DAMN I'm dumb and lucky, or, molten aluminum

[eub]

If you leave an aluminum-clad pot on a hot electric-stove burner after the water in it boils dry, the pot may melt.

Right now I have a huge amount of respect for the safety factors built into consumer products that allow the burner cup to catch the dripping aluminum rather than letting it go anyplace whose ignition point might be less than 1200 °F. Tomorrow I'll deal with chiseling(?) the aluminum globs off the burner spiral, and perhaps getting the ingot out as a "YOU DUMBASS" memento.

Unsettling cracking noises can be heard as the ingot cools in its cup.

Comments

[cdinwood.livejournal.com]

At some point in my life I was warned heavily against leaving empty pots on hot stovetops. It's one of those things that I am very careful about even now, one of the few things that I get paranoid about even without the accident. For the longest time I wouldn't even put a pot on the stove without something in it.

Now I know why for this warning. I wonder if my mom had some experience I didn't.

Glad to know you're not burnt to a crisp or something like that.

[eub.livejournal.com]

My mom never told me "don't use the Internet while you boil water." That's the lesson my kids are getting drilled into them.

[cdinwood.livejournal.com]

I think I know of some other people who will also be telling their children that. They weren't just boiling water--they were cooking noodles. Mmm, crispy black noodles.

Actually, I've had people have noodle troubles around me more than once. Going "hrm, something's burning!" and "better take that off the burner" are things that happen sometimes in the kitchen at the house.

[eub.livejournal.com]

Water makes extra-sneaky smoke.