Emerilware sucks #14

From the Consumer Affairs website: 

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/homeowners/emeril.html

Thomas of Portland, OR on Dec. 6, 2008

The cookware was being heated on high for no more than 5 min when I noticed that there were silver droplets forming on the underside of the pan. It was melting! I went to remove it from the stove and the bottom fell off causing the metal (I'm thinking Tin or some alloy because there are flecks) to splatter all over the stove and down the front of the over. A few drips landed on the hand towels that were hanging neatly on the handle of the over door immediately setting them on fire.

Steel has a melting point between 1700 and 2500 degree (dependent on the flavor and quality).

The bottom is copper with a higher melting point that steel.

There is no reason to bind these two together with a metal that has a melting point under 600!

This is a flaw in the product!

Damage to the stove, floor and burned on my foot.

Though I would like to be remembered for the cost of the stove it is more important to have this product recalled before it causes anymore damage or harms anyone further! The house could have easily burned down. It's not like anyone what expect their pan to melt. It's not like I put a ted bear on the stove and walked away.

Emerilware sucks #13

From the Consumer Affairs website: 

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/homeowners/emeril.html

Benjamin of Madison, WI on Oct. 23, 2008

I enjoyed watching Emeril and used to look forward to his shows at the end of my workday. I purchased a full set of Emeril cookware from Bed Bath and Beyond. Recently one morning I selected the 3 qt. pot to make old fashioned oatmeal. I stood in front of the stove (I was barefoot and wearing shorts), placed the pan on the burner, turned half a step to the sink (90 degrees from the stove) drew a cup of water, turned again placed it in the pot, and turned on the heat. I then again turned a half a step away began making a cup of coffee.

It did not seem like more than a minute when I was shocked and startled by the bottom of the pot exploding, sending molten aluminum on my stove, on the floor, and on me. The molten metal splattered on my legs and feet causing blisters where the metal contacted my skin, and burn where it contacted my shorts. It ran off me, off the stove and onto the floor where it pooled in places and was so hot it started the vinyl to burn (setting off the fire alarm). I was NOT prepared for this and was shocked and surprised and stood still for a moment in pain and disbelief. I stood there and could not do anything (for example, pick up the molten aluminum).

After a moment I gained my composure I filled another pot with water and threw it on my legs and on the molten pools of aluminum on the floor, thus preventing further burns to my legs and a larger fire. My burns are beginning to heal. I have not yet replaced my kitchen floor. I have not been brave enough to try use the pots and pans again.

Burns on my body. Fire in my kitchen. Ruined kitchen floor. Pans useless. This pan set dangerous.

The pictures are now also on Pinterest

Somebody suggested that I post the pictures from my story on Pinterest (thank you for the idea, you know who you are), so I created a board there:
http://www.pinterest.com/mdangear/emerilware-sucks/
Feel free to re-pin!

Emerilware sucks #12

From the Consumer Affairs website: 

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/homeowners/emeril.html

Lisa of Woodbridge, VA on Oct. 20, 2008

I put on the small stock pot with cool water in preparation to cook pasta and turned on the burner. Within seconds, the bottom of the pot exploded, me standing in front of it. It ruined the heating element and the burner and spewed toxic material on my range and in the air. I am thankful that my daughter and my pet were not in the room. My daughter, a teenager, cooks herself. I shutter to think if it had been she who was cooking and not me.

As an aside, the cookware's performance was abysmal. Just as the reviewers indicated, sticking was an issue. I have used both expensive and inexpensive cookware, this set being somewhere in the middle, so I am both knowledgeable and skilled on their uses and limitations. I am going back to Macy's to see whether they will accept the return, as it appears that the Emeril/All-Clad group will not stand behind its products. If not, I am sure not to patronize either again.

