Comments on: Doing The Unstuck

Question: Doing The Unstuck

dw — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:51:38 -0800

Thanks to my own stupidity, I managed to get two saucepans stuck one inside the other, with the lower one apparently containing a cavity of lower pressure holding the upper pan in place. Is there any way to get them apart without causing injury or property damage?

The other night I needed to melt chocolate to coat Christmas cookies, but I couldn't find a metal bowl, and I don't own a double boiler. So I improvised and used two saucepans, one slightly narrower and taller than the other. It was all going well until I got stupid and turned off the heat.

There was this thump. The top pan sunk into the bottom pan and stuck fast. And that's where I am now. The two pans will not come unstuck.

The bottom pan still contains water; I can hear it sloshing about.

The most obvious solution to me would be to put the pans back on the heat, get the water in the bottom pan back up to simmer, and see if I can pry them apart at that point. But I'm afraid that that hot water would rapidly go under pressure, and either I'd get nasty steam burns from prying them apart, or the top pan would get launched by the pressure.

I've thought about sacrificing one of the pans by drilling a hole, but they're both Calphalon, and I don't think I have a drill bit that could get through the anodized layer.

I don't really want to throw both pans out. If I could just salvage one, great. If I could salvage both, spectacular. But I'm running out of ideas as to how to undo this mess.

By: twistofrhyme

twistofrhyme — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:55:18 -0800

flll the sink with hot water.
put some ice & cold water in the top pot.

put the bottom pot in the hot water.

the top pot will cool & contract,
the bottom pot will warm & expand.
they should slip apart in a few minutes.

By: hariya

hariya — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:55:19 -0800

Fill your sink with hot water, and let the bottom pan sit in it. Keep trying to separate them every couple of minutes. What you are aiming for is to get the metal in the bottom pan to expand slightly. A lot safer than putting it back on fire.

By: miss lynnster

miss lynnster — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:55:24 -0800

I could be wrong, but I believe if you run hot water and submerge the pans under there for a while they should eventually loosen up.

By: andythebean

andythebean — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:55:25 -0800

Try heating the bottom one by putting it into some hot water, and cooling the top by putting ice water in it.

By: andythebean

andythebean — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:56:16 -0800

wow quadruple simul-post.

By: miss lynnster

miss lynnster — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:56:46 -0800

Dang it... if my internet connection hadn't disappeared for a second I would've TOTALLY been first. I was robbed!

By: bondcliff

bondcliff — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:57:27 -0800

Have you tried running them under really hot water, or pouring boiling water on top of them?

They'll both expand, as will the space between them.

Or, put the pan in a tub of really hot water and put icecubes inside the top pan. One will expand, the other will shrink.

(Its been over 20 years since I took a science class, so I fully expect someone down thread will tell me why Im wrong and why this wont work)

By: jeffamaphone

jeffamaphone — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:58:01 -0800

I caused mefi to throw an exception, or I would have been there too!

If that doesn't work, you can try reheating it on the stove very slowly. Start with the burner on the lowest setting and very gradually increase it.

By: bondcliff

bondcliff — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 10:58:20 -0800

Crap. Yeah, what they all said.

By: dw

dw — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 11:01:17 -0800

Well, I think we found the answer. I'll give it a shot tonight.

By: acoutu

acoutu — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 11:28:19 -0800

Put the bottom pan in hot water. Put ice & salt water into the top pan. It will be colder.

By: happyturtle

happyturtle — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 11:38:53 -0800

Be sure and come back to tell us if it worked. Because, you know, some of us have no life and are really anxious about the welfare of the saucepans of internet strangers...

By: gingerbeer

gingerbeer — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 11:44:27 -0800

Put ice, salt water, and a can of Coke in the top pan, and let us know when it's cold enough to drink?

By: christonabike

christonabike — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 12:05:10 -0800

Has anyone suggested putting the bottom pan in hot water and ice in the top pan?

By: Kirth Gerson

Kirth Gerson — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 12:21:33 -0800

Put the bottom pan in a pool of molten lava and fill the top one with liquid Helium.

By: albolin

albolin — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 12:24:37 -0800

If you are still thinking about drilling a hole, it's perfectly ok to drill through hard anodize. You'll have to get a new drill bit afterwards, but any high speed steel drill bit will cut through it.

