I live in the USA and have one of these stoves:
For me who comes from Europe, the design of these stove tops always baffles me compared to flat (metal or glass) stove tops seen across Europe (it seems to be losing a more energy, the materials rust easily, and it's always so hard to clean!). Today, I met with this strange situation where the cup under the coil, after I cleaned it, started showing scary blue spots:
Although these marks are very photogenic, I am afraid that they might be Verdigris.
Is it possible that the material used in stove cups would be that easily corroded that it actually produces poisonous substances such as Verdigris when cleaned?
Obviously this one is a bit old and might need changing – probably for one that is made out of a material that doesn't corrode that easily (I love spending money on this stuff! ❤️ ), but if someone can confirm that these stains are not dangerous, I'll try and make it last a little longer. At least till I find a really cheap one that is rustproof on eBay (since I'm not really keen on giving to this "bad design makes the end user waste money having to fix stuff" philosophy).
Thank you for your help!
Best Answer
I'm a little skeptical because of how purple those stains are, but if these drip pans are made of copper then it could well be Verdigris. This is likely happening because the plates were not sealed properly and vegetable oil was spilled and not cleaned off as heat was applied over time.
If I were you I'd scrape some off (it's OK if some powder comes into contact with your skin once or twice) and set it on a paper towel somewhere. It should turn brilliant forest green over the next couple of weeks if that's the case. While you wait, you can take aluminum foil and wrap the drip pans in them; this is a common technique to help with keeping them clean/protected. The foil wont burn and can be unwrapped and tossed in the trash when you get marks or tears in it.
The danger is really up to your level of tolerance: you'd probably be safe by just cleaning them and the putting them back in; it's only toxic if you ingest the actual substance over time or once in large quantities. You'd almost definitely be safe if you wrapped them in aluminum foil. But if 100% peace of mind is what you're after, I'd ditch them and get new ones; it won't cost you much to get four new Chrome drip pans (maybe $10 to $15).
As far as I know, most drip pans are made of Chrome these days and are not susceptible to the same problem.
If you're up for some more reading, you can check out this ISCA Report on copper and its toxicity.