Is a non-Jew allowed to change the setting on my crock pot on Shabbos or YT from High to Low or from Low to Keep Warm?

Continuation:

Is turning it up a problem? Like from keep warm to making it low setting?

Also can I tell her these instructions in advance? For example, like on Friday I tell her “on Monday morning (day 1 of Rosh Hashana) please change the crock pot setting from high to low.”

What about adding more water into the hot water urn on Shabbos / Yom Tov?

Answer:

1. A non-Jew may be told on Yom Tov to change the setting in either direction, in case of necessity, where it can’t be set in advance before YT to the right temperature. These instructions may be said in advance. In fact, that is preferable. This only applies to Yom Tov, not Shabbos.

2. Although one is allowed to cook on Yom Tov there is still an issue of turning on a new fire or to turn on an electric circuit. Although I’m not totally familiar with how these urns work, my understanding is they are boiled when the sensor reaches a certain temperature, and by adding cold water you cause that sensor to activate the boiling process which is done electronically. Hence it would be forbidden according to many opinions to refill a regular urn on Yom Tov. There are urns (although I can’t vouch for any in particular) that “auto reboil” every certain amount of time, no matter if the water is already hot or if you just put in cold water and by using these you are not turning on any circuits or lighting a new fire, thus eliminating this issue. Water may be added to the urn on Yom Tov but not on Shabbos.

 

Sources:

אנן קייל״ן – ראה שו״ע אדה״ז סתק״ב – שהוצאת אש מיו״ט היא דרבנן. וא״כ ה״ז שבד״ש לצו״ג. וגם בשו״ת מגידות סי׳ קי שחשש להט״ז – כתב שהמיקל אין לגעור בו

.אלא שילה״ע מקו״א סש״ג, שאין להתיר שבד״ש לכתחילה רק אם איקלע מילתא. ולא מבעו״י. ובדאא״פ בל״ז אכן יש להקל