An Expensive Lesson.

From time to time, I've been called out for the unfortunate task of having to reveal to a landlord that the tenants have damaged an appliance. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen and when it does, the important thing is to document EVERYTHING and take pictures if something is suspicious.

Thursday, I got a call on a cooktop that was smoking and not working, plus an oven that wasn't working either.

The first thing I found was that the breaker was off, So I reset it, went upstairs and noticed that there was smoke wisping from the controls on the cooktop. Then I shut it back off.

Notice the fryer next to where the knobs are.

                                     

This was the drawer underneath the cooktop.

This is what I found underneath the knobs, The one with the know off was the
one that was smoking, The one with the know is already burned up. 

                                                                          

This was inside the cooktop, All that stuff dripping through is cooking oil from that fryer.
The switch above is burned as a result and there are two more soaked in oil.

The grease had dripped down so far that the pans stored underneath were soaked. 

When I told the tenant about this, she denied anything and when confronted with the landlord she tried to say that I had probably dumped oil down into the burners. Needless to say this story didn't fly and she may be on the hook for a new cooktop. The lesson here is if you have a nice glass cooktop, keep the fryer away from it, and be careful not to let water boil over into the switches. With care, these will last a long time. Maranatha!