Emerilware sucks #11

From the Consumer Affairs website: 

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/homeowners/emeril.html

Art of Memphis, TN on Oct. 8, 2008

The pan melted. Molten aluminum burned me, the floor and a rug. Very dangerous. Very expensive to fix. Replace burner, floor tiles, rug. burns on my legs and feet

Emerilware sucks #10

From the Consumer Affairs website: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/homeowners/emeril.html

 

Jessica of Aliso Viejo, CA on June 18, 2008

One of my Emeril cookware pots EXPLODED when I was just boiling water. Moulton Aluminum came out of the pot onto my glass stove top. It left huge holes in my stove top- breaking the glass. My stove top is now ruined, and I was exposed to liquid aluminum-VERY toxic! Thank goodness none of it got on my skin. I can't tell enough people JUST HOW UPSET I AM over this situation- my health has been compromised. I am HIGHLY disappointed in this pan set- and urge anyone with the set to return it immediately! You can't put a price on your health!!!

My stove-top is going to cost a couple hundred dollars to fix- and my pots are ruined. I still have the receipt and will return at Macy's today!  

Emerilware sucks - story #9

From the Consumer Affairs website: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/homeowners/emeril.html

 

Richard of New York, NY on June 9, 2008

Have had a one quart Emeril brand pot for less than a year purchased at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Performed beautifully for awhile. Did not overheat the pot; it heats up VERY quickly and continues to hold heat for a long time, even off the flame. Just noticed that the bottom covering of the I would guess aluminum core is separating, making the pot unusable. Don't want molten aluminum dripping on my stove or body. Is this a common complaint. What do the manufacturer's suggest, beyond using a lower temp flame -- and what is THAT exactly?

A very expensive piece of cookware is unusable after less than a year.

Story #8

From the Consumer Affairs website: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/homeowners/emeril.html

Peggy of Newark, CA on March 16, 2008

My 83 year old mother received a Emeril Lagasse 10 piece stainless set of cookware last year as a gift from a family member purchased at Macy's Department store in Freemont, CA. Recently, she had a nearly disasterous experience involving one of the Emeril pots and its aluminum filled base. She was boiling water on the stove and attempting to move the pot from the stove to the sink when the pot bottom seemed to explode with molten liquid aluminum spewing over the stove, counter top, kitchen floor, and sink. She was very lucky that none of the liquified aluminum landed on her body. She was extremely terrified by this event and wants nothing further to do with this type of cookware.

I went to visit my mother and together, we took the Emeril 10 piece set back to Macy's Store to explain our plight. They were very understanding and after concluding that my mom didn't want an exchange or any aluminum filled base cookware, refunded the cost of the cookware set to her. My concern here is regarding the safety risks of using this type of cookware as it pertains to my elderly mother and all consumers, for that matter. Is this an isolated incident involving one bad pot or is a more frequent problem that we should all be made aware of?

Personal trauma of event and the costs of repair to stove, counter, floor, and sink.

Story #7

From the Consumer Affairs website: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/homeowners/emeril.html

 

Susanna of Branson, MO on Feb. 21, 2008

We have had our Emirilware for about 3 years. Recently we have observed them heating unevenly in the bottom. Then, today, we barely averted a disaster. My husband was boiling water on the stove on medium heat. Once the water started to simmer, he was moving the pot over to the sink when the bottom half of the pot turned to liquid. As he extended the pot to the sink so the liquid would fall into the sink, the molten liquid hit the porcelain on the sink. As a result of the heat of the melted metal, our sink was shattered and there are holes in the counter top.

We will have to replace our sink, our counter top and the tile on the floor. The sink is shattered, the counter top had a hole burned into it, and the tile was burned from the molten metal. My husband's shoes were burned, and we will have to replace the cookware.

Story #6

From the Consumer Affairs website: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/homeowners/emeril.html

Darlene of Worcester, MA on Oct. 8, 2007

I bought Emeril pans about 3 yrs ago. My husband and I figured we would splurge and buy a GOOD set of pans that would last a life time, but the bottom fell off the 6 qt. pan. Thank the good Lord that no one was carrying it when this happened. I have a pot rack in my kitchen. All of a sudden I heard a loud crash. I looked and there was the bottom of the pan from the copper down, lying of the floor. My mind went racing, thinking what could have happened if someone was carrying it to the sink. The burn to the legs and floor, not to mention the shock and then dropping the pan and it's contents. Emeril needs to do something about HIS product. His name is on there and he should be making sure this doesn't happen again. In the mean time. I want a reimbursement for this pan... it wasn't cheap as far as the cost anyway. And now I am afraid to use the rest of the pans in fear that this may happen to all of them and I won't be so fortunate this time.

