It cannot be said that an electric kettle is a “long-liver” among a variety of household electrical appliances. The average lifespan of an electric kettle is 2-3 years, after which various problems begin, primarily related to its button or thermostat.

These problems occur due to specific operating conditions, during which various parts of the electric kettle become very hot. This article will look at repairing the electric kettle button, as well as options for how to connect the kettle directly, bypassing it.

The material for making the body of the electric kettle button is plastic. By itself, this material can withstand high temperatures, but this turns out to be not enough. Therefore, repair of an electric kettle button is most often caused by melting of places near the metal contacts or serious damage due to deformation.

And if just such a disaster happens, and the electric kettle button melts around the edges or inside due to high temperature, then it can no longer be repaired. In this case, it is easier to buy a button for an electric kettle of a similar design, and then replace it yourself.

Replacing the electric kettle button looks like this:

1. First you need to remove the old button, which will require disassembling the part of the kettle where it is installed. As a rule, to do this, it is enough to unscrew the screw from the bottom of the handle, which consists of several connected parts.

2. Then you will need to disconnect the two contacts from the burnt button and unscrew the self-tapping screw that secures the button to the body of the electric kettle.

3. The new button for the kettle is installed and connected in the reverse order.

This is the easiest way to do it. Of course, it is only suitable if the new button is similar to the old one.

Otherwise, as in the pictures, you may need to replace the screw with a longer one or slightly enlarge the hole in the handle for a non-standard button.

If there is no spare button at all, then you can connect the kettle directly. In this case, you need to understand that it will no longer turn off automatically and you will have to monitor this process yourself.

So, before connecting the electric kettle directly, you should remove the old button by disconnecting the wires from it. To make the kettle work again, but without the button, you just need to connect these two wires together.

The easiest way to do this is through regular twisting, which is then insulated or protected with heat shrink tubing. In any case, the splice must be reliably protected.

With this, the issue is resolved, you can boil water without forgetting that the button is no longer there and you shouldn’t go far from the electrical appliance without first disconnecting its power cord from the network.

The basic operating principle of electric heating devices is almost the same. To heat, you need to have a heating element - a spiral, which plays the role of an emitter of IR rays, thanks to which forced heating occurs.

Electric kettles have a fairly simple circuit, the main element of which is the heating element. Basically, a flat heating element is used here, which is located at the bottom of the kettle, under a metal lid. The mains voltage enters the spital, which has a certain resistance. The spiral is located inside the heating element. Thermal energy from the spiral is transferred to the heating element, the latter heats the water. The use of a heating element is explained by the fact that it makes the kettle safe; there is no danger of electric shock, since the heating coil element itself does not have direct contact with water, it is not closed to the heating element, so the current is not transmitted to the water. In its simplest form, the electric kettle circuit looks like this:

An electric kettle may have a timer (temporary relay), thermostat, voltage indicator, power switch. More complex circuit diagram:

The thermostat has a standard circuit, unless of course the kettle is expensive. The coil voltage control circuit, in more advanced models, is quite simple - decoupling from a dinistor and a thyristor. The thyristor controls the load, and the dinistor sets the operating mode of the thyristor (essentially controls the thyristor). A dinistor or diode thyristor is essentially a diode that has a certain operating voltage, which is set using a regulator. That is, by controlling the voltage, we can control the temperature. Simply put, the heating element heats the water to the desired temperature - that’s the whole principle of the electric kettle. Nowadays on the market you can find electric kettles with fully automatic control, which will heat the water to a set temperature, then turn off automatically. These include a group of thermos kettles - thermopot. Since the cost of a thermos kettle is quite high, in many cases, independent repair of a thermos is not only justified, but also necessary. The control unit diagram and photo of the printed circuit board with details are shown below:

Kettles with ultrasonic heating are already being tested - a kettle that does not heat up, but heats the water. But the influence of such teapots has not yet been fully studied, so they are very rarely found on sale.

Electric kettles - thermoses, or thermopots, serve regularly for 2 - 3 years, then they usually fail. The main reasons for this are: they stop boiling water, they don’t pour boiling water and because of water leakage. There is a lot of material on the Internet about repairing thermopots, but there are almost no diagrams. The article briefly describes models of thermopots, the diagrams of which are copied from products whose malfunctions the author encountered during repairs. The article provides examples of circuit solutions used in most models of modern thermopots, despite the large number of clones produced by various companies.

In the above diagrams, the designations of most parts correspond to those indicated on the boards. For different models of thermopots, the secondary power supply circuits and control units are very different. All thermopots have a container for boiling water made of stainless steel. Thermal electric heaters, heating elements, usually two of them, are fixed in its lower part for boiling and heating water, in this case they are located in one block, which has three outputs. At the bottom of the container there is a thermal switch for a temperature of 88 - 96 degrees C or a temperature sensor, which gives a signal to turn off the heating element of the boiler when the desired water temperature is reached. On the side wall of the container there are mounted a thermal switch connected in series for a temperature of 102 - 110 degrees C and an FU fuse for 125 degrees C/10A, placed in a silicone tube. They turn off the power supply to the thermopot when the temperature of the boiling container increases due to lack of water or in the event of a short circuit. To supply hot water in thermopots, the same type of 12 V DC electric motors with a centrifugal pump are used.

