Exploding Pyrex: anyone with this experience?

Warning!!!!! This not your Momma’s Pyrex!!!!!

About 5:30 PM there was a loud bang from the oven.  Sylvia opened

the oven door and the Pyrex dish had shattered into a million

pieces.   The roast beef (our first in many months) was peppered

with small shards of very sharp glass.  Normally, I am quick to

inform Sylvia she did something stupid.  However, this time she was

nowhere near the stove when it blew.  I shoveled the glass and the

now mashed potatoes into a bucket with two putty knives.  I then

sucked the remains with the shop vac.  I let everything cool down

and then scrubbed the oven with Simple Green and some hot soapy

water.  It took over an hour to clea n up the goo.  Upon completion

I ran the oven empty to see if the temperature contro ller was

working okay.  I suspected the oven got too hot and the dish simply

blew.  This was not the case however.  The oven came up to

temperature and cycled normally. We threw a disgusting frozen

pizza in the oven and it cooked okay.

What is going on?

I Googled exploding Pyrex dishes and got ten million hits.

Exploding Pyrex is very common.

Here is the story.

A long, long time ago in a country we all know and love was a

company named Corning .  They made Pryex dishes.  The material they

used is called borosilicate glass.  This stuff is indestructible.

But like everything else, the Bottom Liners had a great idea:  sell

the technology to another company.  The Chinese discovered that

using soda lime glass was almost as good as borosilicate glass and

a lot cheaper.   Today, Wal-Mart is the largest distributor of

Pryex products.  Corning not only sold the technology to a company

called World Kitchen, they also sold the rights to the original

Pyrex logo.  Seamless.  The consumer will never know.

Now it seems people are getting hurt using soda lime Pyrex.  We

were lucky because the dish broke while the oven was closed and the

damage was limited to the oven cavity.  Others have been less

fortunate.  Some dishes explode when they are lifted from the

heating rack in the oven with devastating results.  Some people are

heavily scarred.  World Kitchen is in denial.  They say that the

dishes are another brand, not theirs.  Contrary to their denials

the victims usually have more than one of these dishes and the

Pryex logo is clearly visible.

If you buy a Pryex dish beware.  The label on the front says oven

safe, freezer safe, microwave safe.  The instructions on the back

tell another story.  You cannot move a soda lime Pyrex dish from

the freezer to the oven and expect it to survive.  The fine print

goes on and on about what you are not allowed to do with the Pyrex

dish.  The fine print has prevented World Kitchen from being sued

because they have warned the consumer that their Pyrex dishes are

junk from the get go.  And they are the same price as the original

Corning dishes.  What a bunch of losers we all are for buying this

crap.

What to do?

If you own borosilicate Pryex dishes no fear.  They have to be more

than 25 years old to be sure they are indeed Corning dishes.  I am

not sure if the old Pryex dishes have anything stamped in them that

indicates they are made by Corning .  You may continue to use the

soda lime dishes for holding stuff.  Just do not attempt to roast

or microwave with them as the hazard is very clear.

The reason the soda lime dishes let go is that over time they

develop micro-cracks.  Once a few micro-cracks are present and once

some liquid finds its way into the cracks you have the bomb

situation.  The liquid is like shoving a crowbar in the dish and

pulling it apart.  Super heated liquids expand rapidly and it is

the super heated liquids that force the soda lime glass to shatter

into tens of thousands of shards.

Since Corning no longer makes Pyrex and Sylvia proudly holds a

large collection of the soda lime Pyrex, we decided that one bomb

in the kitchen is enough.  The Pyrex dishes will go bye-bye in this

week’s trash.  I do not know what we will use for cake and pie

dishes going forward .  If you have some suggestions we are listening.

I strongly urge you not to use the soda lime Pyrex for the oven,

stovetop or microwave.  The slightest invisible crack is all it

takes to have a mess and a possible injury.

As to World Kitchen:   them and their cheap dishes.   In case

you are wondering:  World Kitchen is not a USA company.

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