SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Fire / ignition

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20190626-8D74E-2147380254. Severity: Incident, No Injury. Product: Whirlpool Corporation YWFE510S0AX0 (Whirlpool White 30" Ceran Range (stove)). Incident: I purchased a new Whirlpool YWFE51 0S0AX0 from Whirlpool Corporation, Benton Harbor Michigan 49022 on August 1st, 2012. Paid $789.99 without tax Cad. Worked fine until June 19, 2019. I had just turned the left front element on low and placed dinner in a heavy fry pan on the element. I was called outside for a few minutes. I came back to a large room (kitchen, dining and living room - all open area) full of smoke and a terrible smell. Dinner had totally burned to a crisp and had almost ignited...even though the element was set on its lowest setting (and I believed that the element was on its lowest setting.) The element ONLY operated on the highest full setting, no matter the setting I manually set it to. And, the element stayed on full high. Creating a serious fire hazard. Unless I manually turned it off. I do not know why the stove and/or fry pan with food did not catch on fire. Since this incident several days ago, the left front element.will now ONLY operate on full high, irrespective as to the settling which is used.