Grill element blows after three years - advice please.

[ban-all-sheds]

I'm amazed - I would have thought that after 14 years it would have gone a bit rancid.

 

[stillp]

Just repeating what all the manufacturers put in their instructions - and here's the thing - even the gas cookers.

Go figure that!

The MIs for my AEG oven/grill recommend lining the grill pan with foil.

 

[AlanE]

Do they actually say the the reason for not using foil is the one you suggest? Do they also say that one should not use 'shiny' grill pans? Maybe they're saying it for some other reason?

Kind Regards, John

When I was in the Fire Brigade we were always taught lining grill pans/ovens can be a fire risk.

Interesting site on the subject http://amysayscook.com/safely-use-aluminum-foil-toaster-oven

 

[ban-all-sheds]

• Aluminum Foil Can Spark – Foil is a metal, and if it comes in contact with a hot heating element, it can spark. The spark can damage the toaster oven and/or cause a fire.

So are these makers saying that the outside of their heating elements is at an electrical potential relative to the body of the oven?

• Aluminum Foil is Flammable – ...You should never allow aluminum foil in such to come in direct contact with a heating element because doing so could get it hot enough to catch on fire.

That's true.

So try hard to pay sufficient attention to keeping the foil away from the element.

At the bottom of the pan, below the level of the food, would be my suggestion.

• Aluminum Foil Conducts Heat Very Well – When it comes to using aluminum foil inside a toaster oven, there is the possibility that the foil itself will increase the internal temperature because of how well it conducts heat. The danger posed by this is the very real possibility of raising the temperature higher than what a toaster oven is meant to withstand. Temperatures that are too high will overheat a toaster oven, which can shorten the oven’s life or render it inoperable.

Unless the maker(s) can describe a mechanism whereby more heat will be transferred to the grill pan through the foil than when there is no foil, i.e. that it is such a good conductor that it actually amplifies heat, I submit that this is b*****ks.

• Aluminum Foil Melts – Now that you know that foil is flammable, it should come as no surprise to learn that it also melts.

Nope, no surprise here.

What does come as a surprise though is that the walls of an oven can reach 660°C, which is the melting point of aluminium.[/quote]

 

[planenut]

I'm amazed - I would have thought that after 14 years it would have gone a bit rancid.

Keep adding more onions.

 

[stillp]

• Aluminum Foil Can Spark – Foil is a metal, and if it comes in contact with a hot heating element, it can spark. The spark can damage the toaster oven and/or cause a fire.

So are these makers saying that the outside of their heating elements is at an electrical potential relative to the body of the oven?

No, the makers aren't saying that, a blogger in the great playgroup across the Atlantic is!

 

[DetlefSchmitz]

Actually there are more possible causes for a spark other than a potential difference, when you touch a piece of aluminium foil against a red hot element.

 

[JohnW2]

Actually there are more possible causes for a spark other than a potential difference, when you touch a piece of aluminium foil against a red hot element.

Indeed so - I suppose that the nature of this forum, and many of its members, leads to a fairly narrow-minded view of 'sparks'. I recall many sparks in school chemistry labs and workshops which had absolutely nothing to do with electricity (but a lot to do with heat).

Kind Regards, John

 

[ban-all-sheds]

No, the makers aren't saying that, a blogger in the great playgroup across the Atlantic is!

Brian Redhead RIP.

It is her blog, but she claims to be relating what makers have told her.

No guarantee, of course, that the people at the manufacturers who responded were any less clueless than she is.