Comment by x______________
5 hours ago
Initially assumed it was due to some sort of contamination or production defect.
Turns out people leave perishable and fermenting foods in the thermos, and after a while when opened, the pressure lifts the lid of the thermos at quasi-unimaginable speeds, striking the curiously unsuspecting humans straight in the face, with some instances causing permanent damage to vision.
Coffee is hot, but a pressure release system is cool too..
I really hope we get a video out of this to see how bad it actually is and how much "pressure" is needed for this.
> Incidents/Injuries: Thermos has received 27 reports of consumers who were struck by a stopper that forcefully ejected from these containers upon opening, including complaints of impact and laceration injuries requiring medical attention. Three consumers suffered permanent vision loss after being struck in the eye.
That's an awefully large amount of reports about this. I wonder what about the design makes it a rocket compared to what I would assume is a pretty standard design?
> The Stainless King™ 470ml Vacuum Insulated Food Jar is the ultimate day to day companion to keep your food at optimal temperatures. Keep fruit fresh and vegetables cool for up to 14 hours while you take on the day. For your favourite soups, pastas or stir fry, they’ll stay warm for up to 9 hours – ideal for taking last nights left overs. You can be sure that your food will be perfect for consumption at lunchtime after you pack it in the morning. The wide mouth makes it easy to fill and clean, and comes crowned with a stainless steel lid that doubles as a serving bowl. Plus, it comes with a handy stainless steel spoon that fits neatly into the lid compartment.
It's meant for storing food, for anyone who is confused why someone would be.
The pressure build up can be quite a lot from fermentation. I’ve accidentally fermented drinks in glass swing top bottles. And upon attempting to open the bottle the pressure ripped the stopper and the metal parts right off the bottle at high speed.
If you were purposely fermenting something, you could build enough pressure to pop the bottle.
Yep. I once had half a bottle of kefir end up all over my kitchen ceiling. After that, I always opened them outside, pointing away from anyone.
> I wonder what about the design makes it a rocket compared to what I would assume is a pretty standard design?
Injuries nonwithstanding, the quality of the seal means it was an exceptionally well designed item for the purpose of storing 99% water.
side note: there's a reason you get a visit from the FBI if you buy ten pressure cookers (e.g. if you find a great Black Friday deal and have a large family and plan Christmas gifts...)
Find me a news story about a person who got a visit from the FBI after buying 10 pressure cookers.
That beggars the imagination. You think the FBI is monitoring the sales of every restaurant supply store?
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I’ve exhausted the branches of my imagination, what is the danger of 10 pressure cookers?
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Thermos jars have interior threads for an inner plug and an exterior thread(singular) for the cosmetic cap that doubles as a drinking cup. Maybe there's a condition where the external cup would be holding the inner plug from releasing, and then upon removing the cap, the entire lip starts tapering outward and lets go of the plug without gradually relieving pressure.
(to be fair, I don't think an externally threaded cap will solve this problem. If the thread held to a higher pressure, then the core part of the plug will eventually blow out even more energetically. An overpressure vent port is still necessary)
All they need is a section of threading that gets looser to release pressure while it is still retained in the top.
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I'm guessing pressure is not allowed to escape before it's on the last thread.
I'm a little surprised it's a recall - is there some expectation that it should have pressure release? Can you not sell simpler products legally?
Yes, the article seems to be not detailed enough. They show the pictures, and it is evident what the pressure release valve is, but I agree that by this logic any container or any steel water bottle is dangerous. Maybe there is some other additional feature that makes it particularly dangerous compared to other models (like, the new seal keeps higher pressure, or the lid needs fewer rotations to disengage, etc.) that is not explained here and makes all the difference. Older models didn't even have a pressure relief valve, did they?
I guess the amount of rotation needed between “airtight seal gets broken” and “lid can come off” is fairly short for these thermos.
If the difference is, say, a full 360° turn, pressure will get relieved before the lid can come off.
See also https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48006887. Apparently, many bottles have discontinuities in the threading to allow for that.
> is there some expectation that it should have pressure release?
Scroll down in that article to the section with photographs of "recalled" and "not recalled" lids side by side.
Why is there an expectation that it should be a required feature?
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The whole point of Thermos is to keep things warm for a long time. That means pressure. It's a basic safety feature.
> The whole point of Thermos is to keep things warm for a long time. That means pressure.
That by far is not enough to forcefully yeet out the cap, probably not even if you take it to an Antarctic research base in -40 °C outdoor weather.
People forgetting about content that ferments however? Kaboom.
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it's literally written on my thermos instructions to NOT put any carbonated drinks inside for this exact reason lol
> Turns out people leave
I assume people forget they had food in them
Isn't the point of a thermos to put "perishable and fermenting foods" in it, like coffee or tea? Like this could totally have been me, like make a thermos-full of coffee one day, then forget about it only to come back to in some weeks just to open it and have one of my eyes blown off
You ferment coffee? Tea I can understand if you're making kombucha, but coffee?
not on purpose, I just forget stuff until they rot
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good luck of anything fermenting after dousing with boiling water..
I own a vacuum-insulated flask that is not Thermos®. I purchased it with a one cap and immediately purchased an accessory cap.
The original cap from the store has no pressure-release mechanism, other than the breaking of the seal when unscrewing it. The cap has an integrated carrying handle, which can also help when turning the cap one way or another.
The accessory cap has a "sippy cup" feature along with a pressure-release valve. It is very common to have a second valve with any vessel that pours or dispenses liquid, even a lemonade tank, because that's how pouring works. When you remove liquid from the container, it must be replaced by a commensurate volume of air.