Most of the thermopot parts are located on two boards. The control board, on which the control buttons and LEDs are located, is located in the upper part of the case. The main board, on which most of the power connectors, control units, relays, sources and secondary voltage stabilizers are located, is located in the lower part of the case under the boiling water container. Both boards are connected to each other by wire harnesses with connectors.

The diagram of the Elenberg TN-6030 thermopot is shown in Fig. 1. Earlier, in 2014, the author posted it on the go-radio website, so a link to this site is provided. The TN-6030 circuit is quite simple and completely analog. Constantly, a pulsating current flows through the water heating element EK1 and the diode VD9 in only one direction, so the resistance of this heating element is two times less than a similar heating element of the same power in other models, where it is powered by alternating current. When the electric motor is turned on, a constant pulsating current of a different polarity, up to 150 mA, begins to flow through it and the VD10 diode, and alternating current flows through the EK1 heating element. Automatic switching on and off of the heating element for boiling water EK2 is carried out by thermal switch SF1. Forced switching on of the heating element EK2 for up to 2 minutes is carried out by contacts K1.1 of relay K1. To transistors VT1 - VT2 of the control stage of relay K1, a constant voltage of 14 V, stabilized by the chain R3 and VD6, is supplied from the diode bridge VD1 - VD4. A common malfunction of this thermopot model is the burnout of the contacts of the thermal switch SF1, because all the current of the heating element EK2 passes through it. Replacing the thermal switch is not difficult; you just need to unscrew two screws on the flange and rearrange the two power connectors. Detailed videos of this replacement are available on the Internet.

Another malfunction is poor operation of the hot water supply pump. Its reason is an increase in friction on the rotor axis of an electric motor operating at elevated temperatures due to deterioration in the quality of the lubricant. The magnetic clutch of the pump consists of a magnetic disk mounted on the rotor shaft of the electric motor and a pump impeller mounted on the axle shaft in the cover of the pump housing. A magnetic disk is also fixed at the base of the impeller. A sealed gasket is installed between the two magnetic disks. Rice. 2.

The author lubricated the rotor support points at the ends of the electric motor housing with ordinary spindle oil. It helped for a couple of months. It is difficult to get to the front support point, I had to disassemble the pump and pour oil under the magnetic disk, and turn it with my finger, at this moment the electric motor is in a vertical position so that the oil flows into the right place. The remaining oil is poured over the edge. There is no need to remove the disk from the rotor axis; a couple of removals and it will not stay on the rotor axis. It’s easier to immediately replace the engine with the pump.

Water leaks in thermopots rarely occur, usually due to mechanical damage. One day, the cause of water appearing under the kettle turned out to be a barely noticeable crack in the upper part of the plastic case, under the lid, running along the rim of the container for boiling water. Steam penetrated into this crack, which then condensed on the inner surface of the case walls, and the plastic crumbled along the crack. That kettle was beyond repair.

The diagram of the Vitek VT-1188 thermopot is shown in Fig. 3. In this model, a secondary voltage of 12 - 14 V is supplied to the control units from transformer T1, installed at the bottom of the housing under the water tank, and from the rectifier bridge VD1 - VD4. A voltage of 5 V from the ic2 stabilizer is supplied to power the ic1 processor, which controls the entire operation of the thermopot. At the command of optocoupler ic3, processor ic1 should signal the activation of protection, SF1 or FU1, although it is not clear how - a buzzer is not installed in this model. At the bottom of the boiling tank there is an RT temperature sensor installed from two MF58 thermistors connected in parallel with a negative TKS in KD-3 housings. The boiler shutdown temperature is set manually using the sw2 button. Thermopots VT-1188 and VT-1187 do not have a heating element for heating water, which is why turning on and off the heating element for boiling, EK1 occurs more often than in other models. Therefore, in the VT-1188, the relay contacts burn out more often and the heating element burns out. The case of burnout of the relay mounting pin on the board is described in. If all these malfunctions occur, the kettle's display and pump motor work normally, but the water does not boil. If the relay contacts burn and stick, or transistor Q1 breaks down, the boiling mode may not turn off. When repairing these breakdowns, faulty parts are replaced.

Photo of the main board VT-1188. Rice. 4.

The VT-1191 thermopot diagram is shown in Fig. 5. The secondary voltage source for the control units is pulsed, made on the VIPer 12A microcircuit using a transformerless circuit. The constant voltage of 18 V at its output is filtered by capacitors EL3, C3 and inductor L2, then reduced by the zener diode ZD2 to 12 V. The control circuit operates on the ic1 processor, there are no markings on its body, there is only a label indicating the model of the thermopot. A voltage of 5 V is supplied to ic1 from the stabilizer on transistor Q4 and zener diode ZD3. The VT-1191 thermopot has two heating elements: EK1 for boiling and EK2 for heating water. Contacts K1,1 of relay K1 alternately connect the terminals of one of them to the network, depending on the voltage at pin No. 5 of ic1, which is supplied to the base of transistor Q1 through connector CN1, LED HL2 and R7. A small base current of transistor Q2 flows through thermal switch SF2, so SF2 is connected to the board and pin No. 4 of ic1 with a low-current connector. The electric motor is turned on by transistor Q3 when “+” appears at pin No. 3 of ic1. The malfunction of the thermopot was manifested in the fact that it did not boil or pour water, only the green HL3 indicator was on. The cause of the breakdown was the failure of the ic1 processor.

