the chrome is gone.
Check at some used appliance store … they typically have stacks and stacks of used oven racks they’ll sell you on the cheap … figure a good hour to clean up your racks with steel wool, so how much is an hour of your time worth? …