Freak mishap in the kitchen tonight

[Fencer]

My wife was serving up a leg of lamb for dinner tonight. As she was preparing it to serve, bringing it from the slow roaster to a serving dish, The dish literally exploded into a million shards in the kitchen. It shot stuff for about a 5 foot radius

The "dish" was actually a Pyrex oven safe casserole dish. It has been used for several years in the oven to cook our meals.

She placed it on the "off" stovetop while the oven was on. some heat still radiates to the surface though. As best we can figure the heat, musta caused it to explode, which is odd given the number of times this thing has baked at 4-500 degrees.

By the time it went ka-pow, she had already placed several slices of meat in the dish, That was a sad loss for sure.

Anyone else had this happen? Will glassware temper over time to become more brittle?

Be careful where you place this kinda item.

 

[UHOH]

OOH! Thank goodness no hurt.

Don't know how a glass ovenware piece could lose its temperature tolerance.

 

[slapnpop]

just a thought...

most ovens have one eye which has a vent from the oven underneath. If you sat a large pyrex dish over this small vent, and only the center or one end of the dish was heated... well, let's just say glass likes to be heated evenly.

 

[Silent]

Glad all are ok. I've seen this documented before, but I can't recall where other than the local news. I'll see if I can find anything on the net.

Google "Exploding Pyrex" and there's tons of hits like THIS

 

[Scab]

Anyone else had this happen?

Yep, when I poured a hot liquid in a Pyrex bowl. I think it's the sudden temperature change. Prolly happened due to the hot meal she placed in it.

 

[Rogue]

I've seen it happen (the pyrex dish split in half, not into a bunch of pieces) no idea why.

 

[skuehl]

How hot is your wife. Maybe the dish commited suicide due to the shame of not being able to handle the heat. :chickawow:

 

[evilmedic13]

And don't cook bacon while naked as well. :blush2:

 

[Fencer]

just a thought...
most ovens have one eye which has a vent from the oven underneath. If you sat a large pyrex dish over this small vent, and only the center or one end of the dish was heated... well, let's just say glass likes to be heated evenly.

nope, wasn't that eye. It was cati-corner to that one.

How hot is your wife

I married her so no one else could have her. Nuff said?

 

[Silver Penguin]

Ouch! I've had this happen, when I made enchiladas. The pyrex dish was caked with stuff so I put the hot dish in the sink and added cold water. The biggest piece was about a quarter inch in each direction. Andy had to take the garbage disposal apart to empty all the pieces of glass.

This scared me off cooking so now I don't do it any more. :yahoo:

Jill

 

[IndianaTom]

I grew up in Corning NY, the home of Corning Glass Works, the former makers of Pyrex glass. My Dad was a CGW retiree, and during his career he had alot of hands on time with that product. sometime in the 90's Corning sold off the Pyrex division to some other guys. Dad mentioned after the sale that the new Pyrex was cheap, and not the same quality that the name used to mean.

Are Pyrex Bowls Dangerous?
Maybe. Pyrex bowls were originally made of something called borosilicate glass, which is very resistant to thermal shock. Currently, Pyrex is made of soda-lime glass, presumably as a cost-cutting measure, as soda-lime glass is very inexpensive. Also, Pyrex is no longer made by the original manufacturer, and is essentially a brand name, rather than a material.

so, I gotta ask, how old was that bowl?

Also, was it white or translucent. I never thought the colored glass seemed like anything more than colored glass.

 

[Mooseonagoose]

Sounds all too familiar, ...I worked in the bar trade for a number of years & we used Pyrex coffee pots [one kept at a near-boil full of H2o for hot drinks; while they can be cosmetically salvaged if boiled dry, I learned the hard way that they should be scrapped instead. I picked up a full pot from the burner at a rolling boil and the bottom stayed on the burner while the contents ended up on my leg! Quick thinking and the ice-reversal method prevented any lasting damage, but it was not an experience I'd care to repeat!

 

[Fencer]

so, I gotta ask, how old was that bowl?

Also, was it white or translucent. I never thought the colored glass seemed like anything more than colored glass.

rough guess, 7-10 years old maybe more maybe less. clear glass

**come to think of it it may be one my wife had when we were dating. would make it from the late 80s-90s

 

[Coyote]

You can bake in Pyrex but broiling is prohibited because the dish might explode. I'm not much of a cook, but I think 500 degrees is broiling and 350 is baking.

 

[Khunajawdge]

She placed it on the "off" stovetop while the oven was on. some heat still radiates to the surface though. As best we can figure the heat, musta caused it to explode, which is odd given the number of times this thing has baked at 4-500 degrees.
Anyone else had this happen? Will glassware temper over time to become more brittle?

Actually, I think it was the colder temperature of the stovetop, that caused the dish to disintergrate. It broke from trying to shrink as it cooled. Best to set something like this on a hot pad to insulate the hot dish from the cold surface below. Probably cased by improper annealing (slow cooling) during the steps of manufacture.

If you want to go to the trouble, you can visually check your (clear transparent) glassware for the presence of annealing strain with a pair of Polarized filters.

Step 1 - place a piece of Polarized filter material (acetate) in front of the bulb of an incandescent desk lamp.

Step 2 - Hold the glass piece in front of the filtered light.

Step 3 - place/hold a second filter in front of the glass and rotate it slightly. If you see a spectrum (rainbow) of color, then there is some strain in the glass piece which wasn't removed during its manufacture or it has been introduced by heat cycling through its use as cookware.

PS. Polarizing filter acetate can be obtained inexpensively through a photographic or scientific supply house.

HTH

 

[E1Allen]

My wife made green bean casserole. It was in the pyrex dish from the oven to the stove top, then it made it to the cooling pad on the table and as soon as I walked away, BOOM, that dish shattered into thousands of tiny pieces of glass. I said what crap, that was pyrex!

 

[Rogue]

https://www.consumeraffairs.com/homeowners/pyrex.html

From here https://consumerist.com/consumer/pyrex/why-...lode-232474.php

Are Pyrex Bowls Dangerous?
Maybe. Pyrex bowls were originally made of something called borosilicate glass, which is very resistant to thermal shock. Currently, Pyrex is made of soda-lime glass, presumably as a cost-cutting measure, as soda-lime glass is very inexpensive. Also, Pyrex is no longer made by the original manufacturer, and is essentially a brand name, rather than a material.

 

[FJRottie]

What he said and linked to above. Very hot glass put on a cool surface makes kablooie.

 

[JimLor]

Hmm, we were at Lorie's sister's place for a party Sat night. Lorie saw a candle in a glass candleholder was getting real low - she blew the candle out and the damn holder exploded! She wasn't hurt, but damnnnnn!