Fig.6 Photo of the main board VT-1191, fixed in the thermopot housing.

A lot of advice on repairing thermopots has already been given, but I’ll add two more:

1) Take photographs of the entire process of disassembling and repairing the kettle. This will then facilitate its subsequent assembly and especially the installation of power connectors. (Fig. 6).

2) If the housings of low-current connectors installed on boards wobble even slightly in their places, these housings must be glued to the board and the contacts must be soldered. Failure of connector contacts after repair and assembly of the thermopot can lead to new malfunctions.

Bibliography

• “Repair of electric kettle relay Vitek VT-1188”
• Radio magazine 2016-8-35.

An electric kettle is the most common household appliance that every family probably has today. Its popularity is due to its speed of boiling water, which is superior to other heating methods. Therefore, these simple devices have won a special place not only in the home, but also in offices and other workplaces, where you can enjoy hot tea or coffee during a break. But, like any other equipment, an electric kettle can also fail, and its owners will probably have a question: is it possible to fix this device with your own hands, without going to a repair shop?

Design and principle of operation of electric kettles

An electric kettle is a household appliance, the design and operating principle of which can be understood even by a person who knows little about technology. All kettles are designed the same way, regardless of the model, and work according to the same scheme. They consist of the following main components and elements:

• the body, which is also a flask for water (some models of electric kettles have a separate bowl placed in the body);
• a heating element in the form of an open spiral, similar to a boiler, located directly at the bottom of the water container or (like most modern electric kettles) in the form of a disk heating element;

  This heating element is located at the bottom of the water flask

  The disc has a smooth surface on the inside

• a stand (base), on which there is a connector for connecting the kettle and a power cord for connecting to a household electrical outlet (all modern electric kettles that are cordless have it);

  The base is only available in cordless models

• power connector pads on the bottom of the kettle base, which can have a central (like most models) or side location;
• a thermostat that serves to turn off the kettle when it boils;

  This type of thermostat is installed under the button

• power buttons.

Today on sale you can find electric kettles with a thermostat, with which you can heat water not only to 100°C, but also to any desired temperature, and even maintain this temperature for a certain time. This property is necessary for proper brewing of various types of tea (black, green, white, red), each of which requires water at different temperatures from 60 to 90°C. An electric kettle with a thermostat is an ideal purchase if there is a small child in the family. After all, preparing baby food formulas does not require boiling water, and with the help of such a device you can set the desired temperature. And for adults, repeated boiling of water is highly undesirable if they adhere to a healthy diet.

In this model, the control panel is located on a stand

Naturally, each model of electric kettles has its own design features, but they are not fundamentally different in design.

The operating principle of the electric kettle is also quite simple. When heated, the heating element heats the water in the flask until it boils. Steam is supplied through special channels to the bimetallic plate of the thermostat, made of metals with different coefficients of thermal expansion; when it bends, it presses on the button lever or opens the contact terminals, disconnecting the device from the network.

The diagram shows the movement of steam through the channels in the handle, but the tube in the kettle itself can also be used for this purpose

The most common faults

The following malfunctions are typical for electric kettles:

Failure of the heating element. The cause of the defect is scale formed on the heating element, which makes it difficult to transfer heat to water, and the coil itself heats up. Heating elements of the spiral type are more susceptible to such damage than disk heating elements, which require more time to form a critical layer of scale. The reason for the burnout of the heating element can also be a violation of the operating rules, for example, if the kettle was plugged in, forgetting to pour water into it.

The electric kettle power button is broken. There are two possible reasons for this - the formation of carbon deposits and oxidation on the contacts of the button, or a break in the rod connecting it to the power supply terminals.

1. Leakage in the housing of an electrical appliance. This malfunction is more typical for kettles with a plastic body, as well as those equipped with a disk heating element. In the first case, the breakdown may be a consequence of deformation of the kettle due to overheating at the place where the heating element is attached, and with disk heaters, the cause is corrosion along the seam connecting the disk to the body of the electric kettle. Often the cause of such a breakdown is a deteriorated seal or cracked glass of the water level indicator.

Premature shutdown of an electrical appliance. This malfunction is a consequence of scale. The water does not have time to boil, but the heating element has already overheated and the thermostat disconnects the device from the network.

Failure of the thermostat. The design of electric kettles with a thermostat contains additional components and parts - a thermometer, temperature sensors, a memory unit, an electronic board and a control panel. The more parts a device has, the lower its reliability and the higher the likelihood of any of them breaking. In kettles with thermostats, the regulator itself most often fails, in which the contacts oxidize or burn.

Breakdowns that allow you to return the electric kettle to the store

You can return a faulty electric kettle to the store during the warranty period if during this period its significant shortcomings have appeared, namely the following faults:

• irreparable damage;
• periodically repeated breakdown of the same unit;
• a breakdown that cannot be repaired without disproportionate costs close to the cost of the kettle itself;
• a malfunction that requires a long time to eliminate, as a result of which the device cannot be used for more than 30 days throughout the year.

