| Stove controls |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
We had a stove with a glass cooking surface. The 4 burners were switched with conventional knobs, but to the right of them was an area for slow cooking, or keeping things warm. This was switched by touching a spot at the front of the glass surface. However, placing anything that had substantial capacitance - a pot, a tetrapack of milk, whatever - over this area switched on the heating element. While it didn't get hot enough to glow (as the other elements did), it was hot enough to be dangerous.
We recently replaced the unit with a very similar one, except that this
one has two points, rather than one, that have to be touched. The first
one, the key, arms the circuit while the second turns the unit on. They have to be
touched in sequence, so setting something on both doesn't switch on the
unit. Also, if the first one is touched but not the second, it shuts
itself off after a few seconds.
Above is a diagram of the new, better,
arrangement. There are 2 circles, one labelled with a key, which has to be
touched first, to 'unlock' the switch. This causes the other circle to
flash; touching it causes the flashing to change to constant illumination
and turns on the heater. The second circle has to be pressed within about
3 seconds; otherwise the circuit returns to off. The rectangle above the
two circles illuminates when the heater reaches a certain temperature and
remains lit as long as this temperature is reached, whether or not the
heater is on. (That is, it warns you not to touch the heating surface.)
Perhaps not ideal, but certainly safer
than the old model that only had one switch.
submitted by Richard Cavonius
Back to index of bad ergonomics