OT: Toasters

[Huge]

Except that this bit is untrue. I got a Dualit after years of crap "small, light, cheap" and useless toasters.

[Dave Liquorice]

I don't think the four slice dualit with folding wotsits is over =A3100 =

• VAT in Costco. Toast is done under the grill here.

I wonder how many people here have their toaster under wall cupboards, might be worth looking at the cupboard base above the toaster...

[Lino expert]

=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 = [e-mail]

=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 pam is missing e-mail

[Dave Liquorice]

Most toasters work with a simple bimetal "timer" element. Set the time correct when starting from cold and it will be too long for the next slices hence cremated second and subsequent ones as the bread starts to toast from the residual heat the moment it is placed in the toaster.

The problem is not quite as simple as one might first think.

[Frank Erskine]

The 2-slice Vario is £120 at Comet - or was a couple of weeks ago.

Sadly not in brushed steel finish :-(

[T i m]

Not 'cool wall' though I believe?

Ok, thanks. Sfunny isn't it, I hadn't really considered the elements till this exercise and it appears the old Swan jobby we have just replaced had two single ceramic looking round elements (like an electric fire and within parabolic reflectors) on either side and a more traditional strips type in the middle. I never noticed any 'marking' on the toast but their must have been?

I was round a mates tonight and noticed their fancy Dualit style (slots n levers) toaster. I asked him how well it worked and he said "cr*p". Looks like there's a market for a truly automatic toaster where you get a slider with a brown scale and optical detection? ;-)

All the best ..

T i m

[T i m]

Indeed, but how long have these things been about now...!

We can cook / heat food using microwaves and beams of light but can't toast bread consistently? ;-)

Oh well ..

All the best ..

T i m

[T i m]

Do you need an account to use such places Dave?

As it is here sometimes ..

[Derek Geldard]

Yes, it isn't. ;-)

All toasters starting from cold give a different result on the first slice campared with subsequent ones.

It's because they're *cold*.

However in the Bimetallic strip type timers the cold-tude affects the the timing as does heating history and effects the toasting function.

The Dualit clockwork timer is not sensitive to temperature, but a cold toaster is still cold. With my Dualit I simply do a blank run before I do my first "business" run, (or give the first run 1/4 of a notch extra) after that everything is predictable, and in fact corresponds to the marking on the run back timer dial. This isn't the case on toasters cheap bimetallic strip type timers)

DG

[Derek Geldard]

Can't be done unless you only buy your bread from the Dualit (Or whomsoever) dealer, and chuck it away after precisely 24 (?) hours.

That won't work. See above.

DG

[Derek Geldard]

Don't jump to conclusions and blame the toaster.

How consistent is the bread.?

Temperature, moisure content, density ?

DG

[Clive George]

Optical would work whatever the age of bread, wouldn't it? After all, the colour would come out the same. Apart from the problem that the sensor would get gunged up instantly and so wouldn't read reliably.

cheers, clive

[Derek Geldard]

How would it know the thickness of the bread?

The density of the bread?

The moisture content of the bread ?

These all (and many more) change with the age of the bread

What if it was brown bread to start with.?

** Bread ** (various) is nothing like a standard product.

DG

[Clive George]

Doesn't need to know thickness, density, moisture content, etc - all it needs to know is target colour, with possible variations for starting colour. That's pretty much how I judge my toast when doing it manually.

cheers, clive

[Rod]

And isn't this where we should join with the Maplin infra-red thermometer thread? Build that technology into a toaster and we might get consistency of results.

Mind, it would probably also be interesting to join with the CFL thread. What is the efficiency of a toaster? (Ever seen one rated on the A to E scale?) Not just its inherent inefficiency but that it also takes perfectly edible food (with all the energy inputs that already has) and converts it to carbon on a regular, if somewhat unpredictable, basis. Toasting must be a hugely wasteful activity approaching Jeremy Clarkson in fuel consumption. How about an infra-red LED toaster powered by water falling down the gutters?

Pass the Marmite...

[Si]

Easy to clean off though as it's not greasy.

[Andrew Gabriel]

My parents' 1950's pop-up toaster (Russell Hobbs IIRC) has quite a complicated bi-metal strip timer. In the first phase, it heats up and reaches its limit, at which point it switches the bi-metal heating element off with quite a characteristic click, but the toast is still being toasted. In the second phase the bi-metal strip cools. When it has got about 3/4 of the way back, it triggers the pop-up. At this point, you can immdiately insert a new slice of bread and push down the toaster, but it won't start toasting until the bi-metal strip has completed its third phase and returned to its home position which takes around another 10 seconds.

The timing elements of this mechanism was supposed to give completely repeatable toasting results regardless if the toaster was cold or being repeatedly used, and as far as I recall, it does precisely this, and still is over 50 years later.

[Tim Lamb]

I feel this is the moment to mention the Dualit kettle:-)

Apart from several positive features including being easy to clean and having a reliable electrical connection, it has the remarkable ability to overpower radio 4. In fact on one occasion (no names mentioned) a listeners audio tape was broadcast claiming the noisiest kettle in the world.

regards

[T i m]

Why not, what else is burning my toast? ;-)

My point was, in_this_day_and_age you (I?) would have thought they would have come up with something more sophisticated than a bi-metallic switch or an arbitrary timer?

In the case of my test yesterday, very.

All out of the same sealed bag at the same time.

No, we know why what happened happened, my point was should it have done?

All the best ..

T i m

[Huge]

The same people must have designed the percolator. It makes an extraordinary range of squeaking and groaning noises, to the extent that the instructions actually mention not to worry about it. Not only hot coffee, but entertainment too!