There can be a variety of malfunctions here, but the most serious of them are leaks not associated with mechanical damage and leaky gaskets, but arising due to deformation of the housing or damage as a result of corrosion processes.

Significant breakdowns include the failure of the heating element, provided that the kettle was used correctly and there is no scale on the heating element.

Electric kettles are household appliances that are included in the list of technically complex goods. Therefore, you can return them back to the store with a refund of the money paid only if they are of inadequate quality. When contacting the store with a written complaint, you need to indicate a breakdown that is often repeated or requires costs. comparable to the cost of an electric kettle.

The seller has the right to offer the buyer to contact the service center, but if the breakdown has not been fixed within 20 days, the store is obliged to return the money or exchange the device for a new one. The seller also has the right to appoint, at his own expense, an examination of the product, which will determine whether the breakdown was caused by the user or whether it is caused by a manufacturing defect. In the first case, the buyer must reimburse all costs for the examination. In the event of a defect due to the fault of the manufacturer, you can demand not only a refund, but also compensation for moral damages. Moral damage can only be claimed by a court decision.

Diagnosis of electric kettle malfunctions

To determine the reasons for the breakdown of the electric kettle, you only need a screwdriver needed to disassemble it, and an electrical measuring instrument - a multimeter or avometer. The diagnostic procedure for this device is quite simple. It consists of sequential ringing of the electric circuit of the kettle, starting from the plug connecting it to the electrical connector, and to the heating element.

Checking with a tester

If the electric kettle does not turn on, does not heat up, and the operation indicator light does not even light up, diagnosing the device, no matter how strange it may sound, should begin by checking the presence of voltage in the electrical outlet into which the device is connected. To do this, you can connect any other electrical household appliance that is known to work, or measure the voltage with a tester.

If there is voltage in the network, you need to diagnose the kettle itself. To do this you will need:

1. Check the serviceability of the appliance plug, connecting cord and contact group on the stand to which the electric kettle is connected. In the dialing mode, having finished one probe of the multimeter with the pin of the plug, with the second probe we alternately touch the contacts on the base connector. As a rule, there are three of them, and they correspond to two current-carrying conductors and a grounding contact connected to the device body. On the stand they can be located in the middle in the form of circles or on the side in the form of a three-fingered connector. At which contact the device signal sounds corresponds to the pin of the plug, which indicates the integrity of this cable core and contact groups. We repeat a similar operation for the second pin on the plug and the ground contact. If the ringing occurs along all three lines, it means that the base is working and can be put aside and begin diagnosing the kettle.
2. Since the fault lies in the electrical appliance itself, you need to remove its bottom cover. To do this, you will need to unscrew three screws (sometimes there are more - 4 or 6).
3. The next step is to ring the power connector terminal block at the base of the kettle. Usually it is combined with a thermostat and mounted on thermal paste. Before unscrewing it, you should disconnect the cable that goes with it. The left and right contacts of the block, when they are closed to the corresponding elements of the device connector, must ring, respectively, each on its own ring - internal or external. If this does not happen, you need to disassemble the block by removing the bottom plate of the thermostat and clean the contacts with sandpaper or a file, removing carbon deposits and oxidation from them. Along the way, you need to check the availability of contact

   After cleaning the contacts, the block must be reassembled and ringed again. If the defect is eliminated, screw it into place.

4. Next, the functionality of the kettle's power button is checked. To do this, touch one probe of the multimeter to the contact of the wire going to the button, and with the second, touch the wire coming from the button to the heating element. When the switch is in the off position, there should be no reaction, and when the button is turned on, the device will give a sound signal, symbolizing that there is a circuit, which means the button is working. Otherwise, you need to replace it or try to repair it.
5. At the last stage of diagnostics, the serviceability of the heating element is checked. To do this, you need to ring the output contacts of the spiral, to which the wires from the central connector of the stand and from the button are connected. If the ringing occurs, it means that the spiral is not broken. By completing one of the leads of the heating element with its body, you can check whether the broken spiral is shorted to the body of the heating element. If the device gives a signal, a breakdown occurs on the housing, and the heating element is considered faulty.

Video: Diagnostics of an electric kettle with a multimeter

Diagnostics of a kettle with a thermostat

The presence of additional structural elements in electric kettles with a thermostat, compared to conventional devices that can only boil water, somewhat complicates the diagnosis of devices that are more saturated with parts. But difficulty here can only arise when determining the health of the electronic board and memory unit. However, it is quite simple to determine that the cause of the kettle breakdown lies precisely in the thermostat.

When diagnosing kettles that heat water to a certain temperature, there are two possible options for placing the control panel:

• in a teapot stand

• on the electrical appliance itself (usually on its handle).

Typically, electric kettles with adjustable heating temperatures have not three contacts in the connector of the base-device connection, but five. Two more contacts for the thermistor are added to the power circuit for the heating element (two cable cores) and the grounding contact.

