We just used a toaster around our green cheek without thinking about it. I know toaster ovens are bad but what are the odds a toaster contains PTFE? It's been a bout an hour since we used it. She's asleep, and aside from the occasional head scratch or repositioning she isn't doing anything. She seems ok but when will I know for sure? Thanks in advance.
Quick reply requested about ptfe
- Thread starter joewill85
- Start date
BirdSquawk
Member
- Aug 21, 2012
- 215
- 1
- Parrots
- Jack- 5 year old pacific parrotlet
I think she will be o.k. Just be sure to keep the room where the toaster is well ventilated and make sure she is not to close to it. If you see her bobbing her tail and breathing heavily, or she seems disorinented, i would take her to a vet as soon as possible.
- Thread starter
- #3
Well no replies were posted but I stayed up with for several hours and she was fine, and she's super excited this morning. Either it didn't contain PTFE or it wasn't on long enough to emit gas. Either way, the wife and I are replacing the toaster with one of the certified non-PTFE toasters.
lexx510
New member
All this time we've been avoiding Teflon coated pans, we never even considered our toaster oven! Now I'm freaking out. We've been using our toaster oven the entire time we've had Guava.
The stove in our new apartment is self cleaning. Is it safe to use as long as we're not using the self cleaning function?
The stove in our new apartment is self cleaning. Is it safe to use as long as we're not using the self cleaning function?
- Thread starter
- #6
I've been wondering the same thing about my baking oven. Almost all toaster ovens have Teflon. Some regular toasters do too. Either yours doesn't or it's so far away that it isn't getting to your bird. I would find out before using it again. Never use the self cleaning function on anything when your bird is around.
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- Jul 19, 2012
- 633
- 2
- Parrots
- Scooter -- male Green Cheek Conure "Normal" but that's a matter of opinion! Hatched in March 2010
Scotty -- Male Cape Parrot hatched somewhere between 2007-2009 we think
Caballo Blanco -- male C
PTFE will not produce fumes unless it gets to above about 500°F, and once it all burns off it's done producing fumes. That's the good news. The bad news is that a toaster oven is definitely something that could contain some. And the heating elements themselves could easily get to those temperatures.
Odds are high that the heating elements have residual PTFE from the manufacturing process. I would assume this is the case. If the toaster oven is not new and has been used many times previously, this is not likely to pose a danger. Any new appliance with a heater should be "burned in" outside for a period of time.
It is also possible that any nonstick coating on the lining of the toaster oven contains PTFE. You could contact the manufacturer and they should be able to tell you this if you give them the model number. Any baking pan that came with it could also have a PTFE-nonstick coating. It could alternatively have a silicone coating which is not harmful.
Depending on how you use the toaster oven, any PTFE in the lining might or might not ever have a chance to get hot enough to pose a risk. If you broil a lot or bake on the highest heat settings, it is possible hot spots could form. Hot spots are the main reason people have the idea that PTFE can create fumes at lower than 500°F. It cannot, but a largely empty skillet on a gas burner can exceed that temperature at the edges even if the food in it, and the pan underneath the food, is at a "normal" cooking temperature.
PTFE fumes kill birds almost instantaneously. They actually cause flulike symptoms in humans as well, which makes me wonder how it is legal to use the material in self-cleaning oven linings, but I digress. If your bird is fine, you oven is very likely safe. But you may want to contact the manufacturer anyway.
As for self-cleaning ovens, even if they don't contain PTFE or the residual has burned off, the gunk from burning off the organics is probably not optimal. I take my birds outside until the cycle has run and the air is well cleared out. And that was with an oven that had run through the cycle a number of times. The normal gunk is a ventilation issue as far as I know, in a large well-ventilated house where the odor doesn't reach the birds you are probably OK. But PTFE fumes are a whole different deal. They spreads rapidly and a very small amount is fatal. We recently moved and have an oven that I do not know if it was ever used on the self-clean cycle. I don't know if I'll ever run it. It would have to be on a day when the birds and I could be outside all day and the house could be completely opened up to air out and I'd still be really nervous. As in I'd consider bringing a sacrificial finch I wasn't attached to home first!
