Safety Of New Stoves Questioned

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31976, 1 May 1969, Page 3

Safety Of New Stoves Questioned

The safety of modern electric stoves with switches at the back was' questioned at a meeting this week of the Electrical Association for Women. The Christchurch president (Mrs G. M. Samson) said

accidents could occur, especially when short people had to lean over pots and pans on the stove to operate the switches.

Discussion of safety features arose during a demonstration of new electric stoves, given, by Mrs M. Phillipps. Mrs Samson wanted to

know why there did not appear to be any modem stoves on the market with switches at the front or down the side, as on older models.

Mrs Phillipps said she thought switches had been put above the stove, at the back, out of the reach of children.

“Children should be taught how to use a stove, and this could be very dangerous when they have to lean over the top of saucepans to turn things on and off,” Mrs Samson said. Features on the models shown included non-tip trays, detachable oven doors and elements for easy cleaning, two utility plugs on the stove for general kitchen use, and a light in the oven so that food could be inspected without opening the oven door. Thermostats on stoves were a big boon, said Mrs Phillipps. Women could now go out to work or to take part in public affairs and safely leave the dinner to cook in an automatic oven.

Modem stoves were on rollers for easy moving in household cleaning, and most had elements completely enclosed for safety. Mrs Phillipps warned, when spray cleaning ovens, to ensure that all contacts were covered up. She suggested using adhesive tape. Mr D. N. Roake, the South Island sales manager for a heating company, spoke on domestic heating. For central heating in an average home, electricity could compete very favourably with oil in all the main centres of New Zealand, he said. Running costs for both electric and oil heating depended on how warm the home-owners wanted to be and how much fresh air they wanted.