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Dualit Toaster - potentially dangerous problem
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I am new to this forum and came across it when investigating Dualit toaster problems. Last week our Dualit toaster set fire to our house when the timer malfunctioned and I just wanted to warn others. We used the toaster in the morning and, having thought the machine was off (as the timer had stopped ticking which it usually does when it has returned to ‘0’/off), we all left the house. A few hours later I returned home to find the smoke alarms ringing, dogs barking and the whole house filled with smoke. On entering I realised the toaster was still on (the timer having got stuck on) and the heat had burnt through the kitchen cupboard shelf causing smoke everywhere. Six fire engines came out (as our house is an old thatched cottage) and the fire officers had to smash the shelf out to extinguish the problem. The fire officer stated another half hour and the house would have gone up and the dogs would be no more. I was very shaken by the experience and the thought of what could have happened. On contacting Dualit to tell them about the timer problem, they sent an email simply offering to replace the timer! As I have lost confidence in their product, I did not accept (I wouldn’t have it the house again, repaired or otherwise). Having now done a little research I cannot believe so many others have had the same experience and that Dualit is prepared to keep selling such a defective product. This problem has been going on for years it seems. How can this company have so little conscience about this ‘accident waiting to happen’. In my opinion this is a ‘non-ticking time bomb!’ Someone could get killed by this timer fault. Dualit has to take more responsibility!0
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Bazza456, you might want to increase the font size of your post - it is very difficult to read!0
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As with many appliances, toasters should be switched off/ unplugged when not in use. When they are in use they should not be left unattended.
Even my phone charger states this.0 -
Old topic but I recall Dualit (when I was in the trade) doing away with the mechanical timers, as they could come on after power cuts0
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Glad you only lost a shelf and not your house, Bazza.
This thread has been going a few years, and it is sad to see that Dualit have still not improved their toasters. I researched after my own experience and found that only Kenwood toasters (most -- but not all Kenwood models) have an emergency cut-off, so it's the only one I will be buying. I spoke to Kenwood and asked why they do not SHOUT about having this safety feature -- they would see off the competition if they pointed out the dangers of using a toaster without this. Anyway, I got a stainless steel, curvey Kenwood: a quarter the price and not that different looking from the Dualit. And the toastie holder from my old Dualit fits in the Kenwood slot!
Btw, well done to you and your kind, "societys child" -- an example to us all! And we don't mind that although you never forget to check your toaster and all electrical appliances, you are guilty of forgetting about your grammar... You won't burn your house down by forgetting to use apostrophes when needed...0 -
I wonder if not turning the toast off would result in my kitchen going up in smoke.
Do you really get flames, shooting upwards, or does the toast just turn to black carbon, and create lots of smoke ?
My Asda cheapo toaster has always produced good toast.0 -
darlingjule wrote: »
Btw, well done to you and your kind, "societys child" -- an example to us all! And we don't mind that although you never forget to check your toaster and all electrical appliances, you are guilty of forgetting about your grammar... You won't burn your house down by forgetting to use apostrophes when needed...
Wots up wi' me gramma? . . it's not english GCSE, it's a forum !!!!!!:rotfl:0 -
It’s good of you to tell people they shouldn’t leave toasters unattended, unless for a very short period. Toasters are specially dangerous because people use them every day without a problem and stop thinking about the consequences of failure which can be catastrophic. All mechanisms fail eventually. It’s just a matter of when.
It’s very difficult, if not impossible, to design a fail-safe mechanism to cope with the situation where the timer mechanism or circuit fails to cause switch off and that is why no toaster has such a thing. How would such a mechanism work? Detect temperature rise? Obviously not, since the thing is normally very hot anyway. The only way I can think of would be to have two independent timers, so that if one failed the other would still work, but that would be complicated and expensive.
I had a look at Kenwood toasters. It appears some Kenwood models have a fail-safe mechanism to cover the situation where the timer has operated correctly, but the pop-up sticks in the on position, usually because of jammed bread. In this situation most toasters would continue to operate and cause a fire. If the Kenwood’s fail-safe mechanism works in this situation that is very good and better than most toasters. If the timer itself failed though, it wouldn’t help. In that situation it would be no safer than any other toaster.
Kenwood also warns people not to leave toasters unattended.
It looks like Dualit has used a batch of sub-standard timers and perhaps heater elements at some time, judging by the number of complaints. Many people seem to have them for years of good service, others not. I know I wouldn’t be happy if a mechanical timer on an expensive device failed after a couple of years. I am off to buy a cheap toaster.0 -
I have just logged in was was shocked to see Baz's post. This could have been avoided if Dualit had taken onboard what I and others reported. Im no expert, but it seems that the older toasters dont have a problem with the timers sticking - this brings into question the quality of the component. Dualit told me that the timers were Swiss - the company who makes them is in fact based in France about 30 miles from the Swiss border, and I believe the timers are made in Algeria. My Mazzer coffee grinder also has the same type of timer, but feels more substantial, and has been used more than the Dualit one - it works fine, but I bet its better quality.
Surely it would not be too complicated or expensive to fit a user resettable thermal cutout - ok it may suffer nuisance tripping, but thats better than a burnt house. Then we can have our design icon, and best performing toaster ive used, and safety.0 -
In my experience Dualit's customer services is extremely poor. I have had problems with three of their products in the last couple of years, one of which was a couple of days outside the warranty and they were not interested in the slightest in helping to resolve the issue.
I will never buy another of their products despite the fact that I have bought Dualit stuff for many years.0
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