Wow, gnu, that's pretty fancy fare for a $40 crock pot. With a vent hole it is going to lose moisture all day versus simmering in it's own juices - do you have an option to easily block that vent/thermometer hole if you don't want to use the sensor?

Mary, I set my crock pot on a wooden board to insulate the pot from the countertop below. They do heat up enough underneath that I think the sustained heat can melt the adhesive under my formica countertop. I have an old crock pot of my Dad's that I think he used to cook up a favorite barbecue rib recipe for Song Circle meetings at his house - it gets pretty hot and cooks relatively fast for a crock pot, so I don't leave that one on if I'm going to be away.

BTW: you can also bake potatoes in a crock pot. Wrap each in foil and depending on how soon they're needed, start it on low or high. I would only do a single layer of potatoes, to be sure they're all cooked about equally, and I might find a small wire rack to put in the bottom to keep them off of the ceramic, or you'll have one side of each potato baked hard. If you're home you could simply turn them over at the half-way point to avoid needing a rack or the hard baked place on the tuber.

SRS