Ours does that if any of the contacts goes open circuit. It's a variable temperature kettle, so there are several contacts, not just the power to the element, and losing any of them makes it switch off.
I had this with a Murphy Richards one, and after a few squirts of wd 40, it worked. The normal kettle switch will not stay on if there is no power, so I can only assume that there is some way this is detected, and muck and limescale probably wedges this so it does not lock properly and hence it randomly falls out of lock.
However I have another old kettle that works fine, but will not take the water to boiling, and I'd suspect this has some form of bi metal strip in it, rather than the steam system others use. Brian
No if the power is removed, most kettle switches click off. Its a possibility, but it depends how old it is and things like that. The contact on the base is only live when a central plunger is pressed by a part of the kettle, and this is yet another switch to worry about. Brian
My £13 ASDA kettle doesn't flip the switch off if you turn off the power; it comes back on when power is resumed. The main switch flips if you raise it manually, remove the kettle from the stand, or when it boils. There is also a lever in the circular contact thing on the base that cuts the power to the contacts when raised. It is pressed down by the neutral ring.
(I bought one of the original Russell Hobbs "Forgettles" in 1978 and used it well into this century: I only got rid of it because it developed a slight leak: otherwise it worked perfectly, but was not quite as convenient to use as the modern so-called cordless ones.)
Ditto with mine. I can fill it and switch it on with no power and turn it on later with a Wi-Fi switch.
Anyway, an update.
I was able to loosen the kettle’s power receiving socket and on the underside there were two spring discs that seemed to be linked by push-rods to some inaccessible contacts. There was some dried up thermal paste around so I thought it couldn’t hurt to try replacing this. This had the opposite effect though. Kettle wouldn’t turn on at all! Just the briefest of flashes from the LEDs.
So, then I tried removing all the paste but again this made no difference. I’m sure it should have some paste but clearly I’ve disturbed something during my repeated disassembly and assembly.
I’ve given up. ;-)
Tim
5 minutes for £20 = £240 an hour. I daresay most diyers don't make that much. The days of £3 kettles are over.
can't see the pics, but usually there's a bimetal switch plus a one shot overheat cutout. It can't be the latter misbehaving in this case, it can only really be the bimetal.
Well new ones are cheap enough. ASDA still sell a similar one to mine:
That must be the "invisible tampering sensor" :-)
Paul
superglue the switch down
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