WHOA! My lips are sealed.

Score one for induction - the hob goes off shortly after a pot is removed but of course there's no heat involved with that anyway so nevermind.

On the one hand that's bad. On the other hand if you had a stove with a standing pilot like I do, or a gas water heater, the gas is "on" somewhere all the time in your house already. Now if the flame had gone out, that's a different story.

I hate to admit that I almost did the same thing…the almost refers to the length of time. As I was going to bed one night, I walked through the kitchen and saw that I had left one of the burners on. My excuse is that it was the simmer burner and it is so low that it was hard to see when the lights were on.

Glad nothing came of it - yours and mine!

Well I know of a house here where I think it was the washer hose that broke and the basement filled up to the ceiling with water, and by the time anyone noticed there was several feet of water in the living room and it was trickling out under the front door and the very bottoms of the windows. But check your faucets too.

My excuse is that I have probably used that stove about ten times and I always have to reacquaint myself with how the knobs work.

Thanks Pal, im going to think of it as a pilot light!

I do that more than I should. In fact, DH just went downstairs to check ours before we went to bed. before I read this post. I’m glad nothing happened. That was a real shock to come back to, I’m sure.

Yikes!! Glad nothing serious happened - like something falling on the burner and starting a fire. I guess that’s another advantage of induction - turns off if there’s no pan on the hob.

Yes, Pal, we turn off washer hose before going away for more than a few days. More homes are damaged by water than fire. Mtn, after making that mistake only one time, and only for an hour, Im oh so careful. I may be more afraid of of being thought ,

looney than the fire danger!

Could have been much worse, so thank your lucky stars! I can see how it happens when the burner is on low because we did it last year. Really it was DH, but I was here too, so. I noticed it after we ate lunch and went to do the dishes. So now we always look back over all the knobs after cooking.

Housekeeping left a burner on the flat glass cooktop at our rental house. Luckily, I noticed when I went over to check on organization of kitchen items and pillows.

Glad it wasn’t worse!

Wow that IS scary... and I have to confess, as I read through the replies of people commenting how thankful they are about induction... I was trying trying to understand that.

I have induction and the image I have is putting the empty pot back on the burner. So another worry. I think we've all been there done that. With us, it's often the refrigerator seeming like it's shut, but it's not quite. It beeps after a minute or two but often whoever last thinks they shut the door is off in another room or stair level.

Glad it was "just " an oops and nothing worse.

Could've been so much worse. But it's upsetting nonetheless.

Just so long as you all promise not to tell DH that I went into the fabric store and came out again only to find I left the car running and unlocked! My excuse, I was unfamiliar as the car was still fairly new, the car engine shuts off when you stop so you don't hear it running, and I had put on the parking brake so forgot to turn the engine off!

I’m so glad it turned out ok!

My similar thing is curling/flat irons. Mine don’t turn off automatically. Many a day or night we’ve been out and I couldn’t stop worrying if I unplugged whichever I used. I saw a neat tip and have done this: I take a picture of our bathroom with my phone so I can see that yes, I did unplug them. :D

Reminds me of the old story of how the family would be finally all packed, all loaded into the car for vacation when Mom would say, "Oh! I forgot if I turned off the iron!" They would have to drive back and wait while Mom checked. This happened again and again. So the next time they all piled into the car, were on the way and Mom declared, "Oh I forgot if I turned off the iron!" Dad pulled the car over, went into the trunk, came back and handed her the iron!

Reminds me of Dad. He'd be in the kitchen yelling that we were going to be late as Mom is running around trying to gather everything, getting us kids into our coats and boots and whatnot. We'd finally all get into the car with all our stuff, ready to go, and Dad would inevitably say, "Oh, I forgot to check the oil" as he popped the hood, and we all waited for him.

Are induction ranges compatible with pacemakers and other implanted devices? DH had a pacemaker. I wanted an induction range. I called Medtronic and was told they were incompatible. That was ~10 years ago.

Oh how scary, and so glad all is well.

