Remove Teflon coating from Visions & Pyrex Cookware

A. We love Visions cookware but hate the Teflon coating... The fumes from overheated Teflon can kill house pets, specifically birds! Do NOT risk overheating teflon-coated pans if you have birds in the house!

A. DON'T use a torch! One of the breakdown products of at least some Teflons is a gas called phosgene (chemical formula COCl2). It was used as a nerve gas in WW I. NASA discovered this many years ago when electronic assembly people were getting ill. They were using thermal wire strippers on Teflon-coated wire and the fumes were making them ill. More recently, it has been noted that if you have a pet bird, don't use Teflon-coated cookware anywhere near it. It seems that birds (especially the larger ones like Parrots, etc.) are particularly sensitive to the decomposition products and will quite readily die. Now that I haven't answered your question, I hope someone does, I'm curious too.

A. Teflon is an inert material and won't interfere in your pH range tests. So please don't waste time in removing Teflon

Regards

A. Try to use burner.

A. By the way you can try to burn out the coating or clean it by mechanical grit blasting. To do not affect the Pyrex glass, you can blast with plastics bullets or other organics low abrasives materials.

Good luck

A. Hi:
I let some soap I was making stand in a Visions pan for a couple days and the Teflon loosened and came out easily.
I'm thinking that the lye in the soap is what did it; you could try lye and water. Be careful; lye and water create heat!

Thanks for the help in removing Teflon from Visions cookware. I could not find a source for Lye, except online, so I tried Draino, since it seemed to have the same properties described. And it worked! Except there is still a surface that seems etched on the inside bottom of the pan. The Teflon came off in one piece after a few days soaking in straight Draino gel-type.

A. Guys, I took the hard way....but started with spraying a coating of Easy-Off, which I think contains lye. After waiting impatiently (what can I say? I'm just that way by nature) for a half hour or so, I started scraping the teflon off with a decal-remover/scraper (kind that uses single-edged razor blades), scrubbing the item (oh, yeah, I forgot to say: it's a 4.5 liter Corning Visions dutch oven) with a small steel wire brush (three in a pack at the hardware store) and it came off without too much elbow grease. As someone else observed, the glass surface revealed under the teflon is textured, like acid-etched glass, and will not clean quite as easily as the smooth surface of the rest of the dutch oven. However, it's worth it to get rid of the Teflon (I bought the item for a dollar at a yard sale!)

  I am beyond thrilled with the suggestion to soak in Draino Gel. It works amazingly. I poured the Draino into my large Vision Ware and allowed it to soak for a whole week (kept it in my garage, high up, and with the lid on top). Took it down this evening and was hoping it would be dissolved, but I took a scrubber in my gloved hand and was going to try scrubbing it off. To my shock, the Teflon coating literally slid off. Absolutely no scrubbing needed! Wow. Yes, it does have a slightly textured surface underneath where the coating had been, but that will not prevent my happily using my pot. Thank you! I have attached a pic of it immediately after sliding the Teflon out.

I had a large Vision pot with the coating. I used Draino and let it sit for three days and the coating peeled off. Thank you so much for the instructions.

So, the main reason that most concerned people switch from using regular non-stick coated cookware to glass or ceramic .... is literally to avoid using the coating AT ALL. Saying "If you don't heat the pan to a high heat and burn what you are cooking or use metal utensils that would obviously scratch it it will be fine. All you have to do is run a little clear water in it and wipe it out with a paper towel" that is not at all what anyone here is caring about. Regular everyday use of teflon/ANY non-stick coating, leeches chemicals into the food you cook; just so you know.

A. Corning Visions cookware now seems to come in two flavors: With non-stick coating, and without.

And consumers seem to come in three flavors: those who feel teflon is very dangerous, those who feel it's not excessively dangerous, and those like me who don't see convincing evidence of its dangers but feel that the idea of 'forever chemicals' being pervasive in the environment is a risk we should not be taking.
Luck & Regards,


Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey