It could be the tomato products, but curious, why did he just heat a piece of pizza in this instead of a microwave? I think you should contact the company.

Hi,

We did contact the company, and sent them the photos. They were totally amazed and feel that somehow it is a defective application of the porcelain. They are sending us a new cookwell. I asked them if the cookwells were made in China since items there are notorious for having quality control issues. Nesco said not made in China though.

He likes pizza warmed in the oven, and thought he'd try the new roaster, since it can be used sort of like an oven to bake cheesecakes and the like.

"Probably because he's had microwaved pizza before. LOL!

Exactly!!!!

Jim

"Probably because he's had microwaved pizza before. LOL!

Exactly!!!!

Jim

That is bizarre! Glad they are fixing the issue! Yeah, microwave pizza is GROSS! :(

Actually he didn't want to eat the pizza because he couldn't figure out WHERE the missing porcelain had gone...So he cut another piece and he did microwave it. (;

wow, I'm glad they are replacing the pan, I've used my 18 quart Nesco for at least 20 years and it's still fine, and I've borrowed Amanda's several times, hers is about 4 years old and it's still intact too. My 6 quart I've been using since Christmas and I use it at least 3 times a week, and it's intact too.

I agree, it had to be a defect, and I'm pleased the company is "making it right".

I heated leftover fish in mine the other day, and I've roasted chicken, baked brownies, baked potatoes, and heated leftovers in it a lot, with no problems at all. Add me to the list of people who don't care for a lot of things that are microwaved, especially bread based products.

Annie

This is not making any sense to me. Something very very strange has happened.

As you said, the roaster went thru the "curing" procedure with no problem. In other words, it was subjected to 60 minutes of 450 degree heat with no damage.

Then you had a full cooking use of the roaster and again with no problem.

What could have possible cause the porcelain finish to be so damaged as shown on your picture in 5 minutes of cooking pizza?

With my wildest imagination, I cannot think of any theory that can explain away what actually went on.

1. The melting point for porcelain is around 2,550 F. For the finish to be boiled away as shown, I cannot imagine how high the temperature had to be.

2. Based on the fact that Nesco uses the concept of "Circle Of Heat", there is no heat coming from the bottom. How could the finish be burnt away on the bottom of the cookwell in 5 minutes?

3. If indeed all the finish was burnt away in 5 minutes, when your DH opened the cover, there would have been massive smoke and fire billowing out. But nothing?

I suppose Nesco has the answer, which they may choose not to disclose. This cannot be the only case.

Bizarre! Good luck with you next one.

dcarch

My uneducated guess is a defective cookwell and I'm glad to hear Nesco is still standing behind their products. AFAIK, Nesco is made in the USA - at least that was my understanding years ago when I bought mine although this could have changed and I'd be saddened if it did.

It crossed my mind that a cleaning process may have done something but I can't imagine how it could. Especially when you mentioned it cleaned up easier than you thought (which it should). No doubt in my mind, you got a defective cookwell. Things like this can happen. I wouldn't blame yourself or hubby. Nor should you be afraid of it with the new well. I'm sure all will be fine.

FWIW I cook with tomato products in mine often. It's how I make chili - in the Nesco, with no ill effects.

And nothing wrong with reheating in it. It's an oven fer cryin out loud! LOL Go ahead and use it for one! I do like some types of pizza heated in a microwave but some should be in an oven, a frypan or eaten cold.

Do you have a neighbor with an old, worn out cookwell who wanted a new one and could have switched with you? Do you see Ashton Kutcher hanging out in the weeds waiting to jump out and tell you that you've been "Punk'd"? :)

Whatever the case, get back on that horse and start-a-cookin!

"---Do you have a neighbor with an old, worn out cookwell who wanted a new one and could have switched with you? Do you see Ashton Kutcher hanging out in the weeds waiting to jump out and tell you that you've been "Punk'd"? :) ---"

I was thinking the exact same thing. Didn't want to say it. :-)

Porcelain is similar to glass, you will need Hydrofluoric acid to disolve it as it appears in the photo.

If you look closer, you can see the top rim where it makes contact with the cover, how is it possible that the finish is gone there also from cooking a pizza for 5 minutes?

Big mystery!

dcarch

Just wondering, are you sure that's porcelain and not non-stick? There's at least one Amazon review where they sent out the wrong item.

This is not making any sense to me. Something very very strange has happened. As you said, the roaster went thru the "curing" procedure with no problem. In other words, it was subjected to 60 minutes of 450 degree heat with no damage.

The cookwell and cover were not included in the curing process, per the instructions. The heatwell and remainder of unit seemed just fine after curing.

Then you had a full cooking use of the roaster and again with no problem.

Yes, we cooked with it once: cooked a beef roast, added mixed veggies. It was fairly easy to clean.

What could have possible cause the porcelain finish to be so damaged as shown on your picture in 5 minutes of cooking pizza?

I believe it is not damage, it is a defect.

With my wildest imagination, I cannot think of any theory that can explain away what actually went on.

It happened exactly as I said. I was here when hubby used the roaster and I saw everything.

