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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : Don’t leave a pot on at #1....
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Grogster Admin Group  Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9610 |
I thought it was safe.  Put some fettuccine on #1 just to reheat it. Came back through to the office to work on something(the cell-phone module problem), then about ten mins later I hear the smoke alarms going off!!!  I go out to investigate, and kitchen full of smoke. Pot is a pressure-cooker, belching steam and smoke - horrible smell. Quickly remove pot - element that is set to #1, is red-hot. Oh dear. Not good.  I was kinda looking forward to that chicken fettuccine, but it has now been eviscerated. This has never happend before. I will have to investigate before I use that stove again. I have manually popped the MCB for the oven/stove to isolate it - just in case. I figured that leaving a pot on the stove on #1 was safe-enough. I have just been proved wrong. Scary.....  Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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TassyJim Guru  Joined: 07/08/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 6283 |
Sounds like a stuck simmerstat. Cheap enough to buy and easy enough to replace (if you know how and have the relivant qualifications). I have replaced most on our 12 year old stove. Jim VK7JH MMedit |
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Gizmo Admin Group Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5119 |
Stuck thermostat, its a common problem. And dangerous as you experienced. Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9610 |
It's never done that before. I was looking forward to that chicken fettuccine. I suppose I can always make another. The important thing is that the house is still intact! I never thought that could happen. Not on #1. My eyes are opened. EDIT: SO glad I have smoke detectors. My mind is running away with me as to what COULD have happened, had the detectors not alerted me..... EDIT: For those actually reading this thread who are interested in food, I could always post my recipe for Chicken Fettuccine!!!!  Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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Azure Guru Joined: 09/11/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 446 |
As long as it doesn't end with.... and let simmer for 30 mins on #1 |
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CircuitGizmos Guru Joined: 08/09/2011 Location: United StatesPosts: 1427 |
 Micromites and Maximites! - Beginning Maximite |
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| Paul_L Guru Joined: 03/03/2016 Location: United StatesPosts: 769 |
Cut 1 pound of white meat chicken into strips. Season with salt and white pepper and saute in butter. In a separate pot simmer peeled garlic cloves in cream for 10 minutes. Remove the garlic cloves from the cream sauce and pour it into the pan with the chicken. Stir in some Parmesan cheese. In a separate pot simmer the pasta in water to your preference of stiffness. Drain the water. Pour the sauce and chicken over the pasta. Paul in NY |
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| Malibu Senior Member  Joined: 07/07/2018 Location: AustraliaPosts: 260 |
Ouch! One reason I never leave the kitchen when I'm cooking (Another reason is so I can keep tasting as I cook )Maybe add a cooking forum to the index - then we could all have Bits 'n Bytes as well as Bits 'n Bites  Plus, get a few good recipes going around too! John John |
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| Bill7300 Senior Member Joined: 05/08/2014 Location: AustraliaPosts: 159 |
Actually, I'm a bit wary of leaving any pressure cooker unattended, regardless of heat settings. Vivid recollection of my mother cooking stovies, that traditional Scottish potato dish, in her pressure cooker. Apparently, the safety valve, which from memory was a dished rubber disk device, let go, with the stovies then being blasted out the resulting hole and ending up as starchy stalactites on the kitchen ceiling! Bill |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9610 |
Emptied the pot today, and thick black burnt stuff on bottom of pot. Might be salvageable, but then, it's been so badly overheated it might be warped. It STINKS. It is a mixture of burnt-black chicken and pasta - not a very nice smell. I have tried spaying air freshener around the place, but that stink is still there and I think it will take a few days to dissipate. Yuk!  I've reheated stuff on #1 for years and never run into this issue. It really surprised me that I had not thought that this could happen before now. I don't have a microwave oven, but I think I will go get one. For the purposes of reheating food, a microwave is a great thing. I suppose they can go wrong too. Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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palcal Guru Joined: 12/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1993 |
Might be time to control the hotplate with a Mite. "It is better to be ignorant and ask a stupid question than to be plain Stupid and not ask at all" |
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| Azure Guru Joined: 09/11/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 446 |
