Chances are, something in your home is made of glass; maybe a coffee table, the front of your oven, perhaps a sink? We use these items safely every day but sometimes the glass could explode. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has received hundreds
Chances are you have something in your home made of glass. We use it safely everyday, but sometimes that glass can explode.
For instance, imagine waking up to the sound of shattering glass in the middle of the night!
It happened to Dwayne Bryant. At first, he thought it was an intruder breaking into his Chicago home. “I start walking around, and I go to the guest bathroom and there was literally glass all over the countertop, glass in the tub, glass in the floor,” Dwayne said.
Watch The Exploding Glass Story Here
It turned out to be his glass sink. He says the leaf-shaped bowl had spontaneously exploded, sending hundreds of pieces of glass everywhere.
Dwayne was so shocked by what he saw, he videotaped the aftermath on his phone.
"Nothing is left behind except shattered glass,” Dwayne said on the cell phone video. “There was nothing in here; there was no one in here."
Dwayne searched online and found the same thing happened to dozens of other people. One man posted a video on YouTube. Saying, "About two hours ago, I heard a monstrous crash. I thought my chandelier fell off my ceiling."
Katie Andrews says it happened to her. But it wasn’t her sink; instead it was the glass door on her oven that exploded. “It literally sounded like a bomb went off,” Katie said. “It looked like it had snowed in here.”
She said she and her family found glass shards spread throughout their entire house in St. Louis. “It completely covered the countertops. It was everywhere.”
Katie says they were shocked because they hadn't used the oven in days. She now has a different one.
But, two years later, Katie says there is still a threat of injury. “We're still finding glass all over our house.”
Across the country, INSIDE EDITION has uncovered hundreds of reports of exploding glass. It’s not just glass sinks and oven doors. Glass shower doors and patio table tops have also shattered spontaneously.
So, why would glass in your home spontaneously shatter without any warning?
To find out INSIDE EDITION turned to glass industry expert, Mark Meshulam. “It could have a flaw in it from the factory that over time turns into a catastrophic failure,” Mark said. “It could have a little nick or scratch in it.”
Mark intentionally broke a sink to show us how they can explode.
INSIDE EDITION’s Lisa Guerrero watched the sink break, sending shards of glass everywhere.
“It didn’t just drop here, it went all over, I mean I can see it ten feet away,” Guerrero said.
“That’s right,” Mark said. “This glass bowl is cantilevered outward, it's like a big funnel and when it all broke apart it dropped outward and then when it impacted the top of the counter it went further.”
That’s exactly what happened when Mark broke a sheet of glass, the kind you'd find inside an oven door. Tiny shards exploded, flying in every direction.
Mark said even if the glass is made from tempered glass, which is safer because it breaks into chunks instead of large shards, it's still very dangerous.
“I could cut myself right now touching this [glass]”, he said. The glass Mark was handling was so sharp, he actually did cut himself. “And I’m the expert, I normally don't cut myself,” he said.
Dwayne Bryant said he is still shaken by what might have happened, and he's not willing to take that chance again.
“I definitely would say that sink was a ticking time bomb,” he said.
So what can you do to keep safe? Mark said if you see that glass that has chips or scratches, replace it immediately.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission told INSIDE EDITION they are looking at all complaints it receives fabout glass that inexplicably exploded.