The melting point for porcelain is around 2,550 F. For the finish to be boiled away as shown, I cannot imagine how high the temperature had to be.

That seems to support my contention that the cookwell is defective.

Based on the fact that Nesco uses the concept of "Circle Of Heat", there is no heat coming from the bottom. How could the finish be burnt away on the bottom of the cookwell in 5 minutes?

I dont think it “burnt away”. This type of defect in the porcelain could be from improper firing temperature, insufficient alloys in the metal, perhaps the metal wasn’t clean enough for the fuse to endure.

If indeed all the finish was burnt away in 5 minutes, when your DH opened the cover, there would have been massive smoke and fire billowing out. But nothing?

Yes, indeed most of the finish was missing and without “massive smoke” or “fire billowing out” however the proof seems to be in the pudding, the cookwell’s finish IS missing.

I suppose Nesco has the answer, which they may choose not to disclose. This cannot be the only case.

I suspect it is not the only case. I thought maybe others here had similar experiences and I am relieved to not be hearing of any.

I just posted to this board for the first time a month ago, around the first of June, to ask if I should buy one of these at all. We cook for our dogs and need something big, our crock pot died and we need something larger. I've never had a Nesco roaster, my mom didn't have one, and I don't recall my grandma having one, so I didn't know what to expect. When I read about people using them even for baking it seemed like a great concept.

After visiting Nesco's website I wondered about which cookwell to get, stainless or porcelain, but the porcelain was on sale for nearly half price so I just went with it. I did buy directly from Nesco on June 3rd. Right now I’m still waiting for the replacement cookwell. If I had bought locally, I could have returned it to the store and would be cooking already.

In the photo, that cookwell sure looks like non-stick to me. You can get Nescos with non-stick, porcelain or stainless steel cookwells.

It looks like non-stick to me also, but where did the nn-stick treatment go? Did it dissolve?

What kind of metal is the cookwell in the picture made of? Aluminum? Steel? Other?

Jim

I don't know what kind of metal it is The cookwell, bought direct from Nesco, was suppose to be "Porcelain". The exposed metal on the bottom of the cookwell appears brighter in the photo than in person. It is a gray color, the rest of the cookwell is a darker gray.

Link to the exact unit I ordered from them on June 3 below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Nesco Roaster

The reason I asked about the type of metal is that it would answer the question about whether you actually received what you ordered. Porcelain is applied to steel while non-stick is applied to aluminum. If a magnet sticks to the cook-well, it is steel. If not, it is aluminum.

Honestly, for porcelain to evaporate at any temperature found on earth is an impossibility.

Jim

I agree, Jimster, it can be chipped and marred, but it doesn't dissolve. I'm also kind of leaning toward the possibility that the cookwell was actually nonstick, and that the OP was sent the wrong item. It's happened more than once to me, sometimes it's a benefit and sometimes not.

But the nonstick finish would be a lot more likely to degrade like that than porcelain would, I think.

Annie

Oh, good idea, I didn't think of the magnet test. I just tried it and a magnet does stick to it, so it's steel.

"Impossibility"? Then I guess it didn't "dissolve".
What then do you think happened to it? It seems to me that the only possible explanation is that somehow the porcelain application to parts of the cookwell was faulty.

I'm not a metallurgist, nor do I have any expertise in applying porcelain to surfaces, I am merely a consumer who has a cookwell that looks like this upon it's second use. Every other part of the unit looks brand new.

Beyond that, since Nesco was not interested in having it returned to them, if anyone else wants it for examination I'll be happy to ship it to you (at your expense).

Here is my thinking:

1. Even the porcelain was completely bad, it is impossible for it to be cleanly dissolved/vaporized.

2. As a matter of fact, non-stick surface can take temperature higher than 450 F and even at much higher temperature you still cannot cleanly remove the coating.

I am concerned that whatever the material inside the cookwell was, you did make one meal in it and there might be health issue to consider.

I believe that the matter needs to be escalated higher with Nesco until you get a satisfactory answer, not just with the Service Department.

Do not throw away the defective cookwell. I believe Nesco may have a serious product liability issue here.

You may want to check the heatwell operation. Typically a device like this uses bi-metal thermostat or some mechanical / capillary device to control temperature. None of them are highly accurate or reliable. Looking at your picture, it is possible that the thermostat had failed and the interior temperature had risen to much higher range. If that's the case, it can damage your replacement cookwell just the same.

dcarch

I find it strange that Nesco didn't want it returned if they were truly puzzled. I'm sure puzzled! If the porcelain broke off the underlying metal, you'd find pieces of it. It certainly didn't vaporize.

Either Nesco already knows what's going on, or they just have a low-level person instructed to replace without argument anything people are unhappy with. Maybe you should write a letter to someone higher up.
Manufacturers often use different plants in China from one year to the next, and quality can change drastically. The Aldi enameled cast iron Dutch oven I bought in the fall, a pot used happily by many CF'ers, is probably an example. Flakes of rusted metal actually crumbled into my food the first time I used it. The exposed metal rim around the top was corroding in the steam. Too late to return it to Aldi, and I wasn't going to ship it back to the manufacturer at my expense.

