Leaving electrical appliances on for hours

Bretrick

Bretrick

Well-known Member
Location
Perth Western Australia
As I rose this morning at 5.50am, venturing into the kitchen, I hear a noise and look towards the stove.
I notice the electric hotplate is on.
I used it 14 hours ago and left it on mark 4.
Slight rise in the power bill next time.
I was surprised by my last power bill and how small it was considering I have used the heater for many hours over winter.
 

Bretrick said:
As I rose this morning at 5.50am, venturing into the kitchen, I hear a noise and look towards the stove.
I notice the electric hotplate is on.
I used it 14 hours ago and left it on mark 4.
Slight rise in the power bill next time.
I was surprised by my last power bill and how small it was considering I have used the heater for many hours over winter.
Click to expand...
Be careful, Bretrick. :)
 
I remember when my daughter was alive and she would use her curling iron or something for her hair and she would preheat it. One morning she turned it on and was running late, so she left without turning it off. Luckily, the thing turned itself off after 2 hours or so and no harm was done. Doesn’t someone make a shutoff that can be plugged into it?
 

Bretrick said:
I notice the electric hotplate is on.
I used it 14 hours ago and left it on mark 4.
Click to expand...
As Rose said be careful, that can start a fire.

I once saw a fire start that way. I was looking at a house across the street from my father's and could see smoke. I went over and knocked, no answer. Called the fire department but decided I couldn't wait, might be someone asleep in a bedroom or something. I went in and found no one at home. The fire was burning from the stove and up into the cabinets above. I grabbed a pan and started throwing water from the sink onto the fire, was pretty much able to get it out before the firemen arrived. Looked like the stove had been left on and something flammable was placed on the stove. Then the owners left.

My father never heard anything from the neighbor, possible the firemen didn't tell him I had put the fire out...

Anyway it can happen, and you might not be so lucky as those who owned the house across from my father.
 
If I am using an applicance that could start a fire, like the electric skillet, airfryer I never use the on off, I always unplug them when I am done, that way I know they are off. Never leave anything on your cooktop or in the oven in case you forget. I don't use the dishwasher or dryer unless I am going to be up until it is done. I am more afraid that there will be a electrical short than forgetting. Just little extra things that will make you check. I do it everynight before bed. One last walk thru the kitchen.
 
Blessed said:
If I am using an applicance that could start a fire, like the electric skillet, airfryer I never use the on off, I always unplug them when I am done, that way I know they are off. Never leave anything on your cooktop or in the oven in case you forget. I don't use the dishwasher or dryer unless I am going to be up until it is done. I am more afraid that there will be a electrical short than forgetting. Just little extra things that will make you check. I do it everynight before bed. One last walk thru the kitchen.
Click to expand...
I will remember that. One last walk through the kitchen :)
 
Blessed said:
If I am using an applicance that could start a fire, like the electric skillet, airfryer I never use the on off, I always unplug them when I am done, that way I know they are off. Never leave anything on your cooktop or in the oven in case you forget. I don't use the dishwasher or dryer unless I am going to be up until it is done.
Click to expand...
Really good advice. I do some of these things, may try to them all now that I have thought about it. Thanks @Blessed
 
Oh my gosh, please be careful. Perhaps I'm a little OCD but I check the stove every night, if I've used it or not and before I leave the apartment. I make sure the fridge door is closed securely and I don't even leave the microwave plugged in. It saves money and I worry about cords the cats of coarse.
 
Remy said:
Oh my gosh, please be careful. Perhaps I'm a little OCD but I check the stove every night, if I've used it or not and before I leave the apartment. I make sure the fridge door is closed securely and I don't even leave the microwave plugged in. It saves money and I worry about cords the cats of coarse.
Click to expand...
When I leave the house, the only thing going is the fridge. Every other power point is turned of. I have no electric clocks
 
Blessed said:
If I am using an applicance that could start a fire, like the electric skillet, airfryer I never use the on off, I always unplug them when I am done, that way I know they are off. Never leave anything on your cooktop or in the oven in case you forget. I don't use the dishwasher or dryer unless I am going to be up until it is done. I am more afraid that there will be a electrical short than forgetting. Just little extra things that will make you check. I do it everynight before bed. One last walk thru the kitchen.
Click to expand...
Yes! I know neighbors here leave when their dishwasher or washer, dryer are going. I never do that. If I have something on the stove, like I do right now. I can observe the stove while I'm on the computer at this little desk.
 
March 21, 2015: A Jewish woman in Brooklyn left her hotplate on all night so she could use it on the Sabbath. This is a common practice among the Orthodox in order to get around the rule about not turning on a stove on the Sabbath.

It started a fire and seven of her children died. One of the worst and saddest fires I've ever read about.
 
This post has really given me food for thought. Fridge/freezer is always plugged in and switched on, of course. We never leave the microwave/toaster/iron plugged in - but the kettle always is as we just remove it from its 'hub', refill and return and thumb down the clicker to boil - for convenience really. The TV and cable box are left plugged in overnight and not switched off at the wall socket and we also have an electric clock that's always plugged in and on but we really don't need it - mostly because it would be difficult to reach the wall sockets behind to unplug. But I am going to do a walk through before I go up tonight to make sure that everything other than the fridge/freezer is unplugged where possible. Thanks for a sobering reminder...
 
I once put a big pot of water on the stove to boil. Of course, it takes a while for a big pot of water to boil, especially if you watch it. So I had plenty of time to get distracted and forget about what I wasn’t watching. By the time I remembered, I was just coming out of a store a few blocks from the house.

I may have exceeded the speed limit on the way home, but all was well. I came into a dark house with a soft light coming from the kitchen, where the stove was still burning under the dry empty glowing pan. Fortunately, there was nothing else on the stove, and it was a heavy cast iron pan which could take the heat. And it really looked cool, in a “red hot burn down the house down” sort of way.
 
Last edited:
raybar said:
I once put a big pot of water on the stove to boil. Of course, it takes a while for a big pot of water to boil, especially if you watch it. So I had plenty of time to get distracted and forget about what I wasn’t watching. By the time I remembered, I was just coming out of a store a few blocks from the house.
Click to expand...
LOL, reminded me of the time I put some cheese toast under the broiler, then went to work. When I got home it was well... toast!
 
I have boiled water away before but I have never left the house with anything on the stove. Even when I leave the house and I have something in the oven cooking low and slow, like a roast or brisket, I just turn it off. It is going to retain heat in my cookware until I get back, then I just turn it back on.

I still remember when I was a young wife, I made a tuna casserole, I must have put it in a glass dish not meant for the oven. It broke, blew up in the oven. One of my husband's favorite stories to tell. LOL When cooking there is always a live and learn even now.
 
When we were newlyweds and living in the apartment suite above my in-laws, I awoke to the smell of something burning. I told my husband and we called downstairs. They said nothing was cooking. I couldn't sleep because the smell got worse. So I ran downstairs, and knocked on the door. They had left a pot of something burning on the stove. It could have caught on fire.

So, yes, we must be careful when leaving things on the stove.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top