The ringing of a kettle with a thermostat is carried out in the same sequence as for a conventional electric kettle:

1. First of all, you need to determine which of the contacts on the device’s stand correspond to grounding and the two wires of the power cable. To do this, in the dialing mode, having finished one multimeter probe with a pin on the plug, with the second we touch the contacts on the stand connector one by one. We repeat a similar operation for the second cable core and grounding.
2. The remaining two contact rings included in the thermistor circuit must be checked for resistance. The device should show a certain resistance of approximately 100 kOhm. With other readings (1 or infinity), we can conclude that there is a malfunction in the thermostat circuit.
3. If everything is in order with the stand, you need to ring the kettle itself, as was already described earlier. When ringing individual elements of the circuit (power button, heating element, terminal block, with which the thermostat is usually combined), you must first disconnect the electronic part of the thermostat and temperature sensors.

Checking the heating element coil

Knowing the power for which an electric kettle is designed, you can easily calculate what resistance the spiral of its heating element should have. To do this, you should first calculate the current strength, which can be found by dividing the power in watts by the network voltage (220 V). Next, according to Ohm's law, well known to everyone from the school physics curriculum, to find the resistance, we divide the voltage in the network by the current. For example, for an electrical appliance with a heating element power of 2000 W, the current will be 2000 W / 220 V = 9.09 A, and the resistance of the nichrome spiral will be 220 V / 9.09 A = 24.20 Ohm.

The calculated resistance of the heating element spiral should not differ significantly from the actual one. To measure it, you need to remove the bottom cover of the kettle and measure it with a multimeter, setting it to resistance measurement mode.

How to fix an electric kettle with your own hands

The fairly simple design of electric kettles allows you to fix many of their malfunctions yourself, without contacting service workshops. But you can start repairing it yourself only if the warranty period for the electrical device has already expired. Let's look at some of the most common problems that can be easily solved if you have a simple tool at home and, without fail, an electrical measuring device.

If the kettle begins to leak, you must first of all identify the place where its seal is broken. It could be:

• leakage along the gasket installed at the junction of the disk heating element with the inner walls of the housing;
• water leakage in the place where the open-type heating element is attached;
• flow along the glass of the level gauge, which shows to what level the water in the kettle is filled.
• presence of a crack in the body of the electric kettle.

In the first case, the cause of depressurization of the flask may be a leaky gasket, or scale getting under the gasket. For any of these options you must:

1. Remove the bottom lid of the kettle.
2. Disconnect the top cover, which is usually held on by latches and can be easily removed.
3. Remove the heating element along with the gasket by pushing it out by hand.
4. After removing the rubber gasket from the disk heating element, thoroughly rinse the kettle itself, its heating element and the sealing ring. If the latter has abrasions, tears or excessive wear, the gasket must be replaced with a new one.
5. It is good to dry the heating element with all the parts attached to it with a hairdryer.
6. Reassemble in the reverse order, and after filling the kettle with water, place it on a dry cloth for 15 - 20 minutes. If leaks no longer appear, we can assume that the defect has been eliminated.

This process can be seen more clearly in the following video.

Video: Fixing leaks in an electric kettle with a disk heating element

If an electric kettle with a heating element in the form of an open spiral has a leak at the place where the heating element is attached, you must:

1. Remove the bottom cover of the electrical device housing, as well as the cover on its handle to provide access to the heating element mounting nuts.
2. If the fastener is loose, you need to tighten it and check if the problem is resolved.
3. If the tightness is not restored by tightening the fasteners, you need to dismantle the top cover of the kettle and, unscrewing the fastening screws, remove the spiral along with the gasket.
4. Thoroughly clean the surface of the heating element adjacent to the gasket and the sealing ring itself from scale. If necessary, replace the gasket.

How to disassemble a kettle with an open spiral heater and remove the heating element along with the gasket can be seen in detail in the following video.

Video: How to remove a spiral heating element with a gasket from an electric kettle

Leakage of the kettle along the glass of the level gauge may be the result of wear of the silicone gaskets or the appearance of microcracks in the plexiglass itself. And if the problem with the gaskets is solved quite simply (by replacing them), then to get rid of the cracks you will have to resort to using glue.

For gluing plexiglass (or plexiglass), professional adhesive Acrifix 116 or 117, vinegar essence, moment glue “Moment”, as well as adhesive compositions Cosmofen or Colakril can be used.

If there are cracks in the body, it is better to purchase a new kettle, since any glue that you try will be in contact with water, which is undesirable for health. The process of eliminating a leak on the glass of the level gauge can be seen in the following video.

Video: Eliminating leakage of a kettle on the glass of a level gauge

The reason that the electric kettle does not turn off when boiling may be:

• unclosed or loosely closed top cover;
• clogging of the hole for supplying steam to the bimetallic plate of the thermostat;
• faulty button or thermostat.

After checking whether the lid is tightly closed, use a toothpick to clean the steam outlet hole, which is located under the lid at the junction of the handle and the body. If the problem is not resolved, you need to remove the bottom cover of the kettle, and then proceed according to the following algorithm:

1. Remove the bottom cover of the electric kettle body and the cover on its handle. A bimetallic plate, which should, when arched, turn off the button or electricity access to it, is available both on the button and under the terminal box of the kettle, where the thermostat is usually located.
2. Make sure that the contacts are intact and that they can open under the action of the bimetallic strip. If the contacts are stuck to each other, or the pin that should open them has melted, you need to restore the functionality of this system, and if it is impossible to eliminate the breakdown, replace the problematic part - a button or thermostat.
3. Reassemble the device in reverse order and check if this problem is resolved.

