March 09, 2007

• Whew! How hot did you have that oven? I change my own elements. It's no big deal. If it was really old they can disintegrate.
• Now, I'm an arts grad, so take this for what's it's worth, but I think it's fairly clear what happened. One of the little men who lives inside your oven to make it work suffered from spontaneous human combustion, which would account for the high flashpoint temperature, but leaving the immediate surroundings (i.e. casserole) untouched. This is intuitively obvious to the most casual observer. So what to do? I'd be wary of the home-repair-job. Insist on a properly bonded and qualified electrician, who would either tell your landlday to chuck the thing, or would do the repair himself, in which case you could sue him for the loss of your wife and child.
• The oven was only set at 350F. Yeah, it probably was a really old element -- the oven is from the 60s, and I'm betting they are the original elements. I don't know about that theory, Capt. Everyone knows they use salamanders trapped in those elements to harness the electric fluids and create heat.
• afaik they just plug in like light bulbs. So it should be okay. YOMV. Of course, my oven is an Easy-Bake.
• Poppycock! Spontaneous human combustion, as instigated by an imbalance of the oven's Phlogiston. Clearly.
• Oven elements are an easy do-it-yourself job. As long as the white powder and molten metal are cleaned up all should be fine. Just test it with an empty oven once the new element is installed. Set it to 350 or so, and let it heat up until the thermostat kicks in and the little light turns off. If that happens with no disastrous events, you're good to go.
• The white powder was probably residue of the element's internal insulation. An oven element is basically a wire encased in insulation, encased in an outer metal sheath. Meltdowns like this typically occur when, over time, the insulation deteriorates and a short occurs between the internal wire and the outside metal sheath. Get a new element, and you're good to go!
• How do so many people know about oven elements? Boggles me mind.
• It is indeed child's play to replace oven elements - although the children may scream a bit if you have everything on while they do it.
• Something else to be careful of... depending on the age of the oven there's a chance the molten metal could be mercury. I had an oven that stopped working in a similar way. A thin tubular thermostat containing mercury corroded and leaked its contents, leaving a small toxic puddle and meaning that the oven could no-longer regulate the temperature. Less likely with a modern electric oven, but worth being aware of. Here's more information about mercury in ovens (and other devices): Oven thermostats were made of mercury until the mid 1970s. This was another capillary and bellows full of mercury that expanded and contracted as the temperature rose and fell. This device was connected to a switch that controlled the main oven burner.
• Most of the new ovens plug in the elements--I changed mine from the mid-eighties, but some of the older ones were hard-wired in. I hope the casserole was covered if you ate it.
• repair clinic can tell you if it's self-repairable. I've done over repairs with their parts, but normally just things like bad control panel membranes (they don't like scrambled eggs, apparently). Now if someone will tell me how to get the damned light fixture cover off the appliance light, that would be helpful.
• Thanks for all the advice. Yeah, the casserole was covered, so we ate it. Didn't seem to kill us . . . yet. The landlady has decided to get a repair guy in to look at it after all, because there were some other funny things going on with the oven controller. Plus, I think the little puddles of molten metal kinda freaked her out, seeing as she lives in the other side of our duplex. Gives her a little extra motivation to ensure the place isn't going to burn down due to a faulty cooker. Ours is old enough that the oven elements are hardwired in, not that that it is a big deal to change those (I've done it in the past), but one of the advantages of renting your house is that these sorts of things are Someone Elses Problem.
• If the oven is even half as old as you suggest, I think you should be getting a new one.
• I'd echo what most others here have said, that you'd probably be fine just replacing the element. A possible random concern - the white powder (presumably insulation) - asbestos risk? In any case, I'd moisten it before wiping it up so it doesn't become airborne. If the oven is that old, it might be better to simply replace it with something more energy efficient anyhow. Electric ranges aren't all that expensive as appliances go.
• Just in case
• Fimbu: Great to hear the lid was on the dinner, and the asbestos seasoning was kept to a minimum. Ain't it grand when the landlord is motivated not to burn the place down around your ears?
• Being a landlady myself with a small apartment at the back of the house, I would appreciate a tenant who lets me know when something isn't working right. It rarely happens as they 'don't want to bother me'. Yeah, I like to pay for the water running continuously in the shitter. Or doing fast turnarounds on repairs that are discovered on the same day one moves out and another moves in. Well, actually, otherwise I've had terrific tenants.
• Hmm. Never though about asbestos. I just assumed it was ceramic. Oh well, a little asbestos never hurt anyone, right? Right? Right?
• I'm suprised nobody's asked if it was maybe a fricasee of phoenix that you were fixing? That would explain plenty. Otherwise, just a word of warning: oven malfunctions can release fumes toxic enough to kill pet birds, especially if there's a non-stick coating involved somewhere. I know someone who lost two beloved Amazons to an oven malfunction (I'm sure those fumes aren't very good for monkeys, either).
• Well, landlord didn't like the suggestion of me just changing the element myself ($25, I was getting tired of being ovenless), and finally got a repair woman in to see the stove today. She took one look at the thing and said don't bother fixing it, it's too old to bother, and it would cost as much to fix it as it would to replace it. Landlord agreed, said it was a tax write-off to replace it anyways, and so we get a new stove on Friday. Problem solved.
• OOOOH KAY!! Fire up that puppy, Fim. I call dibs on the first piece of Monkey Cake
• Is it made with real monkeys?
• Sooooooo ... 7 days without an oven? A reduction on this month's rent is appropriate, n'est-ce pas?
• Told you so.
• Fim: Made by, for, and with REAL MONKEYS in an original apartment oven. No asbestos, mercury, melted metals or ceramic ingredients whatsoever.
• Mmmmm . . . . monkey cake made with real monkeys. Bucky Kat from "Get Fuzzy" would approve. So, do you have to de-fur the monkeys first, or is it hair and all? I'm assuming a blender is involved somewhere along the line. Although, you know a little asbestos would make it more fire-resistant and add that loverly asbestos tang.
• So out of curiosity, what kinda oven are you getting?
• No idea. The landlord bought two of them, whatever it is, because she decided to replace the one in her house as well as it was as old as ours. She swings between being a penny-pincher and extravagent, so it really depends on her mood when she was at the store.
• Just as long as it's not EasyBake . . . .
• Although on second thought, a full-sized EasyBake oven would be kinda cool. I wonder how big the lightbulb would have to be?