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Close call
Merry Christmas Everyone.
We left St. Louis around 3pm on Christmas headed to Breckenridge Co to ski with the Kids. My wife managed to mess up her rotator cuff pretty bad so the girls were helping out with dinner while we were driving they wanted to use the cook top to heat something up. Geny was off so cook top didn’t work. They changed their mind put the cover back on and that was the end of that.
We stopped for the night about an hour east of Colby KS and I figured up the geny to make sure we all stayed warm. About 15 minutes later eldest daughter came and woke me up saying something smelled like nail polish remover…. it was really bad and strong..couldn’t figure it out… thought perhaps the geny was on fire or something so I shut it down… went and checked it and it was fine… fired it back up and checked it again and then had daughter check all the outlets and stuff and then she discovered the cook top was on and the cover was on it and about on fire at that point… I couldn’t turn it off cause the cover was melted to the point I couldnt remove the cover to turn the knob So I killed the geny again and then try to pry the cover off with a wooden spoon it cracked. Ran outside and got a hammer and was able to get it off tossed it outside and opened the door and cranked all the fans to get the burning plastic fumes out… Pretty much couldn’t sleep after all that..
Really scary part was i was going to just use auto gen and let the geny fire up when it needed… I think the story might have ended much differently if we had all been asleep.
Made it the rest of the way to Tiger run without issue. At dinner tonight we reviewed all the safety stuff with the full family. I might explore switching it out to an induction unit
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29 Replies
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Glad u r safe Bill and family , good catch
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That is such a dangerous design I think all Marathon and other conversion owners should check their cooktop to see if it is possible to have the cooktop knobs turned on with the cover in place. If it is possible some modification may be required to prevent that from happening.
Unless the knob is perfectly round on the cooktop control it might be possible to create a recess in a block bonded to the underside of the cook top that requires the cooktop knobs to be oriented in the off position or the cover will not go down flush with the counter. Another option might be a safety switch that opens the circuit to the cooktop power supply if the cover is in place.
Whatever the solution it should be something that prevents the cooktop from being ON if the cover is in place.
I don’t know which would be more dangerous, the fire from a burning countertop, or the fumes and gasses given off on cooktop covers made of man made materials.
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WOW…very glad you are all ok, as you said this could of been a very differant outcome…This is another reason to have safety steps in place as well as a fire extinguisher in the bedroom…
Some of the converters did have a small switch installed so when the cooktop is on, the switch prevents power to the cooktop…
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An induction cooktop might be a good idea.
Ours, and all the ones I’ve seen have touch controls with lockouts and won’t turn on again by themselves after a loss of power.
Stay safe.
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Glad you guys are OK Bill…on our Marathon the cover cutout for the knobs is preventing the cover to be installed unless the knobs are in OFF position only… -
Glad you are safe. As Jon said, the smoke and vapors from
a burning cover could have caused serious harm and possible death more
so than any flames. Most people who die in a home fire, succumb to
smoke inhalation rather than burns.Induction is the way to
go IMO and you will fall in love with cooking on an Induction cook top.
Yes, you will probably need to buy some new cook wear, but Helen will be glad
to help you spend your money on stuff for the bus because she certainly seems
to enjoy spending my money on goodies.Again, so very glad you are safe and sound and thank you for
sharing, as it gives us all something to think about. -
Great that none of you all were asleep.
My cook top cover is in two granit pieces and for each one there is a small pin/plunger type switch that keeps the cook top from comming on if one of the tops is on.
This may be something you could look into for futrue safety.
Can I come sking.
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Bill and I have the same year and model Marathon. This should be the stove top cover / switch in normal off position with cover in place.
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Glad all is well Bill, that’s scary stuff..
Is your cooktop cover (now destroyed) different than Al’s? It appears his won’t go on unless the knobs are off, I think mine is the same configuration.
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Our cover is similar to Al’s in that the knobs have to in a certain position to get the cover in place. However, if you turn the knob 180 degrees, you could still put the cover in place with the cooktop on. We have had a simple rule since our first motorhome that we don’t use the cooktop while driving. We also don’t put the cover in place after use until cooktop is cool to the touch.
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You guys need to get in the 20th century. Cooking on that Gaggenau you might as well get 2 rocks and some ruffage.
If you can find it the Indufix is a direct replacement. I paid 200 about 3 years ago, boil water in under a minute.
Later
bv
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Cooking on the bus ? Wait till Deborah sees this.
Take her out to dinner tonight or rumors will leak out. LG’s would be a good choice.
PS….no lame excuse , like you use it to boil water. Good luck with that one.
BTW….Do you know how to turn it on ?
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The photo below shows how the cover has been machined to prevent it from being installed if the knobs are in any position except “OFF”.
If you look closely you can see the grooves machined into the cover’s underside. Notice also the cooktop knobs are not symetrical and the “tail” at the lower side of the knobs would prevent the cooktop cover from being installed if the knobs were 180 degrees from their shown position because the “tail” of the knob would be hit by the cover before the cover would go all the way down..
How the protection is provided is less important than the fact there is a fool proof way to prevent the cooktop from being on with the cover in place.
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Glad to hear the end resulted in everyone’s safety !! Very scary to say the least….could have been a life changing event.
Induction is a great choice I put them in both of our Prevosts after using one at home for years…We also carry two single burner inductions in our bay for outside cooking… they really are great.
Safe travels and Happy New Year.
Diane
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Thanks for sharing Bill, a wake up call for us.
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