Another problem that may arise when using electric kettles is when the water has not yet boiled, but the device is already turned off. This defect can occur due to scale formed on the heating element, which prevents the transfer of heat to the water and heats the coil itself. If the coil overheats, the thermal fuse or thermostat at the base of the kettle is triggered. In this case, you need to descale the kettle, for which you can use:

• special household chemicals “Antinakipin” or Major Domus;
• Coca-Cola, which contains phosphoric acid;
• citric acid at the rate of 1 tbsp. spoon for 500 ml of water;
• baking soda 3 - 4 tbsp. spoons per 1 liter. water.

These solutions need to be boiled in a kettle and held for 15 - 20 minutes, after which boil clean water in it 3 - 4 times for rinsing.

If there is no scale on the heating element, you need to check the thermostat contact. It may be too close to the bimetal pusher and just needs to be bent back a little, as demonstrated in the following video.

Video: What to do if the kettle turns off without boiling

There are times when the kettle does not turn on, this means that there is a break in its electrical circuit somewhere. It may be associated with burning and oxidation of contacts. To eliminate the malfunction, you need to find the location of the rupture, as was already described earlier about fault diagnosis.

If the electric kettle does not heat water, but its light is on, this may indicate a break in the nichrome spiral of the heating element or burnout of its leads. In the first case, the heating element will need to be replaced, and in the second, the contacts will need to be cleaned.

A situation may arise when the electric kettle button does not lock. The cause of such a breakdown is a slipped or burst spring. To eliminate the defect you must:

1. Remove the lid from the handle by unscrewing the screws under the top lid of the kettle and prying it with a screwdriver to release its latches from the grooves.
2. Remove the button by disconnecting the wires from it and unscrewing the screw.
3. After disassembling the button, replace the spring that came off.
4. If the spring is broken, the easiest way is to replace the button with a new one, because it is unlikely that you will be able to find a similar spare part.
5. Reassemble the kettle in reverse order.

Replacing the disc heater

Electric kettles with a disk heater are especially vulnerable to the formation of rust, which corrodes the metal, damaging their surface and compromising the seal of the electrical appliance. With such a defect, the device is not operational. The only way out is to replace the disk, which requires:

1. Remove the bottom of the kettle by unscrewing the screws (in some models it is also held in place by latches).
2. Remove the top cover.
3. Putting your hand into the kettle, squeeze out the heating element along with the silicone gasket.
4. Disconnect all components and parts installed on it from the disk.
5. Connect the terminal block, thermostat and other elements to the new heating element and assemble the kettle in the reverse order.

How to replace the spiral

To check the serviceability of a spiral heating element, you need to measure its resistance. If the multimeter shows one or infinity, the heating element needs to be replaced. To do this you need:

1. Remove the bottom, lid of the kettle and the cover on the handle to get to the screws securing the heating element.
2. Disconnect the supply wires from the spiral terminals.
3. Unscrew the three screws securing the heating element and remove it from the kettle.
4. Place a silicone gasket on the new heating element (can be removed from a burnt-out coil if it is not scuffed or damaged) and, installing it in the mounting hole, tighten it with screws.
5. Reassemble the device in reverse order.

The process of replacing the spiral is clearly shown in the following video.

Video: Replacing the spiral heating element of an electric kettle

How to connect an electric kettle directly

Connecting the electric kettle directly is carried out as a temporary measure if the power button fails. If it cannot be repaired, and at the moment there is nothing to replace it with, you just need to disconnect the wiring that goes to the button and connect them together with a twist. When connected directly, the device will no longer turn off automatically, and you need to ensure that it is turned off so that the heating element does not burn out.

An electric kettle today is available to people with different incomes, who can simply buy a new device if the old one breaks down. But if this is not possible at the moment, you can easily fix it yourself without spending money on paying for the services of a repairman.

An electric kettle is a simple and inexpensive household appliance, which, if it breaks, is most often thrown away and a new one is purchased to replace the old model.

However, if the owner belongs to the category of “home craftsmen” who are able to independently repair small household appliances, then he can try to restore the functionality of the kettle.

After familiarizing yourself with the design and principle of its operation, repairing the electric kettle with your own hands will not be difficult.

Design and principle of operation

Modern electric kettles are assembled on the basis of one electrical circuit and differ from each other in original design, power or volume. Moreover, all of them structurally consist of two parts - the teapot itself and the stand.

Design

The body parts of the electric kettle are made of various materials:

• stainless steel (Saturn, etc.);
• heat-resistant plastic (Maxwell mw -1028 b, etc.);
• heat-resistant glass (Vitek VT-7008 TR).

The electric kettle is connected to the mains when installed on a plastic stand, to which a power cord with a plug is connected. The connection is made through a 3-pin group located inside the stand in such a way as to prevent electric shock to the user. In this case, the device removed from the stand is completely de-energized.

