Rice cookers are similar to pressure cookers and slow cookers in the sense that the appliance relies on a central heating element to cook the food in a removable bowl. There is also a lid that is loosely put on like a slow cooker, with this in mind you might be wondering if your rice cooker might explode.
However, if the pressure-relieving device develops a fault, then an explosion is possible. In order to stop this from happening to your rice cooker, you should make sure to regularly check the lid on your rice cooker to ensure it will release pressure when necessary.
Rice cookers don’t rely on pressure to cook the rice so the possibility of a rice cooker exploding is low though not impossible. There are other factors that may cause a rice cooker to explode from faulty wiring, a broken heating element or a cracked bowl.
In this article, I am going to talk about things you should do when using a rice cooker, if they are safe and if the dangers to be aware of.
Are Rice Cookers Safe?
Rice cookers use electricity to heat water to a high temperature. Because of this, they can post a safety risk if they’re used incorrectly. There are two main features that can make rice cookers unsafe: escaping steam and overheating due to electricity.
Escaping steam can pose a few different dangers. Depending on where you keep your rice cooker, you may need to be aware of what the steam will be coming into contact with. For example, if the steam comes into contact with an electrical outlet, then you may run the risk of current ‘arcing’, which can pose a problem to anyone who’s nearby.
Other items may be affected by the escaping steam, for example, curtains, shelves, and cupboards. After prolonged exposure to escaping steam, wooden cabinets may become warped and change shape. This would make them unsafe to use, and increase the risk of collapse.
To avoid the risk of escaping steam damaging items in your home, you can position your rice cooker away from items that it may damage.
An overheating rice cooker poses all the dangers that you might think it would. If a rice cooker overheats on your countertop, it could lead to a fire starting in your kitchen. This is understandably bad and should be avoided at all costs.
In order to avoid this happening, don’t leave your rice cooker on and unattended for extended periods of time, and don’t heat it when there’s no water in it. If a fire should break out due to a fault with your rice cooker, do not attempt to fight it: leave the house and call the emergency services.
The only other situation in which a rice cooker may cause harm would be one where water is spilled while filling it. As with all appliances, you should endeavor not to spill water on the electrical outlet to which it is connected. However, this appliance is more unique than others in that it requires a supply of water to carry out its basic function.
Therefore, when filling the rice cooker, you should be very careful and try not to spill any water on the socket. For the same reason, you shouldn’t overfill the bowl with food and water. If you do, a spillage is likely, which may result in damage to the appliance and the kitchen itself.
Hi all! I’m Cora Benson, and I’ve been blogging about food, recipes and things that happen in my kitchen since 2019.