Question for Jim: are non-stick coatings ever applied to steel?

This is baffling.

athomesewing, what is the dark material in the pic above the bare metal? Is it the coating which covered the metal before the lower part disappeared?

Do you have other porcelain coated cookware for comparison, or are you familiar with the appearance of it, from having seen it on enameled steel canners or spaghetti pots? In other words, how certain are you that the cookwell was actually porcelain on steel? Porcelain is a ceramic material and is very durable except for a propensity to chip.

Jim

"Question for Jim: are non-stick coatings ever applied to steel?"

I don't know the answer to that. But I don't believe I have seen non-stick coating on steel cookware.

Jim

Is it possible that someone switched with you? A joke maybe?

Posted by jimster (My Page) on Tue, Jul 5, 11 at 19:36

"Question for Jim: are non-stick coatings ever applied to steel?"
I don't know the answer to that. But I don't believe I have seen non-stick coating on steel cookware. Jim"

Yes. They can apply non-stick on steel. Lot's of industrial manufacturing machinery have non-stick coating.

You can buy non-stick stainless steel cookware also.

dcarch

I'm sure dcarch is right about that.

I think the most common cookware materials these days are bare stainless steel, non-stick coated aluminum, anodized aluminum and porcelain coated steel (aka baked on enamel),

Jim

Even (if) the porcelain was completely bad, it is impossible for it to be cleanly dissolved/vaporized.

The missing portion looks pretty clean to me. I don't know where it went or if it went or if is this is somehow a reaction which makes the metal appear to be bare. The only thing I'm sure of is that it doesn't look normal and I am not going to cook in it.

As a matter of fact, non-stick surface can take temperature higher than 450 F and even at much higher temperature you still cannot cleanly remove the coating.

I don't think that it did reach a very high temperature. I just reconfirmed with hubby that the pizza wasn't hot yet.

I am concerned that whatever the material inside the cookwell was, you did make one meal in it and there might be health issue to consider. I believe that the matter needs to be escalated higher with Nesco until you get a satisfactory answer, not just with the Service Department. Do not throw away the defective cookwell. I believe Nesco may have a serious product liability issue here.

The thought crossed my mind on the "health" issue. The cookwell looked normal after the first use and washing. It was during the second use, when he lifted the lid that it was found like this. Hubby is an engineer, and he could not have been more surprised.

You may want to check the heatwell operation. Typically a device like this uses bi-metal thermostat or some mechanical / capillary device to control temperature. None of them are highly accurate or reliable. Looking at your picture, it is possible that the thermostat had failed and the interior temperature had risen to much higher range. If that's the case, it can damage your replacement cookwell just the same.

Because the pizza wasn't hot yet, I don't think it overheated. I'll be watching the new cookwell closely for the first several uses.

I find it strange that Nesco didn't want it returned if they were truly puzzled. I'm sure puzzled! If the porcelain broke off the underlying metal, you'd find pieces of it. It certainly didn't vaporize.
Either Nesco already knows what's going on, or they just have a low-level person instructed to replace without argument anything people are unhappy with. Maybe you should write a letter to someone higher up. 
Manufacturers often use different plants in China from one year to the next, and quality can change drastically.

I don't know if Nesco was puzzled, they did want photos emailed, which is why I had one available to post here. The person I talked to had discussed it with a manager. They actually suggested that we try to clean the "stains" with Soft Scrub. We explained that what they were seeing is not "stains" but rather missing finish. We did try it though, with no change in the appearance at all.

I suspect our cookwell isn't the only one, something happened somewhere in the manufacturing process. I did ask them whether the cookwells are produced in China, which they denied. The quality coming out of China is all over the place, even on the same product. That is one reason we cook for our dogs to begin with, which makes this whole issue somewhat ironic.

athomesewing, what is the dark material in the pic above the bare metal? Is it the coating which covered the metal before the lower part disappeared?

The dark area is the original finish. The best way to descibe it is that the cookwell "looks" to be the same color and material that the heatwell is made of.

Do you have other porcelain coated cookware for comparison, or are you familiar with the appearance of it, from having seen it on enameled steel canners or spaghetti pots? In other words, how certain are you that the cookwell was actually porcelain on steel? Porcelain is a ceramic material and is very durable except for a propensity to chip.

This "porcelain" is like the bottom half of a oven broiler pan, the type that is generally included with a range. I don't know if it's porcelain, however that is what Nesco calls it. Looks like the heatwell.

Is it possible that someone switched with you? A joke maybe?

LOL...No, however if someone had switched, I would still wonder what would have caused theirs to look like this?

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^How did this happen?

AI gone wild. Or an AI generated Taylor Swift song when she settles into domestic bliss and learns to cook.

And Nesco wouldn’t cover it due to the fact that it was over And Nesco wouldn’t cover it due to the fact that it was over a year And Nesco wouldn’t cover it due to the fact that it was over a year old.

Weird