By: sprocket87

sprocket87 — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 12:31:35 -0800

While I think the answer has been struck upon, just for the sake of discussing it...

I don't think there's any danger with putting the pot over heat to separate them. You mentioned steam burns and pressure causing the top pot to be launched with great force; I don't think either scenario is likely. P(ressure) = F(orce) / A(rea). With pots of a common size, the surface area would be far too large to be sufficiently pressurized by the amount of force that a bit of boiling water would create. There would have to be a lot of boiled water to cause a steel pot (that is wedged tightly to another) to eject with any force. For that matter, the large circumference of the pot means that any steam should quickly and safely disseminate around the edges without enough force to cause any burns. Despite this, the heat of the stove should still easily allow for the pot(s) to expand sufficiently to manually separate them.

That being said, just wear some potholders or wrap your hands in towels if you're worried. But I'm quite sure there would not be enough pressure to be of any danger.

By: JMOZ

JMOZ — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 12:35:43 -0800

Can you slip a shim (perhaps a very thin knife or a piece of an aluminum pie pan) in between the pots? If it is merely pressure, that would surely release it.

Alternatively, you might consider putting the bottom pan in hot water while putting cold water in the top pan.

By: dw

dw — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 12:45:38 -0800

I don't think there's any danger with putting the pot over heat to separate them. You mentioned steam burns and pressure causing the top pot to be launched with great force; I don't think either scenario is likely. P(ressure) = F(orce) / A(rea). With pots of a common size, the surface area would be far too large to be sufficiently pressurized by the amount of force that a bit of boiling water would create.

I think I put in 1/2-3/4 cup of water. The pans are about 6" in diameter, with thick anodized aluminum walls. The void is, oh, 1-2" high.

Can you slip a shim (perhaps a very thin knife or a piece of an aluminum pie pan) in between the pots?

I tried using the thinnest knife I have, and it won't go. I doubt I could get even a playing card in between.

By: thinkingwoman

thinkingwoman — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 12:50:28 -0800

if you're worried about heat, why not just pour dishwashing soap around the edge? it might give it just enough lubrication to slip apart.

By: gatchaman

gatchaman — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 13:27:41 -0800

Put em both in a pillowcase, whack the side on the floor or table.

By: HotPatatta

HotPatatta — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 13:40:53 -0800

Put them on the floor and step on the lower pot's handle. Bend over and pull the bejesus out of the upper pot's handle to pry them apart.

By: b33j

b33j — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 14:04:10 -0800

oh as well as the heat/cold thing, try rotating them apart, rather than levering.

By: UbuRoivas

UbuRoivas — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 16:17:24 -0800

put the pans in the freezer. the water in the lower one will turn to ice, expand, and push the upper one upwards.

By: doppleradar

doppleradar — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 21:15:39 -0800

Have you tried centrifugal force? If science has taught us anything it's that you should stand in your kitchen and spin around as fast as you can.

By: dw

dw — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 22:14:57 -0800

Didn't work. The hot water and ice didn't work. Prying didn't work. Rotating didn't work. Soap didn't work. I finally go so angry I threw them, bent the top pan severely, all the water ran out... and they STILL wouldn't come apart.

Any more bright ideas?

By: UbuRoivas

UbuRoivas — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 01:38:33 -0800

buy some new pans?

By: UbuRoivas

UbuRoivas — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 01:42:07 -0800

more realistically, WD-40 is your answer.

spray. wait 15 min. repeat. repeat. then try rotating, perhaps in conjunction with the heat / chill suggestions.

By: Sculthorpe

Sculthorpe — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 09:13:06 -0800

I had this happen to me recently in a failed attempt to create a double boiler. I tried all of the methods listed above and nothing worked. Finally we just started using it as a "stuck together" double boiler. As you would expect, the steam inside expanded and blew the two pots apart. No one was injured but there was a hilarious amount of chocolate on almost every surface in the kitchen, including the ceiling.

By: bassjump

bassjump — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 12:20:06 -0800

Something similar happened to me recently. My solution included a sad face, my sympathetic father, and a rubber mallet. Somehow he was able to knock them apart.