Summer term is in full swing now and students are settling into their residential communities. Before we know it, the fall term will arrive and campus will come alive with 7,000 students, studying to become the Nation’s brightest.
As more campus residences become occupied and ’53 Commons becomes more popular, the need for convenient food sources rises to accommodate the need to spend time studying, learning, and participating in Dartmouth community life. One common kitchen item often makes the list as the most convenient way to make a tasty snack or meal…. the air fryer.
An air fryer is a compact countertop appliance that cooks food by rapidly circulating super-heated air around it. Specifically, an air fryer is a miniature high-speed convection oven. An air fryer’s heating element is an electric controlled hot plate that can reach temperatures of 1000° F. The body of an air fryer is composed primarily of plastic, with a metal basket in which your food is cooked in. This combination of heat and plastics can be dangerous, if not fatal, in residential areas.
Like any electric heating element, an air fryer is susceptible to accidental fires. Whether it’s because of a failure of the unit, too many fats & oils on your food, or you simply overloaded your air fryer and left your food to cook unattended, an accidental fire can occur and have large consequences. Burning plastic of the air fryer releases toxic pollutants like dioxins, carbon monoxide, and heavy metals into the air. Inhaling these fumes creates immediate health risks and quickly reduces visibility due to thick black smoke which affects emergency evacuation. Fire can quickly spread to cabinets, counter surfaces, curtains and other combustible materials and within just minutes, the fire can grow to a fully developed stage known as flashover.
So, how do we protect ourselves from suffering property loss and injury from an Air Fryer fire? Well, the simple answer is: air fryer’s are against Dartmouth Policy for use in residential areas. According to the Residential Life Room Care and Furnishings policy, any electrical appliance with a heating element, such as rice cooker, hot plates, instant pots, slow cookers, etc. are prohibited items. When the policy was crafted, an electric air fryer was not ‘a thing’. In today’s modern convenient society, air fryers are gaining in popularity every day and because of safety concerns, an air fryer is covered by the policy’s ‘etc.’ clause.
So as our second year students gain their footing on campus, and our first year and upper-class students arrive on campus over the next several weeks, please kindly remove air fryer’s from your campus residences and use a Dartmouth provided microwave for your convenient meal prep. The mission is simple: to have a healthy, safe living and learning environment. This small action helps support that mission.