Self-cleaning oven - How to use?

First of all, plan what day you're going to clean the oven. A coolish day is best so you can make use of the heat the oven will generate. Avoid running the cleaning feature on warm days because it will make your home uncomfortably warm. But also avoid cleaning the oven on frigid days because you will want to be able to open your windows a bit for ventilation. If your oven is dirty enough to make it worthwhile to clean it, it's going to smoke.

To save energy, you can also turn a hot oven you've just cooked in over to the cleaning cycle (but be sure to remove the food first!).

Take out all the oven racks, and, of course, don't have any pans in there.

Wipe out any loose crumbs to minimize smoking. You don't have to "pre-clean" your oven, even if it has spills in it, but at least get the loose stuff out.

If there is a lever for locking your oven, slide it over. Some have an additional button or lever you have to push at the same time or the latch lever won't move. Some self-cleaning ovens don't have a manual latch (they lock themselves when a certain temperature is reached).

Turn the selector to "clean" and set the cooking timer to 3-5 hours, depending on how dirty the oven is. If you initially don't set it for long enough, it's no big deal. You can run another cycle some other time. With experience, you'll figure out how long you need.

When the cleaning cycle is over, it will turn itself off (check on it to make sure). Don't try to open the oven during the cleaning cycle or for an hour or so after it's done. Trying to force open a locked oven is dangerous and could break the latch.

Once the oven has cooled sufficiently, you may need to slide any manual lock back over (but some unlock themselves). There's no hurry to get in there. Just wipe out the ash and any remaining debris at your convenience. If there is a lot of burned-on food left over in the oven, you didn't set the timer for long enough. Try an extra hour or two the next time. If it's totally clean, you might try a slightly shorter cycle next time.

Between cleanings, you can wipe out your oven with a gentle scrubber, but never use oven cleaners or other harsh chemicals in a self-cleaning oven. It can destroy the special surface that lines the interior, and then the self-cleaning feature will never again work as well.

I think that every oven is different mechanism, but there should be a button marked with which to trigger the self-cleaning function. If you don't have a guide for your oven, you can search information in the Internet.

look up YOUR oven make and model on line and an instruction manual should be available.

READ the manual.

Download it if you don't have one.

You need to look at the owners manual. Self cleaning ovens will heat to about 900 degrees and basically turn all the crap in the oven to ash. Which you Will have to mop out of the oven.
Take all your pots and pans out of the oven. Set it to self clean. Start the cycle and leave overnight. In the morning, wet sponge and scoop out all the ash.

Look in the book that came with it.

We need to know what kind of oven you have first

shut the door blind, this locks the door
set the knobs to self clean
it starts by itself

every oven is different-so the mechanism to get it turned on is particular to your model-either dig out the owner's manual or look it up online and download it (usually for free)...if you can't locate it, then you have to play around with the buttons--but first remove everything in the stoves-including the shelves if you want them to stay shiny. then remove items on top of the stove--cuz it will get hot-no plastic bags crammed in next to it either!!! then make sure you have about 4 hrs where you won't need the stove (it takes about 3 hrs to clean and then some time to cool down) then look for buttons that say something about cleaning--generally 3 hrs does it--when you've figured it out, the oven door will lock-you will not be able to open it again until it is cool enough! when it is all cooled down and the door opens, you can choose to wipe out the inside (there will be ash in the oven, or you can let it sit. I think a wipe down is in order.....I can't imagine a huge pile of ash building up in the stove would be a good thing!

It cleans itself by burning off anything that ends up on it - there is nothing you need to do that is why it is called self cleaning.