What Would Happen If You Just Left Your Stove Burner On?

​This is What Would Happen If, a close examination of mundane hypothetical situations. Each week, we look at something that you could do but probably never would, and take it to its logical endpoint. This week: What would happen if you left a burner on?

At some point in our lives, we will all leave the house. And at some point we will be amongst friends, having a good time, forgetting the dull, boring pain of existence. And at some point a powerful revelation will tear through our psyche: Did we leave the stove on?

If there's one man who can either put your soul at ease or send you into a state of panic, it's John Drengenberg, the Consumer Safety Director at Underwriters Laboratories. He's a certified electrical engineer. Over the past half-century at UL, he's tested hundreds, if not thousands, of stoves. Both gas and electric, thank you. If John Drengenberg leaves the stove on, he knows exactly what will happen.

"It's a very simple question," Drengenberg told me over the phone. We then proceeded to talk about stove burners for 10 minutes.

"A stove is designed to run indefinitely," says Drengenberg. "Do we recommend that? Absolutely not." While it's not the best idea to leave an open flame unattended, If you leave your stove burner on, your house will, in all likelihood, not burn down.

UL tests just about every stove that hits the market. Part of that testing involves ensuring they hit thermal stability. In other words, they turn the stove on, and check the temperature of the burner, and keep checking the temperature until it stops increasing — just to make sure the burner doesn't ultimately set the entire stove on fire.

"If you leave it on, and there's nothing on the stove or near the stove, it probably will stay running until you come back," he says.

So nothing would happen. And yet, the leading cause of house fires is unattended cooking. So just what is going on here?

You see, the problem isn't the burner itself, but rather what's on top of the burner. Let's say you start a nice ragu, and then leave it to simmer away while you go enjoy the park for a few hours. Maybe you left the heat on a smidge too high, and all the liquid boils off before you get home. Then baby, you got a kitchen fire going.

A pot with too much liquid could also set your home ablaze as well. Maybe you're making a nice pot of pulled pork, and maybe that fatty greasy goodness boils over… while you're outside chatting with a neighbor. That's a kitchen fire.

But if you're making yourself a cup of tea, and you might have forgotten to turn off the burner after pulling the kettle off the stove. (It happens!) Then, well, it's not the end of the world. You should maybe just text your roommate just to be sure, though.

Further Reading

SafeBee's Guide On What To Do If You Smell Gas

Bon Appetit's Incredible Spicy Pork Ragù Recipe

The Sweethome's Guide To The Best Stoves

Next Week

What would happen if you just dumped an entire bottle of detergent into your washing machine?