Hob accidents !
February 24, 2010 12:06 PM   Subscribe

Help me understand wether or not i impaired a fairly new hob for good by burning stuff on it.

I am currently housesitting for someone. Wanting to make myself tea, i heated up a pan after half filling it with water, then put a lid on it so it would heat faster. There was quite a lot of water (20 ounces or so). I then got sidetracked, then the phone rang and I spent 2,5 hours talking to a friend.

Then I noticed the strange not-quite-burn but moreso heated-metal smell that came from the kitchen. I ran to it and noticed everything. Turned the hob off, took the (now empty, super hot with white calcareous stains at the bottom) pan away. Then I noticed that despite the fact that only one of the 4 circles was heated, the one just aside of it had the little red "warning" light, that had turned itself on automatically, because it had gotten really hot as well, from all this time.

My question is : is it possible that I have damaged the hob ? obviously now that it is cold, it looks quite normal. I will make a trial to see what happens, and the smell most probably came from the super hot pan, which I am in the process of cleaning.

Has this ever happenned to any of you ? What are the risks this accident put on future use of the hob ? is it so bad that it is necessary for me to tell the person I am housesitting for ?

Thanks.
posted by Jireel to Home & Garden (7 answers total)
 
What's a hob?
posted by ged at 12:27 PM on February 24, 2010




Response by poster: Sorry, this what I am talking about. An electric stove, with a glass top.
posted by Jireel at 12:44 PM on February 24, 2010


Is this a cooktop with the exposed electrical element coils, or is this one flat piece (of glass? something?) with the elements concealed beneath? I've done this before on older electric stoves with the exposed coils, and no harm is done, except maybe to the pan. I would be surprised if this would damage the fancier flat stovetop, just because it seems like people accidentally do this sort of thing all the time- but I don't have any personal experience.
posted by Secretariat at 12:46 PM on February 24, 2010


Ah, a glass top. A little googling makes me think that some stoves like this have an automatic shutdown if the temperature gets too hot. It sounds like it's possible for the glass to melt if the empty pan gets too hot. I guess you could search for the make and model on the stove to see if the user's manual had any specifics- but I'm speculating that if the stovetop now looks fine and still feels smooth you don't need to mention anything about it. Unless the owner reads ask metafilter.

I'm kind of speculating, hopefully someone careless who owns a glass top stove will see your question. :)
posted by Secretariat at 1:15 PM on February 24, 2010


Response by poster: > Secretariat :haha yes, thank you :), i'll do that. In the meantime, my ginger-tea is great.. at least the other 3 parts are okay. Have a good day !
posted by Jireel at 1:17 PM on February 24, 2010


I'm careless and use an electric stove with a glass top! I've overheated pans, boiled kettles dry and it still works like a champ. The red light is just a warning that the elements are on or still too hot to touch; a visual aid to avoid burning your hands or anything else. Provided it's not cracked or otherwise damaged it should be fine to use.
posted by Allee Katze at 1:49 PM on February 24, 2010


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