In the body of the kettle, which is closed on top with a lid, the following are installed:

• contact group for connection with the mating part of the stand;
• disc heater or open coil (S or U-shaped);
• switch (thermostat);
• LED indicator (can be built into the switch);
• automatic shutdown device with bimetallic contacts.

In addition, a number of models are equipped with:

• additional filters that clean water from scale - made of stainless steel (Siemens TW60101) or nylon (Tefal BF2632 Vitesse);
• an internal flask that does not come into contact with the body of the kettle, which is made of heat-resistant glass or stainless steel and plays the role of a thermos;
• a thermal relay capable of maintaining a given water temperature in the range from 60 to 98°C for at least 4 hours (thermopot mode).

Important! Structurally, all parts that are energized during operation of the kettle are reliably protected from contact with water and exclude the possibility of accidental contact with them by the user.

Operating principle

Power supply from the AC mains is supplied to the kettle when it is placed on the stand through spring-loaded contacts, which are located in the center of its bottom. In the lower part of the body there is a heating element that heats the water when you press the switch, which can be located either in the upper or lower part of the kettle.

The connection diagram provides for the presence of a blocking device that protects the device from overheating. It consists of two contact pairs that are connected to the heating element. Each such pair consists of a contact and a bimetallic plate (glued together from two thin plates with different linear expansion coefficients), capable of bending in different directions when the temperature changes.

The bimetallic plate of one pair contacts directly with the housing and ensures that the connection opens when it overheats. In the normal position, this pair is constantly closed. It only works when a kettle without water is connected to the network.

The second pair of contacts ensures that the device is disconnected from the power supply when the water boils. This happens under the influence of hot steam acting on the bimetallic plate.

In this case, hot air is supplied through a special channel, which is most often used as the cavity of the handle.

However, in some models, a separate round or square tube is installed to supply steam.

Electric kettle repair

Despite the apparent simplicity of the design, the service life of an electric kettle is not eternal. Sooner or later there comes a time when, having turned it on, the user discovers that the device has stopped working.

Common faults

A list of common malfunctions and the causes that cause them are given in the table.

Malfunction	Faulty element	Possible reason
The kettle is turned on and does not heat the water.	heating element	Scale formation; contact burnout; heating element has failed.
The kettle does not turn on	Power button	Oxidation of contacts; breakdown of button parts.
Stand	Oxidation of contacts; burnout of contact pads; failure of the power plug.
Water leaks from the kettle	Frame	The glass with the water level indicator scale is damaged; the sealing elements have become unusable (if there is an open type heating element).
The kettle does not turn off for a long time when the water boils.	Body parts	The top cover is not adjusted; the steam channel is clogged with scale.
Thermostat	Parts of the switch (thermostat) are damaged
The kettle turns off before the water boils.	heating element	Scale formation

Advice: parts and components that have become unusable, as a rule, cannot be repaired, but must be replaced.

When starting repairs, the kettle must be disassembled, which is sometimes more difficult than repairing.

How to disassemble an electric kettle

Disassembling the electric kettle and/or its stand is not particularly difficult. To do this, it is enough to prepare only a set of screwdrivers: Phillips, flat and possibly Spanne (two-pronged fork).

Attention! Before you begin disassembling the electric kettle, you must unplug the power cord from the power outlet.

1. Removing the bottom cover of the electric kettle.
   Disassembling the electric kettle begins by removing the bottom cover (bottom). To do this, you need to unscrew all the screws there. Typically, the bottom cover is secured with self-tapping screws (self-tapping screws) with a cross-shaped head. However, you can sometimes find screws with a Spanne head. This is how electric kettle manufacturers try to protect the device from self-repair. If you do not have such a screwdriver, such screws can be carefully unscrewed with tweezers or side cutters.

   In addition, the screw heads can be covered with decorative plugs, which can be easily removed using a sharp object. Once all the screws are removed, the bottom cover should come off easily.

   If this does not happen, then it is additionally secured with plastic latches. They need to be carefully pressed out using a flat-head screwdriver. The bottom cover of the stand is removed in a similar way.

2. Removing the switch.
   This is one of the most difficult operations that have to be performed when repairing an electric kettle. It is placed at the top of the handle (key) or at its base (plate or lever). To dismantle the switch, you need to carefully remove the plastic cover and unscrew the screws that opened underneath it. This will allow you to separate the handle with the lid from the body and remove the part. In addition, this allows access to thermal protection elements.

Tip: remove the plastic parts of the handle very carefully. They are fragile and can break easily.

The sequence of operations to eliminate the reasons why the kettle stopped working is almost the same for all modern models. The order is as follows:

• make sure that the power cord is in good condition and that the stand is working;
• check if the heating element is working;
• start checking the switch (thermostat).

The work at each stage must be completed by eliminating the defects found, some of which are described below.

The kettle does not turn on

The fact that the electric kettle does not turn on is indicated by the LED indicator, which does not light up when the corresponding key (lever) is pressed. There may be several reasons that can cause this defect.

