Hi all

Have tried googling on this, but it appears that an appliance exists called
a "toaster oven" which hijacks the search engines!

What causes a toaster to stop latching down?
For toaster, read the UK device which toasts bread for most people in the
morning these days.
Ours is a Russel Hobbs chrome affair, suitable for 2 standard slices of
bread side-by-side.
Intermittently (and with increasing frequency) either the latch won't make,
or it makes and then releases as soon as you have turned to get the butter.
I know these things don't cost the earth, but this appliance still looks
smart and I would hate to contribute to landfill.

TIA

Phil

"TheScullster" wrote in message
...
What causes a toaster to stop latching down?
Intermittently (and with increasing frequency) either the latch won't
make, or it makes and then releases as soon as you have turned to get the
butter.

Most toasters I have seen use a bimetal strip fixed to the chassis which
engages with a lug on the bread carrier. Gets hot, bends, unlatches, carrier
pops up.

The usual trouble is that the bimetal strip gets permanently distorted over
time and fails to latch. Remedy - bend it back to shape.

"Roger Cain" wrote

Most toasters I have seen use a bimetal strip fixed to the chassis which
engages with a lug on the bread carrier. Gets hot, bends, unlatches,
carrier pops up.

The usual trouble is that the bimetal strip gets permanently distorted
over time and fails to latch. Remedy - bend it back to shape.



Thanks Roger

Useful to have a starting point when trying to fault find/repair.

Phil

TheScullster wrote:

Have tried googling on this, but it appears that an appliance exists called
a "toaster oven" which hijacks the search engines!

In cases like that it helps any to negate some search words, i.e. search
for "toaster -oven" without the quotes, or use a URL like this

http://www.google.com/search?as_q=toaster&as_eq=oven

TheScullster wrote:
Hi all

Have tried googling on this, but it appears that an appliance exists called
a "toaster oven" which hijacks the search engines!

What causes a toaster to stop latching down?
For toaster, read the UK device which toasts bread for most people in the
morning these days.
Ours is a Russel Hobbs chrome affair, suitable for 2 standard slices of
bread side-by-side.
Intermittently (and with increasing frequency) either the latch won't make,
or it makes and then releases as soon as you have turned to get the butter.
I know these things don't cost the earth, but this appliance still looks
smart and I would hate to contribute to landfill.


We had one with a magnetic holddown. Once a few crumbs had settled on
it, the inverse square law came into play. Worth greasing the sliding
bit while it's open. And you wouldn't believe where burnt crumbs can
get...

"Joe" wrote in message
...
TheScullster wrote:
Hi all

Have tried googling on this, but it appears that an appliance exists
called a "toaster oven" which hijacks the search engines!

What causes a toaster to stop latching down?
For toaster, read the UK device which toasts bread for most people in the
morning these days.
Ours is a Russel Hobbs chrome affair, suitable for 2 standard slices of
bread side-by-side.
Intermittently (and with increasing frequency) either the latch won't
make, or it makes and then releases as soon as you have turned to get the
butter.
I know these things don't cost the earth, but this appliance still looks
smart and I would hate to contribute to landfill.


We had one with a magnetic holddown. Once a few crumbs had settled on
it, the inverse square law came into play. Worth greasing the sliding
bit while it's open. And you wouldn't believe where burnt crumbs can
get...

And the toaster with the sloping top (Tefal) has the magnetic hold-down and
I have had a few crumbs spoiling the magnetic hold down due to introducing a
gap.

On Tue, 19 Dec 2006 10:00:09 -0000, Roger Cain wrote:

Most toasters I have seen use a bimetal strip fixed to the chassis
which engages with a lug on the bread carrier. Gets hot, bends,
unlatches, carrier pops up.

That's how they used to work but these days they pop up if you have a
power failure as well. Must be a solenoid playing a part somewhere but
the basic bimetal strip is the crude timer.

My toaster when set for prefection on the first two slices from cold will
burn the next two.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

The message om
from "Dave Liquorice" contains these words:

My toaster when set for prefection on the first two slices from cold will
burn the next two.

Tell her to concentrate more.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

TheScullster wrote:

What causes a toaster to stop latching down?

Have you checked for a dead mouse inside? That usually affects the
latch.

But seriously, take the toaster apart methodically, putting the screws
in a row in the order they came out. Toast crumbs gum up the mechanism,
or maybe something has bent or is worn, or just plain bad design.

In message , TheScullster
writes
Hi all

Have tried googling on this, but it appears that an appliance exists called
a "toaster oven" which hijacks the search engines!

What causes a toaster to stop latching down?
For toaster, read the UK device which toasts bread for most people in the
morning these days.
Ours is a Russel Hobbs chrome affair, suitable for 2 standard slices of
bread side-by-side.
Intermittently (and with increasing frequency) either the latch won't make,
or it makes and then releases as soon as you have turned to get the butter.
I know these things don't cost the earth, but this appliance still looks
smart and I would hate to contribute to landfill.


Well I typed "How a toaster works" into google

.... and came up with loads of relevant articles, this was the first

http://www.howstuffworks.com/toaster.htm



--
geoff