I’m guilty of leaving the oven on a couple of times when in a rush to get dinner served. DH (aka Mr turns-off-every-light-as-he-goes) caught it both times.

Yikes - glad to hear all was fine but I'm sure it was unnerving. I forget (or think I forget) to close the garage door. We need to upgrade to a system that can detect things like that and close/lock remotely. Until then, I rely on neighbors and a code I've given out freely. My DD is apalled I have such an easy code and haven't changed it in years despite giving it out freely.

I read this article a few days ago. Heat-producing appliances like toasters and air fryers should not be left plugged in. My air fryer has a lit-up red light when not in use and I've kept it plugged in until reading this:

"'Turned off' isn't always the same as safe," Poon says. "Some devices still have power flowing when they're off, especially anything with a standby mode, digital display or remote control. The bigger concern [with] heat-producing devices, even when off, [is] a failure inside the device or cord can cause problems if it's plugged in."

https://www.cnet.com/home/kitchen-and-household/7-things-you-should-always-unplug-before-leaving-the-house/

Wow, I don't think I am going to leave all those things unplugged.

I don't know why I ever started doing it but I do unplug the toaster and coffee maker whenever we go out of town. We also shut off the main water valve. Someone told me to do that long ago. They did it because of kids once turning the outside water on when they were gone. Other friends, who never shut the water off, had a major leak from a bathroom that damaged three floors of their home while they were gone.

Thank you for posting this Mtn. Now I know Im not alone. Ive left the gas oven on overnight but that didnt upset me so much. Its easy to get distracted by prepping whatever just came out of the oven, plus the flame is contained. A plus is that the house is nice and warm in the morning, not that I recommend that.

However, Ive left the gas burner on twice lately. I noticed it when I smelled the heat, since I left the pan on the burner. Its such an ”old lady” thing to do , it was very upsetting. Id really freak out if I left it on while I was away!

I do turn off the water at the main if Im going to be away and no one will be in the house. My friend had a pipe burst and the entire downstairs was swamped before anyone discovered it. Water was literally pouring out the front door.

Oh gosh, so scary. I grew up with gas, but since I moved away from hometown 30 years ago I have only used electric. We have had induction for quite some time here. Also, my flat iron will turn off by itself but DH will often ask if I've unplugged it if we're going out.

Oh gosh, my friend's house burned down that way. She left the burner on, and one of the kids had set their backpack close enough that the strap caught fire. We were all at swim team laughing and chatting. While the kids swam, her house burned. So unbelievable. Glad yours turned out okay!

My SO runs a public water utility. You would not believe the horror stories involving water leaks. Some houses have been near total loses and torn down to the studs for repairs.

This is not my area of expertise so take what follows with that in mind - there can be unintended risks of turning water off too though. Hot water baseboard or radiator systems need access to water if there is a leak in that system or I believe you can create a fire risk. Something else about hot water tanks, if you don't turn those off too.

We don't have hot water baseboard heat, and we turn off the gas and unplug the hot water heater, and then yes we too turn off the water supply valve to the whole house when we are away.

Aside from that cheery thought, the stove story makes me feel better. I did something dumb by accident earlier this week, and it is comforting to read about a nice young person doing something similar. 😆

Yes to verbally saying in your head, checking the knobs!

The good news is once it happens to you once, you won’t do it again.

3Katz, I unplug toaster and Keurig when we leave each home as well.

Ruby, we can open and close garage doors remotely anywhere in the witld as well as get alerts when they open and close.

DH’s latest, voice command to open or close the garage door. He enjoys tech.

No more circling around the block, I just look at the app.

nice young person

LOL 😘

We've been turning off our water for nearly 30 years - never a problem with the hot water heater.

Yikes, all I could think was: imagine if you had another fire?!? Glad nothing bad happened.

Yeah I know, and worse yet - my neighbors could have been impacted.

My husband did this fairly recently. Turned on a burner to cook breakfast sausage and pulled the pan off the burner without turning it off. I walked into the kitchen at least an hour later and found the burner on. I don't think either of us had ever done that before.

