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Hey Gang:
(esp. RobbiQuest):
Safety has been a hot (I hear your groans!) topic lately. And for good reason.
Since I and most of the people on this board are amatures at so much of this stuff regarding GAS + FLAME = BOMBS IN OUR KITCHENS, it seems it might be time to get an easily accessed discussion started on safety issues.
May I make a suggestion, that might be especially appropriate for the Virtual Convention site? How about a section entitled: "Safety First: don't do what I did", or something to that effect? I'd be able to supply a couple of juicy ones.
Joe
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I recently purchased a $25 handheld gas detector. It will get here sometime next week, will let you know how well it works.
http://www.rvsupplywarehouse.com/con...s-detector.jpg
In the meantime I am using a 50% mixture of Dawn dishwashing liquid and tap water to spray on suspected connections and it works fine. Turns into a frothy bubbly foam whenever there is a leak detected. And my oven has never smelled cleaner!
OK, OK, I know what you're thinking, "Is it mild?"
Oh it's more than just mild. You're soaking in it.
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You know what's really sad?
I haven't really watched TV in over 20 years, and barely remember the old programs, but I can still sing the jingles of the old ads and remember the ol' soaking in dish detergent ploy.
It's kind of scary.
-jenn
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Joe, was it your story about the thermostat test that almost ended up in a stove meltdown?
-Jenn
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LOVED that story. Not that it wasn't a bit shocking, but your take on it was hilarious. Please make sure that it goes into a safety archive, if one gets put together.
I went looking for it moments ago, but I couldn't find it. Maybe you could find it again, Joe, and post a link, or even the threasd title and date?
-Jenn
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Joe, a page dedicated to "Safety First" is a great idea! I will save your story, and hope for more.
Maybe when Lowracer's Ghost has put some time between him and his recent misses and is happily cooking those pizzas again he'd write a short story on that too.
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Jenn, I remember you had a couple of family members with near misses. Can you tell that story again? (then I'll capture it off of here and save it.)
And anyone else too with your stories.
t.
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RQ:
Thanks for the nice words. Tragedy can be funny, especially when we survive.
Here's the page it appears on:
http://www.hostboard.com/cgi-bin/ult...c&f=7954&t=209
Joe
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In the early 1950s, my grandmother had a gas range that she had owned for many years and that she felt quite comfortable using. One day, when my father was 5 or 6 years old and was watching her cook dinner, she opened the oven door, made a small exclamation that the gas was out, and then tried to relight the oven with a match. He watched as it exploded with enough force to knock his mother off her feet and singe her hair and eyebrows. It was a pretty traumatic experience for a child, and he remembers it quite vividly. I'm not sure if gas companies were even required to add odorant mercaptans to natural gas at this point, but she obviously didn't realize how much gas was present when she lit that match.
Thirty years later, my brother moved into a new apartment with an older gas stove. He lit the oven and then walked away while the oven preheated. When he came back a few minutes later and opened the oven to see if the oven was hot, he was literally blown across the room by the force of the explosion. Luckily he suffered no more than bumps, bruises, and burned hair, but it sure got his attention. His eyebrows took months to grow back.
It might be easy to think that these were both situations in which the user was partly to blame, but the reality is that not every person who may use your beautiful vintage stove in the future will be an expert. Can you count on everyone to stop and think the situation through when they open the door and are surprised to find that the oven is cold? Maybe, like my brother, they won't have a chance to think at all. There are plenty of ignition sources in a kitchen, including two standing pilots just on that lovely Chambers stove.
A working safety system would have prevented both of the near misses in my family. Cooking dinner should not be an extreme sport.
-Jenn
