Pilot Error!


 
D

Dan Leighton

TVWBB Pro
Well, last night I pulled the chronic dumb*ss maneuver. Monday night, I did some steaks and used the sideburner to boil some corn. When I took the corn off, I thought I had shut off the burner. After supper, I went out and shut off the grill and lowered the cover on the sideburner (2007 Genesis). Last night, I went to burgers and some more corn and noticed what looked like ash on top of the sideburner lid. I promptly ended up with three burned fingers from trying to brush it off. The burner had been on full tilt with the lid closed for 24 hrs. Lid will need some cleaning and I just ordered a new knob since the original was scorched on one side closest to the burner. Live and learn. Ate supper with one hand and one in a bowl of cold water.
 
Sorry to hear. Do you have a aloe plant? If not get one. Cut off a piece from the leaves and slice it open. The gel inside is a great cure for burns.
 
Gotta ask..................................Why "boil" corn? Grill it! Boiling takes the flavor away and gives you corn "soup". Hope your fingers are ok and glad you didn't start a fire
 
I have had three Silver C grills come through my garage and two of them had the clear indications that the previous owner had done the same thing you did. Seems like it might be a pretty common mistake.
 
Good for you for having the honesty to admit to that, you are probably making others double and triple check their "off" status. I might go outside right now and make sure the grill is off :)
 
I guess that is one more reason to turn off the propane tank when done cooking.....That is if you are on propane and not NG.
 
My gas is off! I'm NG, and I have a shutoff valve at the connection at the house which I like to turn off after each cook to avoid exactly that situation. Plus, I just feel it is safer to have the gas completely off after I'm done out there. I'm exactly the kind of person who would forget and leave the grill on for days if I didn't have a somewhat elaborate ritual to perform after cooking, so that works for me.
 
Yah, good thing about propane is that you lose a max of one 20 lb tank. Been there and done that, SEVERAL times. I can only imagine 4 or 5 days of a grill running on NG before a guy noticed.
 
Bruce said:
I guess that is one more reason to turn off the propane tank when done cooking.....That is if you are on propane and not NG.
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+1 for shutting off at the LP tank. I can recall an episode with my old Q where I didn't realize the gas was still on and found out later when I came out to do a final clean up and cover the grill for the night.
 
THyde said:
My gas is off! I'm NG, and I have a shutoff valve at the connection at the house which I like to turn off after each cook to avoid exactly that situation. Plus, I just feel it is safer to have the gas completely off after I'm done out there. I'm exactly the kind of person who would forget and leave the grill on for days if I didn't have a somewhat elaborate ritual to perform after cooking, so that works for me.
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What is it about grills that make normal people forget their marbles? I could understand it if you were the kind who also forgot to turn off the stove, but in all the years of grilling (well in excess of 45) I can count on one hand I forgot a burner on with my grill(s). And one of those occasions I can blame on my wife who told me she turned it off and silly me I believed her :D Otherwise my routine is before food comes off burners turn off. I use the residual heat to finish
 
LMichaels said:
What is it about grills that make normal people forget their marbles? I could understand it if you were the kind who also forgot to turn off the stove, but in all the years of grilling (well in excess of 45) I can count on one hand I forgot a burner on with my grill(s). And one of those occasions I can blame on my wife who told me she turned it off and silly me I believed her :D Otherwise my routine is before food comes off burners turn off. I use the residual heat to finish
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For me it is less about losing my marbles when grilling, and more that I am afraid that this would happen. I've never left the grill on either, and I am not the type to leave the stove on. My wife on the other hand has left the stove on several times. That is what scares me, is that it happens. Fortunately, she does not grill, so I'm all good there.

Yes, I also turn the grill completely off at the control panel and the shutoff valve and leave the food in there to stay warm while I rustle up the kids / finish prep on sides / do whatever last minute things must happen before we can sit.
 
Well, larry, in my case it is two fold. A mind that has always been prone to forgetfullness and second, I used to let my grills "burn off" for 10 to 15 minutes after a cook and then I would go out and scrape them. Well, yah, with dinner going on, I would sometimes "forget" the grill until the next time I went to use it or looked out on the deck and noticed all the snow within a foot of the grill was gone.
 
Well, it was only about the 4th time I'd used the sideburner, but I wanted to get in practice for the summer to cut down on the A/C bill. Being NG, it got a constant supply since I don't shut off the valve to the whip hose. I had one similar event about 10 years ago when I left the grill on full tilt for 24 hours in the middle of the summer. That's how my firebox got a little bow to it. Live and learn. The blisters on my 3 fingers fortunately are not on my dominant hand. Just what was needed since we are cutting up and freezing 30 lbs. of sweet onions that we get from the Shriners. Produce here is poor compared to what we were used to in RI. I'll have to try doing corn in the husks at some point. Corn is just showing up here in the husk, but mostly it is in 4 packs. Miss growing bi-color super sweet in our garden. Sometime 1 ear wouldn't even make it into the house from the garden.
 
Dan Leighton said:
Well, last night I pulled the chronic dumb*ss maneuver. Monday night, I did some steaks and used the sideburner to boil some corn. When I took the corn off, I thought I had shut off the burner. After supper, I went out and shut off the grill and lowered the cover on the sideburner (2007 Genesis). Last night, I went to burgers and some more corn and noticed what looked like ash on top of the sideburner lid. I promptly ended up with three burned fingers from trying to brush it off. The burner had been on full tilt with the lid closed for 24 hrs. Lid will need some cleaning and I just ordered a new knob since the original was scorched on one side closest to the burner. Live and learn. Ate supper with one hand and one in a bowl of cold water.
Click to expand...

I did something similar a couple of times with my previous grill: no injuries, but darned annoying to get ready to fire the grill up, only to find the LP gas tank is empty because I forgot to turn it off last time, especially if it was a new tank and the spare hasn't been replaced yet. :mad: Since then, I have adopted a couple of procedures that have helped avoid the issue. :)

I have a repeating 5 minute timer set on my watch, which I start as soon as I turn the gas on. I find a 5 minute reminder quite helpful for gauging cooking, as its easy to get distracted and forget something is on the grill and 5 minutes is probably the shortest time I ever grill anything for, except eggs. However, the main benefit is when we sit down to eat after cooking and I turn the grill up to maximum to burn off residue. The timer lets me know that the grill is still burning and I don't switch the timer off until I turn the gas off. So, even if I miss the first alarm due to conversation or other distraction, I get a reminder 5 minutes later that gas is still burning, and so on until I do turn the gas off.

The second procedure is always to put the fabric cover on the grill after I am finished. That can only go on after the grill has cooled, so its just another reminder that the gas has been turned off.

I won't say haven't had my fingers burned occasionally :( but, since adopting these as part of my "grilling routine" a couple of years ago, I have never left the gas on once.

If anyone has any other "tricks" to avoid this happening perhaps we should start another thread on "Making sure the gas is off". :)
 
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