Thetford cooker hob cover
My Thetford glass hob cover exploded when (inadvertently) the electric hob was turned on - the lid was down. Glass went all over the caravan - quite a bang! On inspection I found that there is NO safety interlock on the gas OR the electric, that turns off the gas/electricity if the lid is down. I contacted Thetford, the national caravan council and GASSAFE and I am amazed at the seeming laid back attitude over this. If you have one of these hob covers I would recommend its removal and then replace with two pieces of aluminium chequer plate - one piece bent over to prevent access to the controls with the lid down. My photos are over 500kb so I cannot post them. If anybody needs a photo and further advice I am on t.williams1@talktalk.net. It cost me less than £20 to do this and get peace of mind
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Oh dear! I think the message is being missed. Accidents / causes ? whatever - the manufacturer should always factor in safety features that cover as many (dangerous) scenarios as possible. IE, allowing for tree huggers and those of us that are of low IQ. I did not know I could spell that!!
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We have had the electric plate in the two caravans we have owned and also have one in the current MH. We never had any problems in the caravans but almost had a near miss the first time we used the MH. The position of the cooker near the door and the narrower width of the MH, means that the control knob is easy to catch if squeezing past someone. (It's on the end nearest the door) Fortunately the lid was up, we only realised it was on when it glowed orange.
Unlike our caravans where it just plugged into a socket below the cooker, there was no obvious way to isolate it, so I removed the control knob and put it in the cutlery drawer. We hardly ever use it in any case. Tests have shown, that now there is not enough surface area for it to be turned, even if pushing past it quite hard.
I have no views on wether a chequer plate would look good or not, I would have to see a photo. Certainly something over the control knobs is a good idea and perhaps something the cooker manufactures should have considered.
It does beg the question how much thought is put into safety issues such as these and wether the designers have ever used their products in a real life situation.
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At first I was going to leave the hob "naked", as in a lot of kitchens, but I tried the chequer plate as it was an inexpensive fix v replacing the glass top. Personally I am quite pleased with the result. Alas, the 500kb file limit stops me adding a photo. I am of the steam engined ship age! At least I know that the hob top is as safe as I make it. Young children always push the "NO" boundaries when it comes to irresistible knobs to tweak. Hiding them has got to help - hiding the knobs, to clarify..
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If you can email your photo to >this address< I will post it for you.
Peedee
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Photos are posted on behalf of trefor who also made the following comments:
It may not be pretty (at 1st glance) but at less than £20 it is cheaper than replacing the original glass AND much safer. The aluminium came cut (and bent) to size. I only had to drill two holes through for the bolts that go into the handle and clamp it all together. The existing hinges just clamp on as they did the glass
Having had a similar accident, I can appreciate if you have children then this is a good a safety measure. My replacement glass cost £70!
peedee
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Thanks for the photos, it does give a better idea of what it looks like. I think it would look better without the section covering the knobs. With an aluminium top it won't matter if they got turned on accidently. I will certainly consider such a fitting if ever I break my top again.
On my previous motorhome I had a glass door to a cupboard under the oven. Stupid idea for a door at ground level. It got broken and I replaced that with 1/4 inch piece of plywood which I painted to match the decor.
peedee
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We had the same event happen. Just put it down to our stupidity as 'we' had accidentally turned the electronic hob on whilst cleaning it. Should have noticed the light, should have checked it was off. A lesson learnt!
Incidentally, does anyone know what 'tree huggers' are, and what they are to do with this topic? I'm lost on that one.
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I was even more stupid than you Micky, I don't have and electric burner just gas. I put the kettle on without lifting the glass top!
It is almost impossible to turn the gas taps on accidentally because of the way they work, push to turn and then you have to use the igniter.
peedee
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I know of two instances of this. The first happened to a friend, who inadvertently knocked the knob of his electric plate on whilst cleaning his van. The second happened to me. At the time, we had a Bailey Ranger. This did not have an electric cooking plate. Just 4 gas rings. I was cooking on one of the back rings. I can only assume that the hot pan may have touched the glass cover which was back against the wall. As you describe, an almighty bang and glass everywhere. Four people in the van narrowly missing being hit by flying glass and a meal ruined. I do recall contacting Bailey, and their response being lukewarm.
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Have just returned from a fairly long caravan trip and have to report that the aluminium hob and knob cover has done the job admirably. I have shown it to fellow caravanners and all thought that it did not look out of place and could see the practicality of it. I am giving up pursuing caravan manufacturers, Thetford, GASSAFE, Trading Standards and the National caravan Council as they have ALL been tepid in their response. Likewise the CCC and the C&MHC! I can only hope no one gets injured. I am now investigating what happens to caravan owners in a country run by Jeremy Corbyn and his acolytes.....
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I have had the same issue.
The issue took place as I was hoovering the carpets prior to a trip away.
The hoover wire had gone over the control knob and turned the plate on (unknown to me).
I went inside to look for something and when I came out of the house heard the explosion. Had no idea what it was until I went inside and saw all the glass.
I now turn the plate off by the socket located in the bottom glass compartment.
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Yeah, happened to me to. Caused by the hob being used in daytime and then turned down to the low setting. Being next to the open door in daylight meant the flame was invisible! Then the fact that it was thought to be turned off but in fact was just on the low setting. We haven’t had the motorhome long enough to to realise that clockwise puts it on a high setting while anti-clockwise puts it on a low setting. So the knob was intuitively turned all the way anti-clockwise and - being in bright sunlight didn’t notice it still lit. Lid goes down and some time later - bang!!
Of course all this is in the instructions and there is (or was) a warning sticker on the glass but from the number of posts and my own experience on this, I would say that more should be done.
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I thought most of them had a cut-off switch. I'm not sure if any residual heat even in that case wouldn't end up with the same result.
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I think all the tourers have a gas switch on the hob cover so that you could not switch it on whilst the lid is down. You can close the lid when the flame is already alight though.
I don't think the electric hobs have ever had a cut-off switch for the lid. The electric hobs are solid so retain their heat for a good while, and accidents are more likely in my opinion. I do not think the glass cover is a very good idea at all for a caravan/camper. A properly designed hob with a couple of gas burners and induction plate with anti surge would be better. These ovens/hobs are dreadful.
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