Cast Iron Frying Pan Question

I've heard these things were indestructible.

Last night I put mine on a burner to heat up, heard a weird noise, and then saw a large crack open in the side.

Is this common for cast iron? Did I just have a bad one? Did I do something wrong either in seasoning it or in heating it?

We are talking about a standard electric stove. It seems the pan should have stood up to that pretty well.

I am debating whether I should spend money on a new one. I like the way it cooked, but if the new one is going to crack when I put it on heat, I will stick with the aluminum.

That's definitely NOT normal

I've never even heard of that happening. Sounds like a defective pan to me. I'd return it to the store where you bought it, and if they give you a hard time, I'd call the manufacturer.

Who is the manufacturer, BTW?

Thanks.

I believe my wife and I received it as a wedding gift 8 years ago. It took me a while to get around to seasoning it! It literally had been sitting unused for about 7 years, and then about three months ago I finally made the effort to learn how to season it, and then after using it, regretted that I waited to long.

After it cracked my wife and I pretty much viewed it like an artillery shell (we were concerned about what might happen when we put water on it to cool it down) so we waited a while for it to cool, then put some water on it to cool it completely, and then disposed of it. As a result, I'm not sure of the manufacturer.

I've heard that electric ranges are iffy with cast iron because the burners can have hot spots that might cause the skillet to crack or warp. Also, if you put a cold-cold liquid into a hot-hot skillet, you might get some crackage.

[That's a bummer. What brand of skillet? Was it an old one (10+years), or new one?--ed.: oops...you just answered these questions]

Cast iron is my preferred pan material, and I have never heard of anything like this happening before. I think the advice to return it is very good.

However, there are ways to crack cast iron pans that do not involve The Wife breaking one over my head:

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Information/CastIronPans.htm

Hammond

That's very unusual for a cast iron pan. I've had awfully good luck with mine. They've taken a beating and even been dropped a few times (once on my foot) and are still going. I'm tending to think maybe yours was defective in some way.

Beth managed to break one of our Lodge cast iron fry pans (10") by knocking it off the stove onto the floor. No damage to the floor, but the handle broke clean off the cast iron pan.

I'm still amazed by that.