DoctorBlade wrote: In my last apartment complex the guy next to us left a pot on. About 12:30am the smoke detector went off, and the fire department showed up. One very burnt pot, and god did it smell. That "burnt metal" smell lingers in the memory.
my Mom has done this several times … can't believe we still have a house … and +a gazillion on the "burnt metal" smell staying with you forever
Kenny_McCormic wrote: In reply to mtn: I once tried to reheat bacon in the toaster with my toast, to save a step. Bacon grease flames in a toaster oven are very clean burning.
Last month I had a typical Saturday morning round of golf underway. Walking up #9, the cell phone rings. It's SWMBO, screaming "GET HOME NOW". After asking twice, she finally says "The house is on fire". I drop everything, run to the car, and drive illegally to get home. Sure enough, a couple fire trucks, sheriff, neighbors.
But, there was no smoke. The fire was out.
Cause; We had been having trouble with the air handler unit in the attic for the heating & cooling. That morning, SWMBO switched the thermostat to cool, and herd the BANG. She says it shook the whole house. Then smoke started coming through the vents. She took three immediate steps; 1. Turn of the AC at the thermostat. 2. Threw the whole house circuit breaker, turning off all the power. 3. Called 911 and then me.
The fan motor decided to commit suicide. Violently. It was obviously quite ill, but the AC repair guy the day before misdiagnosed the problem.
So, in addition to the other posts about training, teaching, and having your family know how to act - know where the power is and know how to turn it off. Our damage was a new fan motor and some wiring. The fireman said that if the wires had still had power going through them there certainly would have been a true fire.
Kenny_McCormic wrote: I've assisted frying a turkey before, dry it off, bring the oil to correct temp, lower it in, keep an eye on the oil temp till its done. I couldn't figure out how people managed to screw it up. Then I remembered people are stupid, and on thanksgiving often in groups, and drinking, both of which lead to an exponential increase in stupidity.
^ This, I've been frying turkeys for at least 10 years now, for the past 3 Turkey days I've had to do two each year. Never once an overflow or fire. It just takes common sense, and as you noted that is often lacking especially when people start drinking.
3 years ago I switched to a safety fryer, it monitors the temp and won't allow the oil to get superheated, it will shut down the whole operation if the temp goes above 375. It also has a tall wide rim on the top to prevent overflow. Short of tossing a frozen turkey in the thing I don't think you could screw it up.
mtn wrote: How do you cook frozen pizza if you only use your oven once a year?
Microwave, duh...
You'll need to log in to post.
