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SMEG kettle help reqd. Any owners out there?

Bart

Bart

pfm Member
My daughter’s kettle seems to have a fault, the base is roughly in the form of a square with curved sides (or a circle squashed into a bit of a square if you like) and will only work with the handle above one particular quadrant of the base i.e. if the kettle is rotated from this position then the on/off lamp goes off and it doesn’t heat up.
Is this normal? She says it would work in any position when new.

Furthermore it is a bit hit and miss even within this quadrant as to whether it will work or not. This does seem a fault. I have cleaned all the external electrical contacts on the base and on the kettle itself to no avail.
Any suggestions as to what the problem might be here?
(Googled it but nothing useful found).
 
Common problem, with the spring clips in the base not contacting the contract rings in the kettle base, if it's nearly new complain and get a replacement. Typical crap design. I have fixed another make with the same problem but it took some time to sand down the plastic to reduce the contact gap and stretch the spring clips. Not really worth the bother.
 
Ian G said:
Common problem, with the spring clips in the base not contacting the contract rings in the kettle base, if it's nearly new complain and get a replacement. Typical crap design. I have fixed another make with the same problem but it took some time to sand down the plastic to reduce the contact gap and stretch the spring clips. Not really worth the bother.
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Thanks, I thought it may be that, I’ll see if I can make them stick out a bit more but as you say there’s not a lot of scope for adjustments.
 
Not a Smeg but have the same problem. Unplug, then give the base contacts a twang with a toothpick. They pop up back into place and all is well until someone slams the kettle onto base, pushing the contacts back down again. Crap design compounded by heavy handedness.
 
Sorted (for now anyway) the contact in the central hole on the base was pitted and not set properly in its plastic housing, it may also have deformed slightly. I imagine it might have been sparking due to poor alignment. I cleaned it up and glued it in the housing as correctly positioned as I could and it works fine. Built to fail I’d say!
 
That’s excellent sustainability! Most people would have just gone out and bought another. Maybe we should have a PFM repair corner
 
Nero said:
That’s excellent sustainability! Most people would have just gone out and bought another.
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I think I'd at least try and get it to work if I'd paid £140 (!) for a kettle.

Well done Bart for fixing it - it sounds like this is a problem that can afflict other brands so good to know.
 
Yeah, great result, and it's really satisfying to fix stuff, as there's so much made these days that is impossible to fix.
 
Nero said:
That’s excellent sustainability! Most people would have just gone out and bought another. Maybe we should have a PFM repair corner
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Well she (my daughter) did go out and buy another…. Kids eh!
By the way those little sticking up bits on the base with the contacts inside seem to be generic units so pick up and keep any discarded ones you see, you never know!
 
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