The Red Brick Times

I was asked to examine a toaster oven recently. The reported trouble was that smoke was issuing forth from one of the controls. The little solenoid (coil of wire) that acts to make the toaster portion go "pop" when the toast is suitably brown, stuck closed, overheated, and melted. The real surprise to me was the relative crudity of the entire circuit assembly. When I removed the plastic end panels, I saw bare wire rods that carry the 110V electricity criss-crossing back and forth. The only thing that keeps them from being fourth-of-July spectacular is stiffness and careful routing geometry. The heat generated inside the end housings where all this lives makes the spring-metal thermostats open and close. Solder would melt away. So every connection is welded. The stiff wire circuit rods are welded where they intersect, are welded to the switch and thermostat terminals, and are welded to the resistors for the pilot light. Look at a 1920-1930 toaster in an antique shop. Similar technology. Nothing wrong with it, but if one is ever dropped or severely jarred, the voltage conductor rods could bend and touch. Then you, and a few close personal friends from the fire department, WOULD see the fourth of July. I went to a consumer site and found many postings from customers reporting toaster oven death at 1 to 1 1/2 years of frequent use. That seems to be a "norm" for these hot boxes. Moral - get inexpensive ones and don't pay extra for bells and whistles.

Toaster ovens can solve other problems. Crude technology in service to home-brew high-tech can be seen here.

Another interesting set of facts are "everyday" sources of radioactive products that you maypurchase. The four currently sold are salt substitutes (Potassium chloride), gas lantern mantles (Thorium), ionizing smoke detectors (Americium), and self-glowing watch faces (formerly Radium but now most likely tritium, a hydrogen isotope). Go to the Howstuffworks
page titled: Radioactive Products and Other Sources of Radiation to read more.
Posted 11:45 AM by Andy (2) comments

       Comments:

T'was my toaster oven Andy took a look at. Well, kind of. It belonged to my mom (I brought it here with the other things from her apartment) and I know she used it a lot. First time I tried it I ended up with smokey toast. Thankfully it decided to go bad on me and not her.

I followed the Radioactive Products link but alas, did not see a toaster oven there. Maybe, if you had enough of them, the Tritium Glow Lights would work? Andy - please advise.

# posted by  whatley : February 24, 2006 7:21 PM
 
No tritium glow lights on your toaster oven. Night sights on pistols have small tritium capsules, two at the back notch and one at the muzzle blade sight. Your toaster oven was not of that caliber.

# posted by  Andy : February 27, 2006 1:45 PM
 
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