Chip pan fires at home....

[Yazar]

Wacky Racer said:

went to answer the phone, which was in the hall

Would this have happened today though? if one had installed a heat alarm in the kitchen, and a smoke alarm in the hall?

[RobinBanks]

Yazar said:

Wacky Racer said:

went to answer the phone, which was in the hall

Would this have happened today though? if one had installed a heat alarm in the kitchen, and a smoke alarm in the hall?

I doubt that would have changed it. By the time they had detected it, the fire would have started.

It may have been different had the mobile phone been popular in 1973. Or had the poster had his phone in the kitchen.

[HarryFlatters]

I've got a real hankering for chips cooked in duck fat

[Miguel Alvarez]

HarryFlatters said:

I've got a real hankering for chips cooked in duck fat

I'm also hungry. I think it's going to be fish and chips from the chippie tonight.

[bazza white]

I was frying some spices off once and poured a tin of tomatoes in. As soon as I poured woosh up it went. My face was glowing and I had no fringe left. It was lucky a new kitchen was going in as the spices appeared to land and stick to the ceiling all over the kitchen leaving thousands of black dots everywhere.


I was always cautious of the chip pan after that but when cooking chips on one occasion I placed the chips in and mini explosions occurred in the pan I took it off the heat and never bothered with it again.


Home made oven chips are a great healthier alternative an no risk although I am looking at electric fat fryers

[anonymous-user]

A fireman mate of mine once told me that when they used to do the demos of this at School fetes, agri shows etc the ladel they poured onto the flaming pan did indeed have water in it, but also another flammable substance. He said it was to really drive home how dangerous it was but was perhaps more spectacular than you might get at home.

[hairyben]

Seen the aftermath of a couple in my work. Seen where a fireball has crossed a 20' ceiling and back down the opposite wall, melting both surface light fittings and a socket halfway down the opposite wall to the degree all the plastic had been vaporised with just the copper wires and bits of brass showing, yet most of the kitchen was untouched and but for a dusting of soot usable!

[funkyrobot]

Wacky Racer said:

Needless to say, the kitchen was destroyed completely, and the thick acrid black smoke had gone right round the bungalow, ruining every ceiling in the house...

The explosion was so bad it turned a bungalow into a house? Wow.

[CuckooInMyNest]

Wacky Racer said:

Two minutes later, there was a massive explosion, like an atom bomb going off...

[J4CKO]

We only use ours over Christmas to do proper chips and I have read the kids the riot act about the Fryer, it is not to be taken lightly, they are all teenage lads and apt to dick about in the kitchen, you do not dick about when there is hot oil about, I let them do it but I supervise and explain what they are doing wrong and the potential consequences, they have seen the videos and also seen a live demo.

I banish the dog from the kitchen as he lurks about causing a trip hazard and that isn't great if you fall over at any time, even worse when you end up knocking 2 litres of hot oil on yourself.

I get a used tea towel (not point doing it to the clean one) and have it ready, already wet, just in case, when I have had mishaps in the kitchen and garage, I find it is best to prepare and not rush when dealing with it, try not to panic. another example, When welding, from experience, I always have the hose on and ready with one of those trigger guns on the end, if something does catch, its a scorch mark and some wet bits, as opposed to a proper fire by the time you find the extinguisher/wwater etc.

Examples of fat related injuries,

A lad at worked had a tray of sausages in the oven, got them out, slipped and dropped them on his bare feet, compared to a deep fat fryer, the small bit of oil in the oven tray still did a lot of damage, it just carries so much more heat.

Dave who ran our local chippy for like 40 years slipped and dunked his forearm in the chip fryer, he had some horrendous injuries, grafts etc but made a full recovery.

Its no wonder they used it in medieval times to drop off battlements, imagine being hit by gallons of it from above, that is truly terrifying, it wouldnt kill you straight away, surprised IS havent discovered it yet.

[austinsmirk]

This thread belongs in the "council thread"

Trust me as someone who works in social housing the chip pan fire is a daily occurrence.

As is the congealed pan of fat in the cooker you just re heat each day and add to

[J4CKO]

austinsmirk said:

This thread belongs in the "council thread"

Trust me as someone who works in social housing the chip pan fire is a daily occurrence.