I'm glad nothing bad happened while you were gone!! When I used to burn candles a lot, I often would forget and leave one going while I was gone for hours. I would sometimes remember mid-errands or whatever and frantically drive home to put it out.

Eileen, I read a similar article years ago, and as a result, always unplug things with a heating element when we are done using them. Toaster, coffee pot, etc. And also my hair dryer. I had read about someone who kept hers plugged in all the time and one day while she was gone, it somehow got turned on and started a fire. Fortunately, she came home and found it in time before much damage was caused.

Sending a thank you to the universe that everything is fine, nothing was damaged and that your DH remains blissfully unaware.

I did that once with a simmer burner - but the tea kettle was still on. I left the house to run errands and as I was leaving my neighborhood it suddenly occurred to me that I wasn't sure if I had turned it off. I circled back and yep - it was still on.

I've turned into a version of your grandmother. Ever since that incident I now stop by the range on my way to the garage. I physically turn the knobs to make sure they're off.

Maybe I need to add the 'off -off-off-off' mantra.

I will have your back! I will never tell your DH, because I have a list long that can be held against me🤪
I have done the same thing, but never that long, but long enough.

If DH had been with me, I would have screamed "Someone broke into our condo!" (I'll never spill the beans and I'm glad it ended innocently enough.)

"When I used to burn candles a lot, I often would forget and leave one going while I was gone for hours. I would sometimes remember mid-errands or whatever and frantically drive home to put it out."

I quit burning real candles after a good friend's housemate left one burning and the cat knocked it over and the house was very badly damaged by a fire. The kitty got out, thankfully.

I finally bought an electric kettle with an auto shut off...one less thing to have to remember whether I turned it off. It wasn't so much when I left the house, but I'd put water on to make pour over coffee, then get distracted somewhere else or outside and not hear the whistle.

I have known 2 people who have left their water running in a plugged sink. As they waited for it to fill, they got distracted. It was an expensive accident. Personally, I have been known to return to the house to make sure I unplugged my iron. Some movements are so automatic, you simply assume you have turned the knob to off. Be safe out there people!

A super sad event happened nearby last summer. Homeowner on vacation and neighbor agreed to watch the house. Neighbor went in and smelled gas, asked a friend to come help find the problem. Neighbor went to basement, turned on a light and the house exploded. Neighbor died, friend injured. One home destroyed and several more badly damaged and still vacant in this gated country club neighborhood.

A lightening strike had damaged a gas line and flipping the light switch ignited the fire.

Can’t imagine being the poor homeowner.

Years ago, my friend went on a long vacation and while she was gone, the washing machine hose burst and flooded the house for days. What a mess. We always make sure we shut the valve before we go and we have a water bug under the washer.

Our washer's leveling switch failed. The washer filled and kept on going. We discovered it about fifteen minutes later. Our W/D is on the second floor and it flooded the hallway and into two bedrooms and dripped down through the kitchen lights. It took seven weeks to replace all the upstairs' carpeting, replace drywall and baseboard molding, retexture the entire downstairs' ceiling so that it all matched and paint. We ALWAYS turn off the water to the washer when finished doing laundry now.

Hmmm I was never sure if it was valid to unplug toaster and coffeemaker but I will do that now.

Regarding candles, I have a super fear of them.... when I was growing up, we always lit candles on Friday night and put out a table cloth. We had finished dinner and were sitting on the couch in the adjoining living room ( this was an apartment so not huge spaces anyway) .

No one was anywhere near the table. The candle fell out of the candlestick ( it had been burning for a while) totally without cause. It fell on the tablecloth.

Fortunately we saw it happen, and quickly patted it out. Ever since then though I will not burn candles unless I am in the same room. What I have done, excessive but it works, is put the burning candles in the sink and let them do their thing.

Eileen, I had a client who's washer level sensor also stopped working, but she had started the washer and went out shopping for several hours. Water was running out her door when she got home. Now I don't leave the house with the washer or dryer on.

Wow! I was just thankful it hadn't happened earlier that week when we had guests. I had just returned from dropping them off at the airport. The switch failed as I was washing their bedding.