After the toasters (still ruminating on that one), another question from the Beest family kitchen.
We recently bought a house whose previous owner had had it since the early 80s. Everything in it has been well looked after but a lot of it dates from that era and needs updating. A case in point is the cooker - a freestanding Creda electric thing from 1985. (I know this because I have the original documents and some service receipts.)
We're not planning to keep this thing - the house has gas and I can't imagine why anyone with a choice would use an electric hob. But the new cooker is still several weeks away, and I've broken the old one. Specifically, while I was pre-heating a griddle pan, there was a loud noise and both pan and hob glass cracked in a non-trivial manner.
I've checked, and replacement glasses are still available for this model. But they go for about £150 and would probably cost as much again to fit - not worth it for a cooker that has only weeks to serve. I'm wondering if the glass can be made safe, since the crack is above only one of the four plates - and if so, with what? I wouldn't expect to use the damaged plate again, but if we could safely use three - or even two - it would make our gastronomic life more bearable.
Anyone got any relevant knowledge or experience here, please?
WdB
|
I had a Creda cooker of similar vintage in my last house
I wonder how that happened. A broken cast iron pan?!
The following comes from inclination and instinct rather than from any position of knowledge. Follow the advice at your own risk.
My inclination would be to try araldite. Alternatively, use the oven and a microwave for everything else.
Araldite should be reasonably heat resistant - in so far as you're not using the ring under the araldite... and it should be waterproof enough too. I'd disable the broken ring, personally, with tape over the switch.
|
Think I had one of those cookers! Sounds like you used a pan that wasn't suitable for the type of hob as ceramic ones are fussy.... I really wouldn't mess with trying to bodge it to be honest as you could end up hurting yourself.
Can you hurry up the purchase and installation of the new cooker? Would be the easiest and cheapest course of action.
Otherwise a table top hob thing might be a better short term solution. Found one that is just over £30...
247electrical.co.uk/lloytron-e832-2500w-table-top-twin-hob.html?SOURCE=FROOGLE
|
|
I would go with teabelly's suggestion, it only takes a moments distraction and a pot boils over, water in 30amp electrics is not worth the risk for any of your family.
|
|
Know anyone with a camping hob ? We used to live in an area without gas and which suffered frequent and extended power cuts. Over the years we got quite used to using camping equipment to cook on indoors. Probably illegal of course but if you don't tell anyone we won't.
|
I bought a 1 cup Cafetiere but inadvertently stuck the critter in cold wasser before pouring the boiling stuff in :(
To repair the crack, well, actually - the bottom of the toughened glass fell out, I used Araldite,
Y'all shouldn't really use sed epoxy resin in food containers but, you only live twice, they say,
It worked! I could pour boiling water in the critter, and it was wasser-tight.
|
Cover the crack with a ceramic tile attached with Araldite.
The epoxy will act as a gasket and should form a water-tight seal, and restore some structural strength to the rest of the hob.
I don't see a problem with using the other rings in the meantime, particularly if you are careful to avoid spills, and maybe do without food that requires high heat, such as stir-frys.
Might be best not to use the biggest, heaviest pan you have full to capacity.
Make sure the cooker is isolated when not in use.
|
Just a suggestion Beesty, but before you commit yourelf to a gas hob have you tried or considered induction, cleanest and safest method of hob cooking i know of and we wouldn't go back to gas or indeed any other type.
The cooker does not heat up at all the induction process heats the base of the pan only so any spills etc just wipe straight off, the hob only gets latent heat from a pan base.
Downside being that your present cookware would probably be redundant unless it happens to be induction marked.
|
|
I didn't suggest an induction hob as you seemed commited to gas. We have an induction one and as GB says excellent bit of kit. Ours has touch controls and is completly flat with no knobs to collect dirt. It will boil a pan a lot quicker than gas and has the instant control of gas..
Last edited by: Old Navy on Thu 29 Jul 10 at 21:06
|
Induction ? That's a new one on me. How does that work then ?
Not sure I could cope with something which didn't allow me to use my wok. Bought it in a Chinese supermarket in London half a lifetime ago. Could it be induced or inducted or whatever these things do ?
|
|
If it is steel it will work.
|
>> Induction ? That's a new one on me. How does that work then ?