I recently got a new toaster oven. I burned it in on the porch through three times the recommended cycle (the instructions actually specified a burn in period). All has been well. I will admit to some trepidation upon initial usage, but if I'm going to argue logic, I need to put my money where my mouth is and believe in what I know!
Odds are high that the heating elements have residual PTFE from the manufacturing process. I would assume this is the case. If the toaster oven is not new and has been used many times previously, this is not likely to pose a danger. Any new appliance with a heater should be "burned in" outside for a period of time.
It is also possible that any nonstick coating on the lining of the toaster oven contains PTFE. You could contact the manufacturer and they should be able to tell you this if you give them the model number. Any baking pan that came with it could also have a PTFE-nonstick coating. It could alternatively have a silicone coating which is not harmful.
Depending on how you use the toaster oven, any PTFE in the lining might or might not ever have a chance to get hot enough to pose a risk. If you broil a lot or bake on the highest heat settings, it is possible hot spots could form. Hot spots are the main reason people have the idea that PTFE can create fumes at lower than 500°F. It cannot, but a largely empty skillet on a gas burner can exceed that temperature at the edges even if the food in it, and the pan underneath the food, is at a "normal" cooking temperature.
PTFE fumes kill birds almost instantaneously. They actually cause flulike symptoms in humans as well, which makes me wonder how it is legal to use the material in self-cleaning oven linings, but I digress. If your bird is fine, you oven is very likely safe. But you may want to contact the manufacturer anyway.
As for self-cleaning ovens, even if they don't contain PTFE or the residual has burned off, the gunk from burning off the organics is probably not optimal. I take my birds outside until the cycle has run and the air is well cleared out. And that was with an oven that had run through the cycle a number of times. The normal gunk is a ventilation issue as far as I know, in a large well-ventilated house where the odor doesn't reach the birds you are probably OK. But PTFE fumes are a whole different deal. They spreads rapidly and a very small amount is fatal. We recently moved and have an oven that I do not know if it was ever used on the self-clean cycle. I don't know if I'll ever run it. It would have to be on a day when the birds and I could be outside all day and the house could be completely opened up to air out and I'd still be really nervous. As in I'd consider bringing a sacrificial finch I wasn't attached to home first!
I recently got a new toaster oven. I burned it in on the porch through three times the recommended cycle (the instructions actually specified a burn in period). All has been well. I will admit to some trepidation upon initial usage, but if I'm going to argue logic, I need to put my money where my mouth is and believe in what I know!
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- Thread starter
- #8
Are you saying that most conventional (baking) ovens don't have Teflon on the racks themselves? Also, what about using the broiler? Would the elements likely be coated in Teflon? We moved to an apartment complex that is only 2 years old. Our apartment was rented for a year before us, but I don't know how much if at all they used the oven/broiler to determine if it's been burned off.
lexx510
New member
Thank you, Deb. Great info! And since we're on the topic - how about microwaves?
- Jul 19, 2012
- 633
- 2
- Parrots
- Scooter -- male Green Cheek Conure "Normal" but that's a matter of opinion! Hatched in March 2010
Scotty -- Male Cape Parrot hatched somewhere between 2007-2009 we think
Caballo Blanco -- male C
The racks typically aren't coated, and broiler pans typically aren't either, but I'd check with the manufacturere to be certain. My understanding is that any heating element (hair dryer, space heater, oven) is likely to have traces of Teflon from the manufacturing process. I believe it's used to help release components from molds. Therefore I'd treat with caution any oven used for the first time or taken to broil or self clean temps for the first time. It would not be a lot of material, not like boiling a nonstick pan dry, but I'd be cautious.
Microwaves should be pretty benign. They don't use conventional heating elements and the heating mechanism is basically generation of electromagnetic radiation that's tuned to water molecules, so they pick up that energy and turn it into vibration... heat. A new microwave should not pose any risk from PTFE that I'm aware of. Any cooking vessel you use in it that might reach very high temperatures is a different question.
The one in our new house went on the fritz and was producing a nasty hot-metal smell... THAT I did not want to expose the birds to, but that's not normal. I'm pretty sure something was shorting out. Got a new one last week. No issues to report.
lexx510
New member
Thanks so much, Deb!
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