Story #5

From Consumer Affairs - http://www.consumeraffairs.com/homeowners/emeril.html

Jess of Minneapolis, MN on Feb. 10, 2007

While using it on the stove, the pot heated up and the outer lining fell to the floor as if it melted and burned the floor beyond repair. It started the rug on fire and the floor in the kitchen must be replaced. It resulted in molten metal everywhere in the kitchen causing burns to our feet as we were attempting to put out the fire.

This cookware is faulty and we would like to see some reimbursement for the faultiness of this product. There was an expected degree of quality with this product and obviously it is not there. 

Similar story #4 - Saute Pan Melted!

By Cathy Hargis, November 15, 2011

My recipe for a chicken taco dish instructed me to heat my pan to "very hot" in order to char tomatoes. I did so with my Emeril saute pan and as a result, the area of the pan underneath the copper band started melting. It literally created a river of molten aluminum on my stovetop. This is EXTREMELY dangerous. Check the consumer reports website and you will find several other people who have had the same experience. The copper band comes loose and the metal interior of the pan becomes overheated and melts. Some have even suffered 3rd degree burns from this. We received an entire set of these pots and pans as a wedding gift and will now be throwing them out and spending the money to replace them.

http://www.amazon.com/review/RHZOFZ1GU4H5S/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B001GD2YRW&linkCode=&nodeID=&tag=

Be careful - story #3

By Sincerely -  February 20, 2006
Review from: Emeril Stainless 10-Piece Cookware Set (Kitchen)

The melting of the Emeril pan happened when the pan was completely supervised. Say maybe standing 7 inches from the pan. My intention was to put people on notice about a potentially dangerous situation, nothing more. Keep in mind anyone can write a review, even people obviously associated with the company who disclose information that was only contained in correspondence with that company. I have far more important things to do then sit and write reviews, but I felt that this situation was extremely dangerous. Just be careful, thats all.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R2YEPSKYHYAGT8/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B0000696JB&linkCode=&nodeID=&tag=

Similar story #2

March 30, 2012 at 10:40 pm - Faithnf says:

this happened to me two days ago. with a cuisinart stainless steel pot.. it burned a large hole into my sneaker, and sent liquid aluminum across my kitchen floor. I have holes burned into the linoleum across a large area. Usually my 19 month old is directly underfoot. Usually I am barfoot in the house.

I contacted the company the next morning. Called them back with the model # of the pot. The customer service rep said she had never heard of this happening. But would not discuss the claim with me, stating that it was too serious in nature and is turning it over to corporate. I am looking for a product liability lawyer. They have indicated that they would take care of damages. I am outraged that this is something that can happen, has happened, and yet there are no warnings.

The pot was on the burner no more than 5 minutes. the bottom didn’t even burn out and get blackened. It is a bright cobalt blue! I have never…. I have quite of bit of money invested in this cookware. I have a few caphalon pieces, so i opted to use as much of that as possible this evening, but had to use some of the cuisinart. talk about anxiety. I purchased a gate to keep the baby out of the kitchen while cooking. Paranoid as I was next to the stove..

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Companies are responsible to make consumers aware of such occurances, no matter how infrequent they may be. Any other day, my baby would be in ICU with catastrophic burns, and in my panic, I would not have had as much control of that pot and would have sustained substantial injuries..

