Our Oster kettle quit working yesterday. By cordless, I mean that the base plugs in, but the actual kettle can be removed. It's probably our most-used kitchen appliance, as we boil up water for several big pots of tea daily. This was a minor disaster.
I watched a couple of YouTube videos, both indicating that it's typically the thermostat that fails. (One was quite amusing - the presenter was Indian, and referred to the kettle as a "geyser", which is likely a Brit term. And he pronounced it the Brit way, "geezer". So I figured if I attempted a repair, it would be an old geezer trying to fix an old geyser.)
Anyway, I took the bottom cover off the kettle (two Phillips screws and one tamper-proof screw I had to persuade a bit) and measured the resistance of the heating element - around 10 Ohms as expected.
I'd always assumed these used an inductive coupling, but in fact there are contacts on the kettle and the base. The ones on the base are shielded by a spring-loaded cover when the kettle is not on the base. Poked around with the Ohmmeter and got high resistances or opens for all of the tests. (N pin of the plug to either of the contacts under the base's protective contact cover, ditto for the Hot pin of the plug, and same for the ground. On the kettle, found high resistance between the Hot and Neutral contacts.
Couldn't find any electrical contact cleaner, but used some brake cleaner. Ohmed everything out again, and had continuity on all three circuits (H, N, and G) on the base, but the heater circuit (H to N) on the kettle was open. Then I realized the switch was off.
Turned it on, and continuity was good.
Put some water in it, and it worked great. Comparable replacements run c. $50 (plus our 13% sales tax) so that was a few minutes well spent. Takeaway: Check the contacts before scrapping your electric kettle.
I watched a couple of YouTube videos, both indicating that it's typically the thermostat that fails. (One was quite amusing - the presenter was Indian, and referred to the kettle as a "geyser", which is likely a Brit term. And he pronounced it the Brit way, "geezer". So I figured if I attempted a repair, it would be an old geezer trying to fix an old geyser.)
Anyway, I took the bottom cover off the kettle (two Phillips screws and one tamper-proof screw I had to persuade a bit) and measured the resistance of the heating element - around 10 Ohms as expected.
I'd always assumed these used an inductive coupling, but in fact there are contacts on the kettle and the base. The ones on the base are shielded by a spring-loaded cover when the kettle is not on the base. Poked around with the Ohmmeter and got high resistances or opens for all of the tests. (N pin of the plug to either of the contacts under the base's protective contact cover, ditto for the Hot pin of the plug, and same for the ground. On the kettle, found high resistance between the Hot and Neutral contacts.
Couldn't find any electrical contact cleaner, but used some brake cleaner. Ohmed everything out again, and had continuity on all three circuits (H, N, and G) on the base, but the heater circuit (H to N) on the kettle was open. Then I realized the switch was off.
Put some water in it, and it worked great. Comparable replacements run c. $50 (plus our 13% sales tax) so that was a few minutes well spent. Takeaway: Check the contacts before scrapping your electric kettle.
![[Linked Image]](https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/attachments/usergals/2019/06/full-27717-33409-sunbeamhot_water.jpg "[Linked Image]")
