My friend has a stove-top that is separate from the oven. Magic Chef, gas, no pilot, lights electronically but that is broken so they use a match. Tonight while his wife was cooking on it, there was an explosion under the stove top. It blew two knobs off and they landed on the floor but were not broken.
Is there a well known reason why this happens?
A particular spot where there is a leak?
Dirty burners? If a burner were clogged in two holes, the fire would not be able to start at the holes between the two dirty ones, but wouldn't the gas go up instead of down into the space under the burners?
Or is there some other famous reason why such explosions occur.
Probably a terrorist did something to the stove. I'd blame Bin Laden.... Call the FBI :)
Seriously, there was probably an unlit burner that was lit off one of the other ones that was already burning, due to gas buildup under the range top. I have a range with electronic ingition and have the same problem. It does not always click and light. I just use a cigarette lighter now. I am looking for a new (OLDER) range that has a pilot light. I've had that damn thing blast off a few times too, (but it never blew knobs off). That was more my fault for not getting the lighter by the burner in time. It's too bad, because I have a rather nice stove, but when they want something like $140 for the ignitor, I can buy a whole stove at an auction for $50 or less. These electronic ignition models are just another way to sell more parts and rob the consumer in the process. Granted, pilot lights consume more gas, but it would take many, MANY years to use $140 worth of gas on a pilot light, particularly those who live in a climate that has a cold winter, because at least half the year that heat is useful.
I'm still considering if it's worth my effort to remove the elec. ign. and attempt to add a pilot light to my stove. I'm sure it can be done. I think pilot lights are safer too.
I'm beginning to think that most modern technology is more trouble than it's worth, and old is better. Besides stoves with elec. ign, modern cars are a nightmare to work on, and the old ones were more reliable. I could think of many more examples.
Just for the record, I still have my first VCR. It's one of those boat anchors, weighs about 50 lbs, and was made to use as a step stool. This was one of the first VCR's ever made back in the 80's, but they were made well, easy to use, and lasted. The modern ones are way too complicated and last a year at most. Then too, I still remember when a radio had 3 knobs, tuning, volume, and tone. Those old radios sounded great. Now we have cheap radios with 27 knobs, 12 switches 42 lights (that serve no purpose) and they dont sound any better than the old ones. They just cost more and are very poorly made to boot. And of course they have those user manuals that have 10 languages all crammed together making it impossible to read coherently.
Pilot lights don't really scare me-- but I'd wager that they are less safe than electronic. More than a few kitchen fires were started when someone left a butter dish or dish towel sitting on the stove overnight.
The poof you get when there is an open burner when the electronics spark scares the crap out of you-- but do they ever flame up or do damage?
Old ones were more reliable? How old? My first car was brand new 1972 Ford Maverick-- cost about $10,000 in todays money. [$2200 in
1972] Needed a tuneup every 5 thousand miles-- new plugs at 20k -- probably should do the wires too- don't forget to clean the carb- or rebuild it-- tires lasted less than 20k- seats wore out in a couple years- body started to rust after the second New York winter.
Today for $10000 you can get a car that needs an oil change every 5-6k or so-- and you probably won't need to lift the hood for 50k. No points- no timing to adjust- and the plugs last 100k. Tires last
50-60k for the first set & they're 10 times as safe as the old rustbuckets were. I see a lot of 10 year old cars with very little rust these days.
-snip-
My first VCR cost $580- in 1982. That's nearly $1200 in 2006 dollars. It lasted 5-6 years, but wasn't making real clear recordings towards the end. It had gone to the shop a couple times for $40-50 repairs.
Now you could buy a new one every six months and be ahead of the game. [Though ours do seem to last 2-3 years- and I buy the cheapest one I can find these days.]
He can't call the FBI. It will start an investigation and then they'll find out about the reason the terrorists are after him.
OTOH, for 3 months out of the year or more, your AC has to work longer to remove that extra heat. If you use AC.
Maybe i'm not that handy, but it seems like it would be a lot of work. a line, a jet, a hole in the right place in the burner pipe where the pilot can ignite the gas, but the gas won't escape while the burner is on. I don't have a gas range to look at hee so I can see how they do it.
The one I don't like is on tv's where it blacks out weak stations. Sometimes that's all I can get is a week station and it's better than nothing. I used to know someone who a tv newscaster in Salisbury Md, and if I had had a modern tv then, I never could have seen her on the air from Baltimore. If they are going to have the feature, enable me to turn it off. (She wasn't on cable either, even though I don't think I had cable then. I could only get the station once or twice also, and never during the news. But she wasn't my friend for very long so it worked out.)
That's one for sure. My cousin called it the "no-draft" but I don't smoke like his father did, and I only liked it when I could open it far enough that the wind blew right on me.
Even though I had a convertible, my favorite one was the '65 catalina that had windows like that and even sun visors that tipped up and forwards so the visors blew wind on my face too.
Same with '67 Catalina.
When I got the '72 Buick Centurion, no vent windows, but I made one of my own out of lucite, bent twice, with a piece that went into the window slot and then bent horizontal and to the left, and then up, at the proper angel. It rested against the rear view mirror when the car was moving, because there were 8 inches from the pillar to the rear view mirror. Now all the mirrors are on the pillars and I can't figure out how to make one of these.
Also missing now, the fresh air vents in the kick panels. The '67 pontiac had both AC and fresh air, but when AC became almost standard, they stopped putting in the fresh air, which gave 5 times as much air as does the heater (I guess the tubes are smaller and have too many bends.)
I sure can relate to this frustration. I had a VCR that did that, and before I got a new TV, I had an old click tuner tv set (no remote), so I used the VCR as the tuner. I'd often be watching a weak station when that damn thing would make a solid blue screen. There was no switch to disable it either. I had planned to find a schematic and add a switch, but decided the tv needed replacement anyhow. My newer VCR does not have that annoying feature. The consumers must have complained enough they stopped making it.
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