anyone had any christmas day cooking problems?

[mikhailfaradayski]

Hi All,

Im sure most of the regular posters here will have seen umpteen times the cooker diversity threads where some sparks seem determined to over-engineer their cooker circuit installs.

Always referrring back to the xmas day, cooker going full blast, trips out, raw turkey scenario.

As christmas has only just passed and i've just been to repair an oven this morning i thought now might be a good time to ask if anyone can actually say that this situation arose?

If it has, what type of cooker/hob was at fault, was it an induction/ceramic etc.

my bet is zero real occurances

 

[Taylortwocities]

Nobody called me this year. But then I always turn off my mobile on Christmas Day, just in case

 

[1john]

Well I cooked the goose the wrong way and the pigs in blankets, still tasty though!

 

[Lectrician]

Well I had all four rings going at one point, along with the main and top oven.

Standard 6mm circuit, with a 3036 rewirewable (still not done my fuseboard yet!).

No probs.

Mind you, the hob is not used for nearly aslong as the ovens.......unless you like mushy veg.

We do quite a few top end homes/extensions. These days having TWO large ovens seems to be the order of the day. That and 6 or 8 ring hobs. Often have a sofa/seating area with TV too. Chat while you cook.

 

[ebee]

Our Turkey was ruined.
We left the giblets in the plastic bag as protection against indirect contact because it was an electric oven.
That'l teach us! Next time we will remove the bag and use an earth rod clamped to the turkey leg

 

[Lectrician]

I favour jump leads.

 

[ericmark]

I have never heard of a cooker failing on Christmas day. The cooking of a turkey is of course a long process and normally starts well before the rest of the cooking and once the oven is hot very little current is used to keep it hot.

Although with a faulty oven cooking for so long will allow the heat to travel to parts not normally hot.

As to rings (Should we still call them that!) on high end cookers they are all interconnected so you can't select full power on all rings together. The old baby belling had that idea 40 odd years ago but now taken much further.

Biggest problem we had was pressure cooker would not work and so it was a little hit and miss with cooking times.

Now here I have a big question. My old cooker had rings with around 1.2kw output and the gas cooker although a higher output up to 5.5kw waists so much power that still likely only 2kw gets into the food.
The new induction ring however puts 3.7kw directly into the pan. Do we need any special pressure cookers for these rings as the amount of steam produced must be higher than the older cookers could make. I know I need a new pressure cooker anyway with magnetic base but do they have larger pressure release valves to handle the extra steam produced? The "A" position of the cooking control is designed to give full power (Not boost) to the pan until boiling then auto revert to pre-set simmer setting once boiling. Will this work with a pressure cooker? as temperature required is higher. Also is it safe to leave a pressure cooker unattended and use the "A" function. i.e. can the pressure relief valve cope with steam produced until it auto turns down?

 

[bernardgreen]

I recall my mum's pressure cooker had a maximum rating for the electric hot plate it could be used on and was not reccomended for use on gas hobs

Will the pressure cooker work on an induction hob ?

For a definitive and safe answer you will need to ask the manufacturer of the hob.

Depends on how the hob detects boiling in the pan. Some do have a temperature sensor set for the expected boiling point of water at or close to sea level. These will over boil liquid at high altitude when the water boils at a lower temperature. ( unless they also measure barometric pressure )

Back in the 1990 there were various ideas about how to detect boiling.

[1] the change in power intake when the liquid started boiling

[2] the charactoristic vibrations of boiling liquid.

I never followed up the matter so cannot say if any of these were implimented in any induction hobs.

 

[ericmark]

As far as I can see the auto full heat and drop to simmer function is worked on time. The higher the setting 1 - 5 the longer the time it runs at 9 before turning down power. But power setting 6 - 8 have a lower time as considered these power setting are used for frying. So times are 1, 2.5, 4, 5, 7, 2, 3, and 4 minutes. Of course will not work with 9 and also will not work with special chocolate melting setting.

Power 9 is about 2.3kw on largest ring but it also has a boost feature which will lift this to 3.7kw. So two questions is it safe with 2.3kw? and is it safe with 3.7kw?

There is also an over-temperature safety feature at 200 deg C it switches off boost at 250 degs C reduces power by 60% at 270 deg C switches cook zone off and at 300 deg C turns off whole cooker.

It also has a max time for boost, auto switch off should you forget and go on holiday and child lock. Seems full of safety features.

I went to a couple of manufactures web sites to see if there was a max power that can be used with a pressure cooker. Nothing stated but they do advertise some that will work with induction hobs so you can get them with magnetic bases.

If used from cold on "A" "5" setting then unlikely to boil before time has lapsed. But with a pre-heated unit then very possible. Likely they can take full power but would make one feel easier if they gave a power rating.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I had to abandon the idea of making the pastry leaves on the beef wellington the shape of holly because it was taking too long.

 

[kevindgas]

the only problem I had with cooking the xmas lunch - I HAD TO DO IT!!! i always do xmas but with 2 ovens its so easy!!

 

[Adam_151]

The cooking of ours was interupted slightly by the heating engineer from british gas who had to be called out to the gas boiler (located in the kitchen) which had picked that particular day of the year to stop working!

 

[M.Faradayski]

big bump.

Hi, I haven't posted here for years, but oddly this conversation cropped up elsewhere recently and I recalled the old arguments.

The question is still the same, but almost 6 years on, I just wondered whether anyone's cooker has ever tripped out solely from over use on christmas day?

 

[danechip]

Yes, but the element in the oven popped too. Microwave combi and neighbours to save the day...

 

[JohnW2]

Yes, but the element in the oven popped too. Microwave combi and neighbours to save the day...

Certainly not me, or anyone I've heard of. I'm hardly surprised since, particularly given the margins of OPDs, diversity really works (particularly over time), even with every bit of a cooker powered up. More generally, I cannot personally recall any occasion on which the OPD on any circuit of ours has operated because of overload, even when people were being over-enthusiastic with multiple fan heaters!

Our problem at Christmas is usually hot water. With the number of people we usually have staying (and taking 'real' showers, and probably also even baths!), even with 2 x 140 litre cylinders, we usually run out of hot water quite early in the morning and then have to wait for it to heat up again!

Kind Regards, John