I accidently set a plastic bowl on a hot burner on my electric stove,how do I get all that burnt "goop" off?

Question

i was cooking got distracted and set a plastic bowl on the burner that was on high,by the time I knew,it was all burned and a mess .The stove itself cleaned okay,but how to get all that goop off the burner?

Answer 1

Bill H has a novel idea. I would recommend putting it on the BBQ grill outside as it is safer than burning off the remainder of the plastic in the house. A new surface unit would cost between $25-$35 but there is no need to buy a new unit. The burner will work perfectly fine.

Why is everyone so quick to throw things away and buy new all of the time? I guess it is easier for someone to spend someone else's money.

Answer 2

Ben there, wife done that. Peel off all you can, then turn on low heat for a few seconds. It will smoke and stink, but you can open a window or use your exhaust fan if present. Use a thick old rag to wipe off the hot sticky plastic before it cools, you will probably have to do this through several cyles-quickly heat, turn off, wipe off, in order to get the majority of it off. Then when you have the most you can get off, hold over a sink and use a scrounge type sponge to rub it vigorously, with some detergent. Don't get the whole element wet, just the area affected. Make sure none of the plastic got on the drip pan or below the drip pan, or it will smoke as well under high heat.
If it is so covered it doesn't want to come off, you will have to buy a new one.

Answer 3

You'd be better off to think about replacing the burner. It's almost impossible to get the plastic off once it bonds to the metal. If you use the burner and attempt to burn the plastic off two things could happen. You could start a fire in your kitchen. You could poison yourself with the toxic fumes that are given off by burning plastic. It's nothing to play with and replacing a burner may seem costly, but it's worth it in the long run.

Answer 4

My son did that to me once. I was in my bedroom getting laundry ready to wash and my son came in the room and said "I'm sorry, Mommy, but it's on fire!" I peaked my head out around the corner and there it was. Flames as high as the range hood. He was making oatmeal on our gas stove in a tupperware cup. I waited for it to cool and I chipped and scraped and scraped some more. When it was the best I could scrape, I got a hand held torch and melted it to the bottom of the burner tray and scraped it out of there when it was touchable. It worked good as new. Good luck with your electric burner.

Answer 5

Scrape off what you can. Many times on low heat, the plastic will be softer to remove.
Once you have as much off as possible...open a window...turn on a fan...then turn the burner on HIGH to finish the cleaning process.

Answer 6

You can also get a replacement coil for an electric store at most big hardware stores. The coils unplug, just take it with you to make sure the new one has the same plug. I don't think you'll ever clean it enough to use without the smell.

Answer 7

Had same problem with 2 of my burners. I took them out and then put them in the barbq outside and melted the rest of plastic off by leaving them over the hot coals and putting bbq fluid on them.

But you could just get a new one, they are only 15 - 20 dollars at Lowes or Home depot

Answer 8

I had this happen in the oven, I let the plastic cool then chipped it off with a screwdriver.

Answer 9

tip it up at you and pull to unplug it from the stove and go to the local appliance store and buy a replacement [$6.00 - $15.00]
that is what you do when they quit working.,or get messed up

Answer 10

Replace it. Those things are not made to scrape, scratch and burn.