Hi,

Due to reasons that will be held in confidence, my bellman stove-top milk steamer was left on an electric stove set to "high" for 5-20 minutes without any water in the unit.

The base is now discolored, and this discoloration reaches up about 1/3 of the way. If this weren't a sealed, high-pressure unit, I'd not be worried, but I'm not very familiar with material properties of stainless steel and am not sure whether the heat changed the metal, or whether the electric stove element gets the same lsevel of heat as a gas range - is it safe to use the unit?

Thanks for your time

One way to find out. Fill it up and let it heat while you are in another room. It would have to get incredibly hot to actually melt the steel but if you get it hot enough you will burn out the temper and soften the metal. It could bow/bubble under pressure. When in doubt, especially when your life is on the line, get another.

toss it and don't replace it, no more interruptions...