I'll only make a pigs ear of trying to explain it, this is a handy once over
www.neff.co.uk/why_induction.html
|
|
I dont doubt induction hobs are cleaner, but I prefer to cook on gas as the heat is much more controllable and fastest to respond.
|
|
Im only a cook, its good enough for me.
|
>> Im only a cook,
Never mind.
|
|
Wouldn't it fall over ? My wok has a round bottom.
|
|
Yes. But you can get a support.
|
|
but it wont induct with a round bottom.
|
|
True, mine has a flatened base.
|
>> ? My wok has a round bottom.
>>
Hammer?
|
|
Not sure I approve of flat bottomed woks. Hold too much grease in the food. In my humble anyway.
|
didnt queen make a song about that?
|
Squidge in some instant gasket (or any *real* silicone rubber stuff, do not use anything that isn't silicone rubber). It will resist a relatively high temperature. You can also get "high temperature" silicone from plubber's merchants (Plumba, ISTR) in a fetching shade of bright red. I'd just ger "normal" sealent (as long as it's really silicone rubber), the difference is very small.
Edit: "Plubber"? Plumber!!
Silicone rubber will resist molten lead, short-term.
Last edited by: FotheringtonTomas on Thu 29 Jul 10 at 22:45
|
>in a fetching shade of bright red
Sometimes know as RTV.
|
Neff state:
Gas hobs have a deserved reputation for controllability, but induction hobs offer similar levels of sensitivity.
Almost as good then!
|
Thanks chaps. I'll think through the Araldite, silicone and tile ideas and see if I feel brave enough to do one of those instead of the portable ring device that was our original plan. I'm reasonably confident we could keep water out of the electrics, but I do wonder whether a spillage over the cracked part of the glass might shatter the whole thing.
Induction. Yes, if I was setting up from scratch I'd seriously consider it. But some of my favourite pans are heavy aluminium and wouldn't suit it at all, while my basic boil-the-potatoes set are sandwich-base stainless steel that may or may not work depending on the ferrous content of the base.
There's another consideration too, which is that I set my sights five years ago on a particular French cooker and there's no induction option. At last I have a kitchen big enough to accommodate one, but I have to wait for the foundry to come back from vacances and heat up again before they can make one for me - sorry, us. Hence the need for something safe to cook on in the interim.
|
>>some of my favourite pans are heavy aluminium<<
Aluminium pans are very good,
Very good for Alzheimer's and other dementias, especially when cooking acidic foodstuff.
:)
|
That's an outdated idea, old (Pedigree?) chum. To quote the Alzheimer's Society 'a possible link with aluminium seems increasingly unlikely'. Tea, which contains quite a lot of aluminium, is now thought to have a protective effect against dementia - although probably not because of its Al content.
And in any case, my SKK pans have a hard and tough titanium-based coating that prevents the base metal coming into contact with the food. So don't worry about me - not on that count anyway.
};---)
|
|
If only you could remember where you put them,.......
|
>>That's an outdated idea, old (Pedigree?) chum<<
Aluminium most definitely can cause neurotoxicity, albeit it in high doses, whatever the Alz society may say,
why use aluminium when s/s will suffice, you'll probably be ok with your titanium coated jobbies, probably.
|
Thanks for the reassurance. I'll just be careful to eat the sausages and not the pan I cooked them in.
}:---)
|
I am suddenly reminded of school physics lessons from about a millenium ago.
Get a glass rod, used I think to stir things in school labs, then get a bunsen burner or any gas flame. Melt the glass rod over the crack and let the drips fall onto/into the crack thereby filling it.
|
|
Mmm, glass welding. Likely to crack the top again! Use silicone. Sticks very well (aquariums are stuck with this alone), is heat resistant, has some "give" in it.
|
My mother always had a pan which was used only for boiling eggs.
The theory was something nasty from the shells stuck to the pan and could contaminate other foods.
Fact or fiction?
|
>> My mother always had a pan which was used only for boiling eggs.
>>
>> The theory was something nasty from the shells stuck to the pan
Limescale.
|
>>My mother always had a pan which was used only for boiling eggs.
My wife also has a pan reserved for egg boiling only.
|
>> My mother always had a pan which was used only for boiling eggs.
>>
>> The theory was something nasty from the shells stuck to the pan and could contaminate
>> other foods.
chicken**** ?
|
I would've thought any of the obvious products stuck to the egg shells would be rendered harmless by the boiling water.
SWMBO insists on washing up the spoon used to lift boiled eggs out of the saucepan despite me pointing out it's just been dunked in boiling water.
|
Ceramic hob - repairable? - Mapmaker
