How to cook on RH?? S/O dangers of blechs.

etky

Thu, Sep 10 2015, 9:36 am

cuffs wrote:

Will my kitchen get really hot? Idk I feel like it gives off so much heat!
Also like how do people know it's on and not burn themselves? Having a lot of company

No.Not at all. It gives off much less heat than a plata b/c the flame is really low and it cycles on and off.
When it is on it glows red but even when it's not red, my stove has a light in the front of the stove that indicates which burners are on. Best to leave a back burner on though b/c it is safer, especially if there are kids around.

gp2.0

Thu, Sep 10 2015, 10:06 am

JMM-uc wrote:

Do any of you have gas detectors? No one I know has.

Should we get?

YES!!!!! This is such a problem in Israel. I don't understand why. In the US all newer smoke detectors are also carbon monoxide detectors. Legally they have to be installed. I don't know why Israel is behind the curve here. Such a cheap investment to save lives!!

gp2.0

Thu, Sep 10 2015, 10:09 am

jflower wrote:

gp, this timer doesn't seem to be a heavy-duty timer which I believe is necessary for hot plates and crockpots. Before I switched from a regular timer to a heavy duty one, it just didn't work and my crockpot would turn off in middle of the night and we woke up to cold chulent. Once I switched to a heavy duty timer, it works fine.

Imas, please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think a heavy duty timer is safer to use.

Yes, it's a heavy duty timer. You can see the description in the second pic. Anyway, I didn't buy that specific one, I linked to it as an example. I purchased mine at the local hardware store.

cuffs

Thu, Sep 10 2015, 10:13 am

etky wrote:

Sounds like we have the same stove. So basically you recommend I leave on stove top and oven, both on low, no plata.
My oven though, there's this little light that goes on and off, I guess if it's heating up the light is on and when it's at the right temperature the light it off. How will that affect me using it on yt? Can I open and close the door when I want?
Sorry first time making yt in my new apartment! Old one was gas!

water_bear88

Thu, Sep 10 2015, 10:25 am

jflower wrote:

Check the amperage. There should be a number with a capital A.

My timer says 16A, as an example. Don't plug in anything above that, or numbers that add up to more- e.g. two 10A appliances.

etky

Thu, Sep 10 2015, 10:28 am

cuffs wrote:

My oven is 15 years old which is ancient in oven years (or so I've been told by the oven repair people Confused

). I don't leave the oven on the whole chag. I program it befroe chag to go on at a certain time the next morning (this only works for the first day chag obviously) and then to go off after the meal. I put the food to be heated into the oven before I go to shul when the oven is off (no oven light on). When I'm in shul the oven goes on and stays on until after we eat. So the oven light is on the whole time that the oven is on.
If you're referring to a light that indicates when the oven is getting hotter and opening the door might make this light go on by lowering the oven temperature (my oven light does not work this way at low temperatures) then from what I understand you should wait until the light goes on before you open the door b/c you don't want to cause the light to go on (as distinct from Shabbat, the actual temperature fluctuation is not the issue here). Of course, you should AYLOR...

water_bear88

Thu, Sep 10 2015, 10:50 am

gp2.0 wrote:

There is an insidious and pervasive myth here that the US has fires because the houses are wooden, and that stone houses are in no danger of catching fire.

m in Israel

Thu, Sep 10 2015, 10:55 am

gp2.0 wrote:

First of all, gas an CO are two different issues. Gas is a lot less of a risk because of the smell (which is added to the gas specifically to enable a warning smell when gas is "leaking"). CO which is produced as a result of combustion has no warning smell so there is no way to know there is a problem without a detector.

However, I think the reason that they are very uncommon here in Israel is that most homes are at much less of a risk. CO problems in the US are usually a result of fuel burning furnaces (oil or gas) -- here most heating/cooling systems, including for water run on either solar power or electricity. The only CO producing appliances are often the stove or oven which are much less likely to produce enough CO to cause problems (although obviously it is possible, as this terrible tragedy showed). When we lived in the U.S. we had a gas dryer, a gas water heater, a gas stove, a gas oven, and a fuel burning heating system. We definitely had a CO detector. Here we have only the stovetop, which we never leave on overnight (I don't like it on for Shabbos/YT), so I really don't feel the need for a CO detector.

gp2.0

Thu, Sep 10 2015, 11:13 am

But the detector is so CHEAP. It's not like we're talking about a sophisticated system that costs thousands or even hundreds of dollars to install. Who cares if your chances of exposure are 20% instead of 60% or whatever? It's such a cheap easy thing to install.

water_bear88

Thu, Sep 10 2015, 11:18 am

gp2.0 wrote:

I agree with you. I love it here and have no intention of leaving, but we really need a major public awareness campaign on the importance of fire safety.

Sanguine

Thu, Sep 10 2015, 11:43 am

m in Israel wrote:

However, I think the reason that they are very uncommon here in Israel is that most homes are at much less of a risk. CO problems in the US are usually a result of fuel burning furnaces (oil or gas) -- here most heating/cooling systems, including for water run on either solar power or electricity.

I think you forgot to mention that windows and doors in the states actually seal and insulate while here the "fresh air" manages to blow right through our closed doors and windows Scratching Head

etky

Thu, Sep 10 2015, 12:07 pm

Sanguine wrote:

I think you forgot to mention that windows and doors in the states actually seal and insulate while here the "fresh air" manages to blow right through our closed doors and windows Scratching Head

All too true! I tell that to DH when he wants to leave a window open in the dead of winter. I tell him we get enough fresh air through the cracks and leaky windows/doors.
BUT - obviously this is not true in all cases. Faulty insulation can't be counted on to prevent a tragedy like this one.

sourstix

Thu, Sep 10 2015, 9:08 pm

I have the same timer as ra mom.
what is wrong with putting on gas before yt and putting a blech ontop of it. I think the chances of the fire going out and gas running is smaller cause the blech is there. anyway thats how I grew up. I think most of us did. no hotplate then. I think the oven on all yt is not the safest cause there have been stories of the fire going off and just gas leaking for long periods. unless it shuts automatically after a certain amount of time. I think the fire and blech ontop should be fine. unless you have a child that craves fire. thats something else. and yes you can cook on a hotplate it will take longer. with a timer I think your good just check the wire of the hotplate everytime before you plug it in to make sure it has no poke or twist that its all straight an when you got it. doesnt have to be squeeky clean just make sure it doesnt have severe bends in it. dh is electrician and he recommended this. if you make sure your outlet is ok and not overloaded with too much electricity meaning dont put a large amount of wires from a regular outlet including let say ac wire just like that. use the thick wires for that and dont use other stuff coming from the same outlet. keep that ac wire only for that. dh says that that can make sparks and thats no good. if you do see sparks then take everything out and dont use it till a licensed electrician tells you what the issue is.