As is the congealed pan of fat in the cooker you just re heat each day and add to

So no middle class folk deep fry anything ?

My take on it, having deep fried stuff every day with no regard for the outcome is a bit council, having it occasionally and enjoying it is universal, I know people who live in a massive farmhouse, do all the hunty shooty stuff, have a pool and tennis court, kids at boarding school, read Cheshire life, talk all posh and you sometimes go round to the stink of chips being/have been fried.

I think its a bit of a lower middle class aspirational affectation, those comfortable with their status from any class get busy with the deep fat fryer, or a chip pan on the Aga.

[Wacky Racer]

funkyrobot said:

Wacky Racer said:

Needless to say, the kitchen was destroyed completely, and the thick acrid black smoke had gone right round the bungalow, ruining every ceiling in the house...

The explosion was so bad it turned a bungalow into a house? Wow.

Well it starting off being a house, but when it was half way up, my old man ran out of money, so he said to the builder "Bungalow roof on it"....

Boom Boom....tish!

[Laurel Green]

Before my time at the hospital but, a deep-fat-fryer in the main kitchen at St Mary's caught fire. A kitchen porter took the fire hose to it - the damage was considerable!

[Yazar]

J4CKO said:

So no middle class folk deep fry anything ?

My take on it, having deep fried stuff every day with no regard for the outcome is a bit council, having it occasionally and enjoying it is universal, I know people who live in a massive farmhouse, do all the hunty shooty stuff, have a pool and tennis court, kids at boarding school, read Cheshire life, talk all posh and you sometimes go round to the stink of chips being/have been fried.

I think its a bit of a lower middle class aspirational affectation, those comfortable with their status from any class get busy with the deep fat fryer, or a chip pan on the Aga.

Its not a class thing, its an irrational "I'm fat and its the fried foods fault" or a "Frying food will give me cancer" or "too lazy to cut up a potato and rather get McCains processed crap from Iceland" thing.

[J4CKO]

I agree, though I also think a lot of middle class is about denying yourself anything easy and fun in favour of self induced hardship to fit in that lifestyle.

[Easy_Targa]

We always put our deep fat fryer on the gas hob under the extractor fan so that the house did not smell of chips. Mrs Targa goes to pick up daughter from dancing and before she leaves the house she switches the fryer on at the wall and puts the gas ring on under the pan full of frozen peas asking me to check on them in a couple of minutes. Of course she has actually put the gas ring on under the fat fryer and this promptly melts and spills hot oil into the flames beneath. Younger daughter calls upstairs, "Dad the kitchen is on fire!"
Panic is not too strong a word. Switched off fryer and ring then threw a wet tea towel in prescribed fashion over fire, hot dirty oil goes everywhere but thankfully flames go out. Cooker and hood are totalled as are al the carpets I ran over as I opened windows all around the house to let the smoke out.

[minky monkey]

http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/11556397._...

This tragic event happened around the corner from me. What wasn't in the paper was that the old boy tried to chuck the smoker out of the conservatory door, but didn't manage it and it exploded in a fireball.

Awful, awful event.

[rohrl]

I once tried to deep-fry whitebait in peanut oil. Afterwards I thought I'd switched the hob off but was mistaken and a few minutes later I could smell burning. Walking into the kitchen the pan was well alight. (The flashpoint of peanut oil is 315 Celcius btw).

I have heard time and again to put a damp cloth over a burning pan but the burning oil was spitting out of the pan and I just couldn't get close enough without risking injury so I reached for the powder fire extinguisher I sensibly kept in the kitchen. Aiming the extinguisher at the pan I let rip only for the power of the extinguisher to cause boiling oil to erupt from the pan mainly onto my arms and face but also dropping onto my feet.

I ended up with third degree burns to my arm and fortunately only temporary damage to my face. With careful wound management I luckily didn't need skin grafts but it was a close-run thing. I won't try deep-frying again.

[Oakey]

soad said:

BristolRich said:

Our neighbours used to use a Chip pan on what seemed like a daily basis and going by the smell they had never bothered to change the oil...geeez the smell

Used to, you say? So, what happened?

He got them drunk and put some chips on for them...