Did I turn off the stove?

Has it happened to you? You are two hours away from home, driving to your much needed vacation at the beach when an errant thought comes into your mind. “Did I turn off the stove?”

Most house fires don’t start because of cigarettes or faulty wiring, but due to your home’s stove. There are over 45,000 kitchen fires started because someone left food cooking on the stove. Some can be small potatoes but some get outta control and have devastating results.

But there is help in the form of a new gadget called Stove Guard. This device is a motion detector and can tell if there is movement within twelve feet of your cooktop. Figure the amount of time you are usually away from the stove during a normal meal prep and set the detector for more than that time. Then when the Stove Guard doesn’t note motion for more than the span of time, the stove is shut off.

Although with a $300 price tag, it isn’t cheap, it certainly is more cost efficient than a new kitchen or even home replacement if there is a fire. There are some details as to where and how you mount the Stove Guard and the need to keep it clean, in order for it to be efficacious. But if you have ever forgotten to turn off a burner or oven, this could be a life saver.