toast

[tony1941]

Does anyone have experience of Dualit toasters? Just bought a 2nd hand one in the car boot for �4.00 It seems to have an earthing problem- is it worth fixing?

[woodchopper]

I recently had the same problem with a friends Dualit toaster - it kept throwing the main breaker - as you say an earth fault - was easy enough to repair - one of the bars that keep the bread in place had been pushed against the element.
They are a good heavy duty toaster - plenty of parts available and easy to service.

[curiosity]

I work for the NHS who use these toasters as they are good & constantly reparable. I also have a 6 slice one myself at home. They are well over �100 to buy. They do seem to (at work anyway) blow the electrics a bit, however this is because over the years I have watched people, and because it's not a pop up toaster, they put the fresh bread in, and then wiggle the handle up and down TOO early to see if it's done, which gets the bread all squashed against the bars & individual elements. They them unplug, get a knife and have a good dig around to get the bread out, thereby bending the bars against the element, causing it to blow the electrics when the next person uses it, who then reports that it blew "for no apparent reason". Anyway at home my other half can't understand this stupidity as there is a timer dial on the toaster that does actually work with an arrow indicating "perfect toast". However because some in my household prefer to stand and wiggle the handle sometimes, we have needed 2 new elements, which were easily bought from the local stockists (?�15 each though) and fitted by annoyed other half very easily. Hasn't happened since we ALL use the dial! Happy toasting what a bargain you got! If you stick to the rules you'll be alright.

[curiosity]

Forgot to say, that sometimes really fresh & bent bread WILL stick to the bars, rather than try and get it off, you are best grabbing the biggest chunk, but letting the rest burn to a crisp and then just picking it off rather than diggin with a knife at the clung like a limpet bits. And the local stockist for us was a shop on an industrial park who sold to trade & public, the electrician at work pointed me in their direction and they were cheaper than Dualit.com if you don't know who yours is, I would suggest phoning your local NHS hospital switchboard and asking for the works/maintenance dept, the person who takes the calls might be able to help or ask for the maintenance electrician who will tell you where he picks them up from. Obviously they're not obliged to help you, but if you are nice enough I can't imagine they won't.