[mattyc]

Hi,

I'm not a chemistry expert but I noticed something interesting this morning and I wanted to find out if it was actually a reaction and if so (or even if not) is it still safe to use the items?

In short I wanted to clean a part of my coffee maker, a metal (type of metal unknown) filter where the coffee gets pushed through. I had heard to get all the coffee out of the small holes that boiling it would help. I filled up a stainless steel saucepan with water, boiled it, covered the filter with detergent and put it in the boiling water. I came back 5 or so minutes later to some a kind of crackling sound and I saw a couple of small sparks occur above the saucepan (I should note now that I was using gas). A VERY bad smell was created too which was so bad I had to stay out of the room for 15 minutes.

I have no idea what caused it but wanted to check if it is a no go to put a metal on a metal or anything like that (although because the water was boiling the filter rarely touched the saucepan as the bubbles were keeping it afloat). Also, is it safe to use the sausepan and coffee filter again if I have cleaned them thoroughly?

Cheers,

Matt

[Ψ×Ψ]

Maybe it would help if you could describe the smell?

[mattyc]

I'm not sure what the best way to describe the smell would be. It was one of those smells which smelt very unhealthy to breath in, almost an industrial type of burnt smell. Sorry that isn't too specific but it was strong enough that when I came back in I had to hold my breath to get through the room.

[opti384]

The spark reminds me of ozone. Maybe the foul gas could be ozone. Though the problem is ozone is created from a high voltage sparks like lightening. Is it possible for a little spark like that to create ozone?