Close call

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I'm a little shaken. I think I almost just burnt the house down. I put microwave popcorn in and then went down to the basement to switch the laundry. I accidentally put the popcorn in for 13 minutes rather than 1 minute 30 seconds. I ran back up when I smelled it and the whole first floor had smoke. I'll be okay but it scared me a little.

My husband decided to thaw something in the sink so he used scalding hot water and left it running and then our son wanted something so he left and forgot about it. The sink overfilled and it flooded the whole kitchen and went into the basement and it did leave white marks on the cupboards under the sink and everything was flooded in the laundry room and went into my parents bedroom making the carpet wet. My husband saw it and cleaned it up but didn't know it went in the basement so he didn't tell anyone. My mom was furious at him for not telling her and my dad about his mistake. We almost lost out family movies and my parents caught it in time.

Rule of thumb, when leaving the kitchen, always turn the water off. You may forget and you will have a flood and can ruin stuff down there below you, especially if you live in an apartment, you would hate to flood your neighbor's home below you.

Oh League Girl. That is terrible!

One time we went camping for a week. It was the hottest week of the year too. Before we left my husband unplugged the chest freezer to plug in a tool he needed to use and then he forgot to plug the freezer back in. when we got home the pantry smelled like death. It took me a few days to figure out what was causing the smell. I thought a little animal had gotten in and died somewhere. We lost all that food it was so bad. Since then I have put a piece of duct tape on the freezer cord near the plug that says Freezer Do not unplug but knowing him he might not even notice it.

I'm glad everything's okay, Skibum. No Harm, No Foul. I guess I'd make sure I'm more careful in the future.

I once did something similar--except it was with one of those cup-a-soups. I put it in for 3 minutes instead of the required 30 seconds. I caused the microwave to burn itself out. I had to contribute for a new one (this was at work).

Thanks KraftieKortie.
I did not know a microwave could burn itself out. That is good to know. I am glad I did not damage ours.

I fell drunkenly fell asleep with a pizza in the oven last week. Spent a fortune on fabreeze, air fresher, incense, scented candles and scented oils and now a week on i can still sometimes smell the smoke. The thing is i don't remember waking up and turning the oven off but i must have done as i live alone. I have not learnt either, last night after a few glasses of wine i made myself a spicy chicken sandwich, this time i did not close the freezer door properly, had to throw out quite a lot of meat and now i have to defrost it.

I think somebody was putting one over on you. The only way I can think of you might damage a microwave, other than putting metal objects in it, might be running it with nothing in it at all, and I'm not sure that would actually hurt it. It's just bouncing electrons creating friction as they ricochet through things. The oven is shielded to prevent them from escaping the box.

skibum, I doubt you did anything that would have hurt the oven or caused it to catch fire, unless the popcorn bag had burst into flame (which it may have), and that would still be inside a metal box, so it shouldn't start a house fire. It may smell like charred ash for a while.

Funny thing is, a lot of microwave popcorn stinks so bad while it's popping (from the blends of flavorings they soak it in), that it could be smoldering for several minutes and you might not notice. Somebody I worked with years ago loved a particular flavor that smelled like dirty diapers. It tasted fine, but it sure stunk up the kitchen and the hallways.

I told my brother what happened and he said that it would not have caught fire. Thanks for the reassurance Willard. It makes me feel better.

Dirty diaper smelling popcorn, That's kind of scary!

I'm not trying to pull a fast one. This actually happened. I burned out the microwave after I heated the cup of soup for 3 minutes. After what I did, the microwave didn't work any more. I had to pay part of the cost for a new one.

Perhaps I should have been more precise. I stated that the engine "burned out" because the microwave wasn't working any more, and what I did caused a smoke condition.

Last edited by kraftiekortie on 04 Apr 2014, 7:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.

There was smoke, too. If I didn't get there fast enough, there might have been a fire. The smoked filled the room. The smell lasted a couple of days.

I'm glad everything was okay. My mother-in-law would put a pot of water on to boil, then go sit sown on the sofa and fall asleep. She burnt up a few pots, and a few times I caught them in time. I am sooo glad she doesn't live with us anymore.

My wife once set a plastic trash can up on the stove because the dog kept getting into it. For some reason a full trash can sitting on the stove just didn't register in my head. I turned the stove on to heat something up and caught the trash can on fire. Nearly burned the house down. Ended up with some minor burns and had to buy a new stove and paint the walls. Could have been a lot worse.

The paying for the new microwave, reminding me of something that happened when I was eight years old. My parents left me at a neighbors house for the afternoon. They had a daughter that was my age and the sun was younger than me and the mom ran out for some errand while we were watching cartoons. their daughter put something in the toaster that was too big, I don't remember what it was now. Well, she went to check on her toast or whatever while I watch cartoons. But at some point I smelled smoke and I went to see what was happening. I found her standing in front of the toaster completely paralyzed with fear. There were 3 foot flames shooting out of the toaster and there were wooden shelves right above it, filled with cookbooks. The cookbooks started catching on fire. So I unplugged the toaster, got a pot of water and dumped it on the toaster to stop the fire. Then I had to get some more pots of water to put out the books. A few minutes later, her mother came home and I explained what had happened. The mother started yelling at me for ruining her toaster with the water and demanded that I pay for the toaster. In the end, I think my parents told her to go fark herself. Anyway, I'm not sure why your toaster story reminded me of that incident. I guess it's just how my brain works.

You did excellent! You had the presence of mind to prevent a disaster. It seems as if the younger kids mother thought her kid was some kind of angel.

I would count that as a great moment in your life; do you?

I put a pot of water on to boil last week, got on the computer and started reading stuff and forgot all about it. It's the first time that ever happened to me. There have been a few times I forgot for awhile but remembered while there was still water in the pan. I don't think that would have started a fire but I still don't want to get that negligent because next time it could be with food.

It bothers me more that a couple of times when I came home I forgot and left the back door unlocked all night. Odds are nobody would try to come in, it's a fairly quiet neighborhood, but you never know. It's not good to take chances.

When I was about 14 I put a pizza in the oven and laid down on my bed to rest. I fell asleep of course, and woke up an hour later. Luckily the pizza was carbon, but nothing more happened.