‘It sounded like an explosion’: Glass flew everywhere after stovetop suddenly shattered

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — A Volusia County man heard a loud explosion and then saw glass flying across his kitchen. It turns out his stovetop shattered minutes after he heated up some food.

Anthony Brickhouse showed the aftermath to Action 9 Consumer Investigator Jeff Deal. He pointed to the right front burner and said, “That was the burner that I was using. Everything else was cold.”

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Brickhouse explained, “You could literally hear the glass flying and bouncing off of stuff and ending up on the floor. It was pretty dramatic.”

He had been re-heating food in his wok. He turned off the heat and placed the lid on the left side of his stove that was cool.

“The cover was warm. Cover wasn’t hot. Placed it right here. Plated my food here,” said Brickhouse.

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But about ten minutes later, Brickhouse heard what sounded like an explosion. It was so loud his home security alarm went off, the glass from the wok cover flew everywhere and he found the stovetop in pieces.

He’d just purchased the stove in March. Whirlpool told Action 9 based on the photos it appears this was a thermal break.

The company also sent the following statement:

Whirlpool Corporation is committed to providing safe products for our consumers. Glass breakage like what this consumer experienced is extremely rare, and can be caused by a variety of reasons due to the inherent nature of glass, whether it is in an automobile, smart phone or home appliance. If anyone has questions or concerns about their Whirlpool Corporation appliances, they can reach out to us at 1-866-698-2538.

“I’ve personally never seen or heard of that ever happen,” said Mike Mannino, the owner of The Appliance Doctor. Mannino has worked in the appliance repair business for more than 45 years. After looking at the photos and researching the issue he explained, “There’s a vacuum that can form underneath the lid, and that vacuum becomes so powerful that it just actually sucks the glass through and shatters it.”

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Anthony Brickhouse was surprised there was no warning about this issue on the stovetop itself or in his owner’s manual.

A Whirlpool spokesman pointed out in the “Quick Start Guide” that is provided with the stove has a QR Code that takes owners to more online documents. One of those documents is called the “Control Guide.” On the bottom of the third page of that guide there is a warning that reads in part: “As the cooktop cools, air can become trapped between the lid and the cooktop and the ceramic glass could break when the lid is removed.”

Even though Brickhouse didn’t remove his lid when his stove shattered, he believes that kind of warning should be included in the owner’s manual and posted on the stove, so owners are aware.

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Brickhouse said, “I was standing right here, plating the food. If it had blown at that point, it would have been a bad situation.”

The stove is being returned to Whirlpool for inspection and Brickhouse told Action 9 the company ordered a new one for him.

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