We have a "stick" type handheld blender that's given many years of service. I've noticed recently when washing it that the blade is much harder to turn by hand than it used to be. I say say water has leaked past any seals it used to have.
Is there any lubricant that's safe to use in this "food grade" environment? Don't want my soups ending up tasting of 3inOne. ;-)
Tim
You an get food-grade grease for coffee machines ...
Plenty, just Google "food grade lubricants".
You need to strip the blender to find the location of the stiffness, IMHO, and they are normally glued together and not designed for stripping.
You could just leave it overnight or longer with the working end submerged in cooking oil. But I suspect there is a buildup of deposits on the shaft / seal / bottom bearing region.
Indeed. That seems to be the case with mine.
No harm in trying it I suppose.
Tim
I'd need to disassemble it to replace grease and it's glued/welded together. I really need something with low viscosity and good "creeping" properties.
Tim
I had the devil's own job getting wallpaper paste out of mine.
No lumpy walls though :-)
Owain
Yes, clean rather than lube is the most likely solution, if it can be cleaned without destruction.
NT
Mayonnaise, but go light on the eggs.
AB
Any edible oil is likely to go rancid or habour bacteria over time if it's still present internally.
KY?
Owain
Cooking oil will gum with time.
My hand blender says to use a "liquid paraffin" oil, as in , place the blender upside down, and let the oil sit on the bearing overnight.
I also found this: "Your ESGE-Zauberstab® benefits from being oiled from time to time. Use a non-acid oil. Hold your ESGE-Zauberstab® upside down and then put some drops of oil at the end of the drive-shaft, then switch on the appliance for about 2 minutes. Finally clean the appliance with hot water."
Thomas Prufer
No idea what it tastes like, but possibly Johnson's Baby Oil might do it. Probably water-soluble/miscible, but shouldn't be harmful/toxic to ingest.
I did wonder how baby oil is made - if it's similar to olive oil - but as I'm not a vegetarian I don't really care.
Baby oil is normally a highly refined mineral oil: same as "liquid paraffin", but shorter chain length so lower viscosity.
ISTR finding suggestions in the past that it could contain palm oil, but from a quick Google just now both Johnsons and generic products seem to be mineral oil.
Sounds like a strategy; worth a try but I'd still suspect a buildup of solids.
But are you sure its not actual food that has bunged it up? Brian
Almost bound to be Virgin.
G.Harman
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