Will rain-soaked gas range still function?

July 17, 2007 3:16 PM

I have a gas range that was left in the rain for a short time (about a 10 minute, moderate rain). Will it still work?

The gas range has a digital clock, which I can test by plugging it in, but is there anything else that might have a problem with getting temporarily wet? Such as electric ignition?

Thanks for any thoughts!

posted by kingtaj to home & garden (9 comments total)

I have no idea if it will work or not, but make sure you give it plenty of time to dry before you try plugging it in!

my intuituion tells me that since ranges are greasy, messy appliances, I would imagine any sensitive bits are appropriately sealed up. fingers crossed.
posted by PercussivePaul at 3:19 PM on July 17, 2007

I don't see why 10 minutes of rain should make a difference - 10 minutes submerged in a lake, perhaps, but 10 minutes of the surface getting wet is unlikely to matter. If there's a lot of circuitry you could just make sure that the circuitry dries out - water will damage electronics if the electronics are operative while the item gets wet, or if the components exposed to water are allowed to corrode. If you are really concerned, dry the electronic components out thoroughly using compressed air (if you don't have an air compressor you can buy cans of compressed air at a computer store).

As for the range itself, our backyard gas grill has seen a lot worse and still work fine.
posted by mosk at 3:25 PM on July 17, 2007

I've probably boiled over ten minutes of rain's worth of water onto my gas stove. No problems. They are fairly uncomplicated devices. Just let it dry out for a few days, then light it up and leave it for a few minutes so any residual water evaporates.
posted by AaRdVarK at 3:49 PM on July 17, 2007

We used to wash major appliances with a power washer when they came in all greasy. So 10 minutes of rain is nothing though you might want to take a hair dryer to the burners/spiders if they are raw cast iron otherwise they'll rust.
posted by Mitheral at 4:07 PM on July 17, 2007

Let it dry before you consider plugging it in. (Better yet, don't plug it in, the ambient electricity draw on gas stoves is unsane.)

If you absolutely can't wait that long (couple days or so), use alcohol to remove the water from any circuitry.

So long as it wasn't plugged in in the rain, you shouldn't have any problems.
posted by TomMelee at 6:49 PM on July 17, 2007

If you are truly worried, have a extinguisher on hand. Make sure it works on electrical fires.
posted by Jacen at 7:21 PM on July 17, 2007

I can't speak for your specific situation, but I've done everything from soaking a PC (w/ crt !!) in the back of a jeep in a tornado to washing my keyboard in a dishwasher to dropping my cell phone in a friend's beer and I can tell you that I never had a problem with water as long as I let it dry our completely.

My experience generally says that the more water in your water the better off you are. I've lost a camera to a margarita and a couple buttons on my phone to a beer, but I've also had excellent luck with just turning things off (remove the battery on those cell phones asap) and letting them dry for a few days after an inadvertent dip in the lake.

Good luck, YMMV.
posted by crunchyk9 at 1:16 AM on July 18, 2007

Newer gas stoves have a bar that glows to ignite the oven, and electric spark igniters for burners. I'd check them.
posted by theora55 at 10:01 AM on July 18, 2007

Great information, mefi. Thanks. Per advice, I just dried it off as best I could and will let it sit for a spell.
posted by kingtaj at 8:22 AM on July 19, 2007