Is Scratched Enamel Cookware Safe?

Is Scratched Enamel Cookware Safe? Is it possible to use dishes with damaged enamel? Enamelware is a hygienic and aesthetic, convenient, and durable option for kitchen utensils. With careful handling, you can not only cook delicious dishes in it but also store them for a long time.

Is Scratched Enamel Cookware Safe?

But no one is immune from troubles – falling dishes, bumps, and, as a result, the appearance of chips and other damage. And then, the homemakers have to think about restoring the enamel on the pan at home.

Now that we know more about enamel cookware, let’s answer the question: is it safe to use scratched enamel cookware?

Yes, it is considered safe to use enamel cookware that has been scratched. But there are a few things you need to remember. In this case, doubts about the possibility of its use are valid. The damage caused by a broken piece of the protective layer can be significant.

The consequences of damage vary depending on the place of the hit. So, if the enamel has broken off from the outside, you can use such dishes without any problems. But even external damage shortens her eyelid. The cleavage site begins to rust quickly, and a through hole is formed here after some time, making the item unusable.

Internal defects require urgent repairs, as they cause significant problems, including:

If the quality of enameled objects is not the best, they may contain heavy metals and other harmful impurities. Enamel coating effectively eliminates this problem. But if any, even the most minor site loses such protection. The consequences can be the most unpleasant.

In this case, you can only use the pan with broken enamel for washing vegetables – cooking in it is unacceptable.

Causes of Scratching in an Enamel Cookware

There are several of them:

How to Recover Scratched Enamel Cookware at Home

If the owner of the dishes has the right tools, craftsmanship, and a desire to do something with his own hands, he does not have to rush to buy a new product. It also applies to low-income people who cannot afford a high-quality but expensive novelty for the kitchen.

Today, many ways to repair your favorite pot with damaged enamel at home. Moreover, these methods are usually simple and do not require large expenditures.

Here again, you should pay attention to the difference in the repair of external and internal (food contact) surfaces. In particular, it is possible to repair a chip from the outside by applying a special enamel paint to the defective area – glass enamel. Today’s industry offers a large selection of this material in convenient aerosol cans.

This method is the simplest of all existing ones. After acquiring glass enamel, the problematic segment on the dishes should be cleaned, degreased, washed thoroughly with laundry soap, and dried. The place prepared this way must be painted with aerosol enamel paint.

It is best to remember that this method is suitable for processing only those surfaces that should not come into contact with food.

It is not uncommon for a pan to fall or hit hard against other kitchen utensils, resulting in pieces of enamel breaking off from its body, accompanied by cracks.

The fluid then begins to flow through them. Therefore, before covering the chip with repair enamel, it is necessary to solder the crack.

A traditional household soldering iron will help to perform a high-quality restoration of a defective pan. For soldering, it is also necessary to stock up on flux (soldering acid) and special solder (pure tin is suitable – it is forbidden to use lead-tin solder to treat the area in contact with food).

The damaged place is scrubbed with sandpaper, washed, degreased, and dried well. Then, in an arbitrary way (for example, with a brush), the chip is smeared with flux, and solder is immediately applied. With a heated soldering iron, gently smooth out the solder with smooth movements. If necessary, the procedure is repeated until even the most minor cracks are filled with tin. As a result, the liquid should not flow out.

A special putty is used for covering the chipped segment, which you can make separately.

For this, the following elements are needed (in fractions):

After pouring all the components into a mortar, they are thoroughly mixed, crushed, and, having added water, brought to a homogeneous pasty state. The resulting putty is applied to the cleavage site, previously cleaned with sandpaper, and degreased. The restored pan is aged for at least 2-days until the repair mixture dries completely. In conclusion, the puttied area is ground to get the softest possible surface.

If a hole appears in the pan, you can remove it with a putty of:

After mixing, the putty should look like a semi-liquid dough. Repair is carried out exactly as described above.

6 Tips on How to Use Enamelware?

To protect your dishes from these problems, you must always follow all the rules for their use:

1. In particular, immediately after the purchase, it is recommended to “harden” the novelty by boiling a saline solution (2 tablespoons of salt per 1 liter of water). Subsequently, heating an empty pan and filling the heated container with cold water should not be allowed.
2. You should pay particular attention to kitchen appliances and fixtures. All kinds of spoons, stirrers, whisks, and spatulas should be wood, silicone, or Teflon.
3. It is not recommended to cook viscous dishes in an enamel pan; boil milk. Neglecting this rule is fraught with the risk of milk residues sticking to the enamel surface or undesirable sticking to the bottom of the cereal.
4. Do not clean such utensils with acidic and alkaline agents. Allow long-term storage of dishes containing vinegar in it.
5. It will be best to store enameled dishes in cabinets adapted for this purpose, on shelves where they will be protected from bumps and falls.
6. The owner of the dishes restored in this way must remember: that no matter how much he covers up the damaged areas, their service life is still limited. Even with careful handling, repaired products will last no more than 3-4 months, after which you will have to consider replacing them.