Kettle Randomly Turning Itself Off

martindow

I have a Dualit kettle that has started randomly turning itself off. Sometimes it is OK and operates as normal, but mostly it turns off straight away or part way through heating up.

I have used descaler but the problem persists.

As this is a fairly expensive kettle and only a couple of years old I'm hoping that something can be done . Any suggestions?

Troytempest

We had similar - thermostat went faulty. Concluded that it's an expensive label on a bulk standard kettle. Now we just buy reasonably priced ones with an expectation of 2 to 3 year life.

Such is the modern world!!!!!!

beckstar1975

Do you have any repair cafes near you? They may be able to have a look ( and I think dualit things are built to be repaired rather than thrown away).

We all chipped in years ago to buy my dad a dualit toaster for his 60th as he always wanted one, it's a bit dodgy but still going and he'll be 79 this year. Not sure they're built as well nowadays as back then though

elsien

I had an iron that went kaput within a couple of years, despite having had very little use, but the repair café couldn’t get to the relevant bits to fix it.

Some items are designed to make it hard to repair to force you to buy new ones. Built in obsolescence.

StewedApple

I have used descaler but the problem persists.

We had this problem with bottle kettles and irons, in the end we decided to move to a soft water area.

MeteredOut

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82087179#Comment_82087179

Most people move for work or family reasons, but each to their own 😀

StewedApple

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82087185#Comment_82087185

I'm with TroyTempest - very difficult to determine quality of goods from brand names - particularly kitchen items.

Mostly I buy this sort of item from Argos or someone similar. I tend to compare measurable things e.g. wattage, capacity etc. and then review the 1 star ratings and avoid anything with an obvious manufacturing fault e.g. if there are fifteen people reviewing elephants and the all say "I bought this elephant from Argos and a week later the trunk fell off" I'd probably give it a miss.

I am very skeptical of blue-tooth enabled elephants as I've found they just don't work with android phones.

grumpy_codger

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82087145#Comment_82087145

Most kettles don't have thermostats. They have two swithes.

One reacts on the vapor produced when water starts boiling. If it's triggered the kettle can be restarted in a minute or so.

Another is built into the bottom and protects from overheating (if kettle is empty or covered with scale). If triggered it takes time to get back to normal (IIRC some kettles may have a hidden button to reset it).

And both aren't easy to repair if faulty.

Eldi_Dos

@martindow

When you re-use the kettle are you putting fresh, cold water into it. If not the thermostat may not be dropping enough for kettle to function normally.

martindow

Thanks all, I'll try a repair cafe, but it doesn't look too hopeful judging by most of your experiences. It's depressing how throw-away even quite expensive kitchen items are.

grumpy_codger

How exactly is it "randomly turning itself off"? Are there any hearable clicks? Can it be just some poor contact between the kettle and the base?