Letting kettle boil dry, what could be consequences?

[Fred_Smith]

Week or two back I boiled they kettle for a brew then instead of turning the gas off I left it on low and forgot about it, went to do work on outside of boat returned 40 mins later still had a bit of water left but wondered what would happen if it had boiled dry. Is a cheap aluminium one. Could a fire have started? Any experiences?

[jake_crew]

It could have melted, it just depends how high the gas was.

 

Its possible that the molten aluminium would drip onto something flammable and start a fire.

[matty40s]

Err, yes. Mine has now found a new use as my chimbly cap after the handle melted off. Too much chatting and painting got rid of the water. !!

[steven wilkinson]

hence the phrase - 'Boiling the arse out of it!'

[churchward]

No cup of tea?

[matty40s]

Spare kettle...

[Titus]

I've done the same, so I bought a kettle with a whistle, never forget now.

[NB Alnwick]

Churchward beat me to it but there is a more serious angle.

Generally speaking, open flames from gas appliances on boats should never be left unattended - we even turn off the pilot light on our Morco water heater if we go outside the boat. There are several reasons for this but the main one is that gas is heavier than air so if a gas burner, even if only a pilot light, gets blown out by a draft or gust of wind from an open hatch or vent, and if the safety thermal cut-out fails, you could have a boat filling with gas which is undetectable until you try to re-light the appliance!

Even switching on an electric appliance could produce a minute spark that would be enough to ignite the mixture of gas and air to cause an explosion.

[bizzard]

Ordinary aluminium has a fairly low melting point. I once let an old fashioned soldered tin camping type kettle boil dry, the solder all ran and my nose which was alerted to the smell also ran. I was left with a perfect heap,''a kettle kit of parts'' which I soldered back together, you wouldn't know it had happened and it soldered on in use for many years after.

A whistling kettle is a must on a boat but try and find one with an old fashioned removable whistle, the modern ones with the whistle built into the trigger pourer spout thing don't seem to whistle for long.

[NB Alnwick]

The best kettle you can buy made in the UK!

 

http://www.simplex-kettles.com/

[p6rob]

There must be something in the air. I did exactly the same thing a few days ago. Luckily I had to go back into the boat and there was still a small amount of water left in the kettle.

I've been meaning to get a whistling kettle since February must get aroundtuit soon.

 

Rob

[bizzard]

The best kettle you can buy made in the UK!

 

http://www.simplex-kettles.com/

But its got a dent in the spout and has no whistle.

[NB Alnwick]

But its got a dent in the spout and has no whistle.

 

The whistle is in the lid - we have had ours for more than 30 years and it still works as well as ever. And it gets hot enough for coffee on the top of our Squirrel stove!

They have always been expensive to buy new - I think ours was about £30 from John Lewis in the early 1980s - we had money in those days! Nevertheless, good pre-owned ones often come up on ebay for £15 or less . . .

[Beaker]

But its got a dent in the spout and has no whistle.

 

It's priced in dollars too!

Edited October 5, 2013 by Beaker

[bizzard]

 

The whistle is in the lid - we have had ours for more than 30 years and it still works as well as ever. And it gets hot enough for coffee on the top of our Squirrel stove!

They have always been expensive to buy new - I think ours was about £30 from John Lewis in the early 1980s - we had money in those days! Nevertheless, good pre-owned ones often come up on ebay for £15 or less . . .

So the spout must be of a small enough bore to allow the kettle to build up enough pressure to blow the whistle, or do you have bung it up with a cork to get the pressure.

[bottle]

 

It's priced in dollars too!

 

True but you can change that (top right)

[NB Alnwick]

So the spout must be of a small enough bore to allow the kettle to build up enough pressure to blow the whistle, or do you have bung it up with a cork to get the pressure.

 

There is a simple float valve in the spout that prevents steam escaping that way but allows the water to pour when required - clever stuff really!

[DaveP]

A few years back whilst distracted by something in the engine 'ole; when we found it dry with the gas still burning merrily away it was red hot on the base but the plastic handle was not affected. Quenching in the cut appeared to have no ill effects and fine cups of tea were produced only a few minutes later.

[ditchcrawler]

Mine switches off when it boils, how about yours Bottle?

[Phoenix_V]

The best kettle you can buy made in the UK!

 

http://www.simplex-kettles.com/

I am glad they are back the original makers in Birmingham apeared to have gone out of business a while back, mind you the price appears to have about trebled!

[nb Innisfree]

I recently put the bottom half of a cast aluminium coffee maker on a lowish gas to dry out and forgot about it for several hours, when my daughter realised and gasped 'oh my god' my sphincter tightened somewhat.

 

After examining it I couldn't find any damage, just a slightly darker colour, looks quite trendy actually.

[Psycloud]

We have an Alessi Bird kettle which was let boil dry for probably 30 mins on full gas - the reason was the lid hadn't been put on properly so the whistle never went off. We were having a bit of a party so nobody noticed for ages - anyways, the stainless steel is burnt on the base and the bird has slightly melted but still works and the plastic disc under tyhe lid knob has got weird bubbles in it which weren't there before.

[carlt]

I am glad they are back the original makers in Birmingham apeared to have gone out of business a while back, mind you the price appears to have about trebled!

The word is that the new simplexes are much poorer quality than the originals, manufactured up to 2010.

Edited October 5, 2013 by carlt

[Ange]

I let my coffee get cold one morning so Dave put it on the hob in a saucepan to warm it up for me.

 

We were packing to go away for a couple of days and the saucepan was forgotten.

 

Two days later we returned and knew something was wrong by a very bad smell in a very warm cabin. The gas was still on under a blackened saucepan. We were very, very lucky to get away with that one!

[matty40s]

I let my coffee get cold one morning so Dave put it on the hob in a saucepan to warm it up for me.

 

We were packing to go away for a couple of days and the saucepan was forgotten.

 

Two days later we returned and knew something was wrong by a very bad smell in a very warm cabin. The gas was still on under a blackened saucepan. We were very, very lucky to get away with that one!

quite right, burnt coffee is a crime usually committed by starbucks alone.