Similar story #1

From the comments for the article quoted in my original post - http://www.home-ec101.com/the-curious-case-of-the-meltingall-clad-stainless-steel-pan/

>>

Lisa of Woodbridge, VA April 21, 2009

Emerilware with All-Clad Metalcrafters. Had two separate stock pots explode from the bottom spewing molten aluminum. The first must have occurred when in use by a family member. I didn't find it until I went looking after the second. The second occurred just shortly after I put a pot with water onto boil. I was standing right next to it when it occurred, first a popping, smoke, and molten aluminum on my range and my clothes. Fortunately, I was not burned. However, my family or my pets could have been potentionally harmed had anyone been standing next to me. The burner on the electric range. The bottom of the pot reflected an explosion. The burner reflected an implosion.

All-Clad denied any defect in the product line and blamed it on my range burner…what about the folks who have gas or smoothtop? This product poses an extreme danger to anyone using it. Time is not on your side, folks. STOP USING IT. I loathe having to destroy a gorgeous set of cookware I had owned for just a few months, but I won't take the risk and even donate it. I plan to destroy them. By the way, All-Clad kept the damaged cookware…never returned it, but I have pictures! I urge everyone who has had these problems to contact the US Consumer Product Safety Commission and lodge a Consumer Product Incident Report. This cookware MUST be removed from the market. Out the cost of the cookware, some 250 and destroyed the burner and the plug-in unit, which will run close to 100 to repair on my own, more if I contract out the repair.

Read more: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/homeowners/emeril_…

Here is the story that got me to start this blog, showing how Emerilware has managed the issue of one of their pan melting:

In 2006, I purchased an Emeril 2.5Qt Sauce Pan purchased in 2006 from Bed Bath and Beyond.

On December 18, 2012 around 7pm at my house, I started cooking broccoli on the stove (setting on High), and set dinner table. While I was eating soup with my kids (probably 10mns after I started the broccoli) I noticed flames coming out of the stove. I lifted the pan and took it away from the Stovetop to see what was going on. And when I did this, the bottom on the pan fell and liquid metal splashed all around the kitchen. 

Note that my daughter was seating next to this chair, it is a miracle that she did not get injured.

The interesting part was that the pan was damaged, but the broccoli inside was actually still good to eat.

After this happened, and after I had recovered from the shock of this happening, I called Emerilware.

And they have a very good process that leads to nowhere. Clearly they have optimized it to look good from the outside while doing nothing about the issue. Here is how it went:

December 19, 2012: called Emerilware to inform them of the incident. Left voicemail.

December 20, 2012: received email asking me to call them back

December 20, 2012: called back. Talked to somebody who told me that they will take a look at the pot, and that I will receive instructions on where to ship the damaged pot.

December 26, 2012: they sent a letter with shipping instructions

January 12, 2012: shipped the damaged pot to Emerilware

February 26, 2013: Received a voicemail from Emerilware to call them back. No other details. Since I was just starting a new job, I did not call them back right away.

February 26, 2013: Called back and was informed that Emeril has found nothing special about the pot and therefore they did not feel responsible for what happened. No explanation of what happened, no report from experts. It seems that melting pans are a normal thing, and it is my problem, not Emeril's problem, even though they are the one manufacturing these melting pans.

March 11.2013: Received the pot back in a box. No explanation, no letter there either.

March 18, 2013: Called back to ask for a written answer from Emerilware on the issue.

March 20, 2013: Received an email repeating the same story they had told me on the phone. Still no explanations of what could have happened, just a polite non-answer that means "go away"to me.

April 14, 2013: I did a search on the internet. And I find very interesting that a search on "Melting Pan" on Google (no brand specified in search) leads to this post in the first page of result:

>>

http://www.home-ec101.com/the-curious-case-of-the-meltingall-clad-stainless-steel-pan/
Something strange happened though, I stopped by to see her at work one day and she told me this bizarre story of how one of her pans had melted, the bottom plate fell off and the liquid metal damaged her floor.<< 

And then I remembered that I was given the case number 367 when I called.

After investigating further and finding 38 cases of people who had similar issues with Emeril pots, I sent an email to request that the case be reviewed and escalated. I also wrote a letter that I sent them through regular mail.

April 15, 2013: Received an email back saying that there is no escalation process.

So I am telling this story to the world so that at least people are aware of the issue. My Emeril pan melted and Emerilware does not want to have anything to do with it.