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Re: toaster repair

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Axel <none@not.here> wrote
> Rod Speed wrote
>> Axel <none@not.here> wrote
>>> Rod Speed wrote
>>>> Rod Speed <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> wrote
>>>>> Andy Bennett <aben@ben37j.com> wrote
>>>>>> Rod Speed wrote

>>>>>>> looking to repair a couple of toasters, mainly because
>>>>>>> I do really thick toast cut from a full loaf and it's hard
>>>>>>> to find a popup toaster that can do that well, particularly
>>>>>>> when buying online at a sensible price and it shouldn't
>>>>>>> be hard to spot weld the element burnout at the termination
>>>>>>>  But I can't work out how to get the handle off so I can get
>>>>>>> the cover off. Online some have screws but none of mine
>>>>>>> do. Are they glued on and can you just lever it off ?

>>>>>> Talking of toasters - we are (apparently) really weird and like our  
>>>>>> toast really thick, dark and crisp on the outside and lovely warm  
>>>>>> bread on the inside.

>>>>> Me too

>>>>>> Most of the population appears to prefer thin rusk-like  objects.

>>>>> True

>>>>> Mate of mine showed up one morning when I was having my
>>>>> breakfast which is just a massive great slab of my toast and
>>>>> said 'what the hell is that' :-)

>>>>>> We have been on a quest for (our opinion) a decent toaster for most  
>>>>>> of our 50 years of married life, nearly all appearing to take far  
>>>>>> too long and generate the rusk variety of toast regardless of the  
>>>>>> thickness of slice. Even using the oven grill dries out the slices  
>>>>>> somewhat.

>>>>> And its a damned nuisance to have to do it so manually.
>>>>> I much prefer a proper pop up toaster

>>>>>> Most appear to abide by the rule of approximately 400W allocated to  
>>>>>> each slot, so a 4 slice toaster is typically 1600W and a two slice  
>>>>>> 800 to 1000W.

>>>>>> I recently stumbled on a Russell Hobbs "Distinctions" toaster which  
>>>>>> is a 2 slicer but claimed to be 1600W - a lovely 800W per slice.

>>>>>> I did a few cross checks to ensure they were not telling porkies  
>>>>>> and purchased one - probably pricey at £44 from amazon but  
>>>>>> certainly a lot cheaper than the crap Dualit we have owned in the  
>>>>>> past.

>>>>> I've been getting mine from garage/car boot sales, mostly for $5 or  
>>>>> $10
>>>>> so its cheap to try because you can't really try toasters in the  
>>>>> shop    to
>>>>> see how well they handle very thick slices of bread and even the ones
>>>>> that claim to do crumpets isnt really much use for our bread

>>>>>> Has nice wide long slots too - ideal for our 1 inch thick slices.

>>>>>> This produces our desired toast at last! You have to keep your eye  
>>>>>> on it as it is VERY fast and can easily generate cremated slices  
>>>>>> for the unwary, but once fully tuned works a treat. I can at last  
>>>>>> go to my grave eating decent toast.

>>>>> Thanks for that, might try one if the repair turns out to be not  
>>>>> feasible.

>>>> Turns out that fixing the best of the toasters wasnt easy. You have
>>>> to dismantle it completely to be able to repair the burnt out wire
>>>> and its made with metal bits that go thru slots and are then bent.
>>>> Can't see those lasting when unbent and rebent and the toasters
>>>> weren't great even before they failed, particularly getting too thick
>>>> toast out when that jammed

>>>> So I bought the one you recommended. Not sold
>>>> in my country or yours that I could find only but
>>>> I could get it from amazon in germany and didnt
>>>> have to pay freight from there to australia

>>>> Stupid price, but I will never spend all my
>>>> savings before I kark it so what the hell

>>>> Works very well except for the fact that it
>>>> doesnt toast both sides the same, even if you
>>>> turn the toast around when half way thru,
>>>> so it can't be a design geometry problem.

>>>> I did consider that is due to one side of the slice having
>>>> been exposed to the air in a plastic bag for 24 hours
>>>> since I normally only toast a single slice of the multigrain
>>>> vertical loaf out of the bread machine every day for
>>>> breakfast but I just tried cutting an extra slice off and
>>>> keeping it in a plastic bag for 24 hours and turning it
>>>> half way thru, but that didnt make any difference, still
>>>> one side toasted more than the other

>>>> The difference is just visible, not so brown, in
>>>> fact closer to white than brown. Can't work out
>>>> what that can be due to, maybe the vertical loaf
>>>> just varys in density down the loaf

>>>> I used to get the same effect with the other toasters that died

>>> that's usually due to one side of the bread having more moisture than  
>>> the other.   if you dry out the slices at room temperature in a  
>>> vertical  rack   so not lying down on one side you shouldn't have that  
>>> problem

>> Just tried that, with it out in the air for about 7 hours and that
>> did see the two sides much closer in color. But that approach
>> no longer produces the toast I prefer, what I used to call when
>> a kid, toast with bread in the middle. Its now toasted right thru

> if that's the kind of toast you want you need a toaster that toasts the  
> bread quickly, so it browns the outside before the inside is fully  
> toasted.

That's what it is and it does that well. Its twice the
power of normal toasters as Andy told me

> the Breville I have does that, but I prefer to use theslower   toasting  
> setting so I get the bread fully toasted.

And it would have the same problem, doesnt toast both sides
identically, because the loaf varys in density down the loaf

>> The residual difference in the two sides appears to be
>> due to the vertical loaf varying in density down the loaf.
>> You can see that effect in the bread before its toasted.

>> In theory the fix would be to vary the temperature of the
>> element that is toasting one side and that wouldnt be
>> hard to do electronically but might be hard to do given the
>> density of the loaf varys quite a bit down the vertical loaf

> the breville has a crumpet setting, since crumpets at a normal toasting  
> setting invariably burn on the bottom before the top is cooked. the  
> crumpet setting reduces the element output on the bottom side of the  
> crumpet, providing you put it in the right way of course.

And some toasters have a bagel setting for the same
reason but they only warm the crust side, don't toast it

>> The difference while visibly different still sees the paler side toasted
>> but just not as brown as the other one so likely I will just leave it  
>> at that

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Thread

Re: toaster repair "Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> - 2026-04-09 10:53 +1000
  Re: toaster repair Axel <none@not.here> - 2026-04-10 14:28 +1000
    Re: toaster repair "Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> - 2026-04-11 08:30 +1000
      Re: toaster repair Axel <none@not.here> - 2026-04-11 10:22 +1000
        Re: toaster repair "Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> - 2026-04-11 11:38 +1000

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