That was my first thought as well. |
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| robert.rozee Guru Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 2442 |
an LM555 and a big FET might be a simpler solution :-) a simmerstat is essentially a very low frequency PWM device, with absolutely zero feedback from the actual stove element as regards the element's temperature. you would think that these days stove elements would have a thermocouple attached to each element to provide feedback, along with some simple electronics behind the panel of control knobs driving it all. the technology for this has been available for 20+ years, and would make for a far safer product, with fewer deaths in house fires each year. cheers, rob :-) |
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| palcal Guru Joined: 12/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1993 |
I spent a lot of my life repairing kitchen appliances. Depending on the age of his stove, if it is old it would have a mechanical simmerstat that has an internal heater and bimetal to simply switch the element on and off. Some did have a sensor in the centre of the hotplate to check the temperature of the pot. The later ones are electronic and do have over temperature cut outs but these are only to protect the element, as the over temperature has to be above the maximum setting for the hotplate. Then there is induction, the best of the lot in my opinion. But there is really no fail safe way with any of them except to keep your eye on what you are cooking. Paul. "It is better to be ignorant and ask a stupid question than to be plain Stupid and not ask at all" |
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| Andrew_G Guru Joined: 18/10/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 871 |
1) This is not an ex-wife bleat but my ex put on some eggs to boil and got distracted. The eggs were just brown/black dust in the bottom of the Al pot which had started to melt. (I think electric but may have been gas) 2) We let our house and contents out to some academics when we went overseas for six months. We came back to find one of our once-good stainless steel pots (Cu sandwich in the base) had been welded to the hot plate and there was a matching spot weld where it had been wrenched off the hotplate. (The couple borrowed the professor's car, got a speeding fine and absconded without paying). Now back to SMD soldering . . . Andrew |
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Chopperp Guru Joined: 03/01/2018 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1097 |
This morning heard a gurgling sound coming from the kitchen area. Looked at the stove. Wifey had left her breakfast set of steam pots with the heating knob turned up half way while she went & did other things. Bottom pot boiling away merrily. Normally leaves it set on low. Easy to forget. As palcal said above, Best keep an eye on things. ChopperP |
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| Solar Mike Guru Joined: 08/02/2015 Location: New ZealandPosts: 1163 |
It happens, here in NZ, tenants can get away doing damage like this and there is no comeback, after a recent court decision... My worst, many years ago working in a small hut on a couple of old valve based TV transmitters, with big blower cooling fans; we put the jug on filled with water and carried on working, sometime later there was this burning smell, thought we had blown something up in the transmitter, switched it off to investigate, nothing wrong there, however discovered the jug was a glowing element surrounded by a pool of molten plastic, bugger no cuppa that day. |
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| Malibu Senior Member Joined: 07/07/2018 Location: AustraliaPosts: 260 |
Interestingly in industry with using solid state relays (the usual choice for PID control in heating elements), when an element fails, the SSR will ALWAYS fail on. I've seen many fires (and cleaned up/rewired the damage from many fires) caused by failed SSR's. One of the SAA wiring rules says (I'm paraphrasing here) that there must be a mechanical isolation on the live side of all solid state controls. John John |
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| Phil23 Guru Joined: 27/03/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1667 |
Most recent burning smell here was from the electric pressure cooker. It usually cooks away quietly sitting on the left side of the 6 element glass top hotplate thingo under the range hood. On the day in question, mugging's decide boil something one of the right side elements.... Opps, turned the wrong knob to high & melted one of the pressure cookers feet. |
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| Grogster Admin Group Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9610 |
Just to clarify, this was just a normal old pot with a lid on it. When I said 'Pressure cooker', I meant that the pot was so hot that the steam coming from it made it look like a steam engine. I still have not managed to clean this pot, even after several attempts at serious scrubbing. It might be terminal.(for the pot) [Quote=Solar Mike]It happens, here in NZ, tenants can get away doing damage like this and there is no comeback, after a recent court decision...[/Quote] Really?! Can you elaborate? Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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