My Pyrex exploded

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silvercliff_46 said:
Gee! This seems to happen a lot more then it should. Don't know how much I'll be using mine anymore.

DON'T stop using your pyrex, Dennis.
Just make sure you never take it from a "hot" environment to a "cold" environment; ie . don't take it from the oven and put it on a counter top without a straw mat, or a kitchen towel underneath. Then nothing will happen.

I actually did the same, except mine was a bit more spectacular. I pulled the pyrex from the oven, full of delicious oven-roasted sauce which had got a little dry.
Whipped the bottle of cold white wine from the fridge and splashed some on.
CRACK! CRACK!

Goodbye sauce.
I believe it's called thermal interchange, or something like that...:angel:
 
Dear folks,

The comment below is posted on Amazon.com, under the 9x13 pyrex baking dish--along with numerous comments about "explosions." From what I can gather, the new Pyrex is for microwave cooking only.

========================================

Corning Glass Works used to make Pyrex, a name synonymous with borosilicate glassware. Corning spun off its kitchenware division in 1998, and the Pyrex brand is now owned by World Kitchen, Inc.

Pyrex kitchen products produced by World Kitchen are no longer made from borosilicate glass, and their packaging indicates that they must never be used over a flame, on stove tops, under a broiler, or in a toaster oven. Hence the exploding glassware. Pre-1998 Pyrex tends to crack into large pieces rather than shattering. Keep your pre-1998 Pyrex and treat it nicely so it will last. Anything you buy now may blow up in your face!
 
I've always been wary about using glass cookware. They're breakable, heavy, and expensive. This clinches it for me.
 
Pyrex

Hello Kirby
If u put pyrex, in cold water, when it is still hot, it can break. Was there some cold water, where u put it down?
Mel
 
Water is water - cold or hot, a hot Pyrex pan shouldn't be placed in ANY liquid ever!!


~Corey123.
 
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Hey, the same thing happened to me when I was cooking some chicken in one of those blue Pyrex cookware.

The only was only at 325 and it had beeb cooking for maybe thirty minutes. I opened the oven door to turn it, then about five minutes after that, it just broke right in the oven.

It freaked me out, sounds like your experience freaked you out. I wonder if Pyrex is more delicate than you'd think, I've used it for years without these kind of problems.
 
Take it from someone who knows the insides and outs of . You are to avoid any sudden temperature change with Pyrex. When you take it out of the oven it is recommend that you put the pan on dry pot holders. Any drop of water on the counter or the sink will cause the dish to break. Pyrex glass bakeware however, can do directly from a freezer or fridge to a pre heated oven.. Also when cooking meats and veggies in a Pyrex that release liquid while baking always add atleast and inch of liquid to the bottom or else it will break..
 
Regarding your Pyrex exploding first what did you put under it when you took it out of the oven. I have always used Pyrex in the oven and never had a problem. I have never used it in the broiler. I hope you are okay.

Have a happy day.

Jill and Jolie
 
Kirby said:
I just found that pyrex is not supposed to be used under a broiler.

Any suggestions on what to use to broil meat in the oven? I found that I can finish ribs pretty well this way, but will need a better pan.


Kirby!

Kirby, by now you've probaly found a solution, going by the date of the post. If not - never use pyrex under the oven broiler. Re 'broiling' meat in the 'oven' - I put a roast/meat in a roasting pan or baking pan (aluminum) in the oven, but do not broil the meat under the broiler - particularly glass. Broiling is a different method than baking/roasting. Hope that helps.
 
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I'll weigh in here with an explanation. Ceramics and glass have little to no elasiticity. In addition, they are insulators. This being the case, when they come into contact with materials that rapidly trasfer heat energy either in or out they forse rapid thermal change in the vessel surface. As materials heat and cool, they exapnd or contract according to the amount of heat energy absorbed or released. This epansion must be slow enough to allow the entire vessel material, inside and out to expand or contract evenly. If the outer wurfaces expand or contract too quicly with respect to the core material, then the forces on the non-elastic glass or ceramic will cause the material to fail, creating cracks, and sometimes the ejection of material as in an explosion.

Metals warp due to the same phenomenon. Glass and ceramics fail catastrophically, which is why ceramics, though stronger and harder, and with much better heat retention properties than metal, are not used for gasoline engine blocks. The thermal expansion principles, along with the lack of elasticity would quicly cause the blocks to shatter.

Of course, some ceramics are better at withstanding differing teperature extremes better than others. This is due to the ability of the material to more quickly heat or cool uniformly, thus minimizing the espancion/contraction problems.

So in summary, if the temperature differentials are great enough, pressures do to differing expansion rates could conceivably cause a violent failure. More comonly, it results in brogen glass or ceramicware. And this is true of stonerware, which is also a type of ceramic. Think pizza stone.

Oh, and cast-iron is not immune to this problem either, though it is far more immune than is the glass and ceramic materials.

And then there's the ceramic-coated cast iron, or enamled cast iron.

This is the same reaason that ice on a large pond has cracks in it. As the water feezes, it expands, and has no where to expand to. Eventually, the pressures become large enough to crack the ice.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North
 
I had this happen once as well. I was making Thanksgiving Stuffing, (out of the bird, as I like my stuffing a little drier) and I had it in the oven browning the top. I was not using the broiler, but the oven was at 450 degrees I think. I had 2-9x13" Pyrex dishes full of stuffing and pulled them both out of the oven, placing them directly on the metal burner covers of the stove-top... which coincidentally had not been in use much that afternoon, so they were fairly cold. I turned away and heard a wonderful popping sound, and vioala! the whole pan had shattered. Luckily, the stuffing had stuck to it quite well (a bit of bad surface prep on my part) and the glass didn't go flying too far, but I still had to dump the whole thing... and I so love my extra left-over stuffing.
 
Pyrex "bombs"

Well about 10 mins ago i went for a glass of juice and all my glasses were in the dishwasher. So, like I've done before in the 2 months that I've owned this measuring cup I decided to drink out of it. I had no idea what I was messing with.

I walked away into my livingroom and suddenly heard a VERY loud smash. I grabbed a fireplace poker and ran into the kitchen to defend myself against what I thought was an intruder. Seriously! geez. I didn't even use it in any temperature changing applications. It was just on the counter when I went for it and put it right back when I was done.

All I found was my little 1 cup Pyrex measuring cup crumbled in pieces. I shutter at what might of happened had it blew up just 5 minutes earlier with my mouth on it.

lucky me.
 
Somnetimes a glass, or in your case, a glass measuring cup can shatter just in changes of the air temp alone after removing it from the dishwasher.

Was there a window open letting in some cold air?

I usually don't use or need items right after being washed in the dishwasher. Besides, they are much too hot to handle after the drying cycle, so I let them cool down gradually with the door closed and latched.
 
Man, this is scarey stuff. Isn't Pyrex tempered. I had a pyrex dish explode when I was a young cook and didn't know what I was doing (making gravy on stovetop), but some of these stories seem so well, innocent.
 
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