tefal actifry

Hi,

Has anyone bought one of these? I embarrassed to say I bought one when they were about £100 but I think they are now £150-200. They are a great idea, allowing you to cook chips and things using just a couple of teaspoons of oil, rather than a deep fat fryer (and I've never got on with oven chips) but all it is really is a hair dryer/fan heater blowing hot air over a turntable. Nothing to justify the £100 price tag. They could sell these for £40 which would be a fairer price.

Anyhow, in addition to cooking food, mine has decided to cook itself. I made some rather frightening popping noises and there was the smell of burning plastic. A few torx screws later and it seems there are only two motors inside: one for the fan and one for the turntable and its the fan motor that is "leaking" smoke.

So I'm going to look into whether I can get a replacement motor. Does anyone know and are they easy to replace? Any idea what has gone catastrophically wrong with the one I have?

thanks, Stephen.

Reply to
Stephen
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Stephen wrote: ... snipped

Sounds like you'd had quite a curry! Maybe the fryer wasn't designed to cope with chemical warfare ;-)

(Sorry - hat, coat ...)

Reply to
NoSpam

Just googled it.

Plenty of info on this thread.

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summarise

Loads of things fall off/break etc with these - allegedly - and its difficult to get the spares although there is a designated supplier. But there are delays etc.

Smoking is caused in some cases by cooking oil getting onto the heating element. Maybe oil can get in elsewhere as well.

michael adams

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Reply to
michael adams

Watchdog did a thing on them a while back (don't normally watch, but this one sticks in my mind for some reason)

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Reply to
D.M.Chapman

A 'chip pan'? Reminds me of a story about a fire in a posh part of Glasgow (they do exist, before you start scoffing). The fireman was phoning in his report on the incident - "it was a chip pan fire". The lady of the house interrupted him - "I beg your pardon, it was a deep-fat fryer, not a chip pan."

Reply to
Halmyre

And of course the thing about Morningside (posh part of Edinburgh) where a 'creche' is not a place for children, but what happens when two cars collide...

Reply to
Bob Eager

When there were Domestic Rates instead of today's Council Tax, they always seemed to suffer above average inflation. "Isn't it terrible about the rates?" said one Edinburgh lady to another, trying to strike up a polite conversation. Came the reply: "Rates? Oh no, my dear, we don't have rates in Morningsade. At worst, the occasional field mouse."

Reply to
Ronald Raygun

Some nice houses though. A friend had one, with big wide sweeping staircases...even to the basement!

Reply to
Bob Eager

I used to work with a friend from Edinburgh, she lived in an upmarket suburb (can't recall which one) but not Morningside. Her professor did live in Morningside and he sometimes had occasion to visit her home to collect papers and reports. He treated the entire experience as if it were a descent into the pits of Hell, ever-eager to run away and get home. I can recall him saying "I don't like coming here, I always get something in my eye when I visit and I fear it may be dog mess." In one of those bizarre "Mr Sensible/Malcolm Rifkind" accents they favour in Morningside.

I also once remarked to him on his bizarre Scots accent, he was most offended and told me that he had no accent and spoke the Queen's English.

Reply to
Steve Firth

Not me, one of the giveaways that it's going to cause problems is the "Tefal" sticker.

Reply to
Steve Firth

I'm afraid I agree. After previous bad purchases of their products I now view such a sticker as a hazard warning label.

Reply to
David in Normandy

Interesting. Their non-stick frying pans seem to be OK.

Reply to
Huge

There have been hundreds of cases of overheating & burning .... there is full documentation on WHICH site.

Basically if the fan fails, there is nothing to detect this, it then overheats and they can and do catch fire internally ... Tefal advise it is self extinguishing plastic so they see no issue.

The issue is it should detect fan has failed and then shouldn't catch fire in first place. !

I contacted Tefal ... their response was : "Any appliance with a hot air heating system (i.e. convection oven, hairdryer) will produce smoke should the fan fail. This is because it causes the element to overheat and melt a small amount of surrounding plastics. However, The Actifry is made from flame retardant plastics to ensure absolute fire safety. "

Made me change my mind and didn't buy one. WHICH strongly advise nobody should buy these until Tefal change design.

Reply to
Rick Hughes

w (they do exist, before

t - "it was a chip pan

a deep-fat fryer, not a

Big difference. Lots of insurance policies (student flat policies at least) permit thermostatically controlled fryers, but specifically forbid pans of oil on stoves.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

w (they do exist, before

t - "it was a chip pan

a deep-fat fryer, not a

Narrated by Tom Shields IIRC.

Owain

Reply to
Owain

In message , D.M.Chapman writes

Not very non-stick then, eh?

Reply to
geoff

The earlier model had problems but I haven't heard of any with the new one. We wouldn't be without ours and use it several times a week. It can be used to cook an amazing range of things and has a good cookbook. Eg, sliced uncooked turkey with port and vegetables makes a lovely meal.

Doug

Reply to
Doug Weller

Hopefully getting a new fan from tefal's suppliers but googling has found bad reviews on amazon and the watchdog report you mentioned. On the basis of these, I'm not sure I would recommend one or get one again. I think someone said a halogen over does the same thing for a fraction of the price.

Reply to
Stephen

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