1. Malfunction of the power plug or power cord is determined by checking with a tester, for which it is enough to remove the bottom cover of the stand. If a break is found in the cord, it is replaced.
2. Carbon deposits on the contacts of the connecting device of the stand and the kettle can be eliminated by cleaning the contacts with fine-grained sandpaper until they shine. If the contacts and union terminals are completely burnt, then they are replaced. However, this is quite a painstaking job that requires skills in electrical installation work. In addition, you will have to remove the bottom lids of the kettle and stands.

The kettle is on, but the water is not heating

The fact that the kettle is turned on is indicated by the LED lighting up after pressing the key (lever). The defect associated with the fact that the light is on and the kettle does not heat the water can be caused by two reasons:

• poor contact with the heating element;
• heating element burnout.

To gain access to the heating element, the electric kettle must be disassembled. First, check the functionality of the contact connections. If they are charred and the wires from the slip-on terminals have fallen off, then it is necessary to restore the connections (replace the terminals, clean the contacts, etc.

). In addition, on the Internet you can find quite a lot of video materials devoted to the modification and restoration of contacts welded to the heating element. Only after the electrical connection has been completely restored can you begin to check the integrity of the heating element (continuity test).

They check the heating element by measuring the resistance between its output contacts with a tester. If the device shows the presence of resistance, then the heating element is working. Otherwise, the heating element's coil will burn out.

Important! Only the open type heating element can be replaced. Replacing the disk heating element is impossible, since it is mounted into the bottom of the housing.

The kettle is leaking

There can be several reasons for water leakage. For example, if the kettle is equipped with an open heating element, then water leakage can be caused by:

• loosening the heater fastening - the defect can be eliminated by carefully tightening the existing fasteners;
• violation of the tightness of the seal - the leak is eliminated by replacing the sealing rings.

If the electric kettle leaks through microcracks in the body parts, it is recommended to wait a few days, hoping that they will be covered with lime deposits and the water will stop oozing. If this does not happen, then it is better to purchase a new kettle.

The water is boiling, but the kettle won't turn off

The cause of this defect most often lies in a faulty switch (thermostat). It is he who is responsible for the timely shutdown of the heating element when the water boils. The reasons for this are:

• burnt contacts;
• oxidation of bimetallic plates;
• wear or breakage of plastic parts, etc.

Experts recommend replacing a faulty switch, but some of its faults can be eliminated yourself. In this case, the part must be dismantled and disassembled. This must be done carefully, since each manufacturer uses switches of its own design, and there will be nothing to replace a broken plastic part with.

Advice: you need to be especially careful when handling switches installed in Tefal vitesse electric kettles. They use plastic slats that transmit translational motion from the outer button to the inner one, which is located in the lower part of the case. If even one rack breaks, the entire kettle will need to be replaced.

Such well-known companies as Bosch, Philips, Scarlett, Polaris and others often use switches (thermostats) of a modular design, assembled using the elastic properties of plastic. To remove the block with contacts, you must carefully press out the existing latches. Only after this can conductive parts be cleaned of carbon deposits or traces of oxidation.

Premature shutdown of the kettle

If the kettle turns off before the water boils, there is no need to disassemble it. Just take a packet of citric acid, add it to 0.5 liters of water and boil the resulting solution in a kettle with the lid open. If it is not possible to get rid of scale the first time, then the operation is repeated.

Prevention of breakdowns

To avoid malfunctions, you must adhere to the following recommendations:

• comply with all requirements of the operating instructions;
• regularly clean the internal surfaces of the kettle from lime deposits (scale);
• Do not bend the electrical cord that connects the device to the AC mains.

Attention! Do not try to revive the kettle by connecting the heating element directly to the power supply. This is life-threatening!

Repairing an electric kettle that is not working is within the capabilities of any user. However, experts believe that the right decision is to purchase a new device.

Source: https://hitech-online.ru/tehnika-dlya-kuhni/elektrochajnik/remont-svoimi-rukami.html

How does automatic shut-off work in a kettle?

The thought of how the automatic shutdown works in a kettle can literally make you puzzled. Has progress really gotten to the point where electrical appliances somehow know when to stop? Knowledge of physics does not provide any elementary answer, and one’s own strength is usually not enough to disassemble the device and understand the principle of operation.

The history of the teapot

Archaeological excavations have shown that the first teapots appeared long before our era, in China. Apparently, the eastern neighbors loved tea very much, since they invented a new type of tableware especially for it.

Later, thanks to migration and mixing of cultures, the device spread throughout the world, quickly winning the love of our ancestors.

It is quite possible that in fact there is no single “homeland” of the teapot. The idea for creating a device could have visited different nations at a distance of thousands of kilometers from each other, at approximately the same time. An error of even a couple of centuries is not taken into account.

For a person this is a whole life and even more, but for history it is only a short-term moment.

The first teapots were made made of clay, able to withstand heat and high temperatures. With the advent of high-quality metal processing technologies, our ancestors were able to move on to the production of metal teapots.

Copper products were popular for a long time, then they were replaced by iron and, ultimately, aluminum.

The first electric kettles

If in the 17th-18th centuries it was necessary to heat water over a fire, then after a couple of hundred years the situation changed radically:

• The use of natural gas for the needs of the population has opened a new era.
• To make tea, it was not necessary to light a stove or light a fire, just turn on the burner and ignite the gas.
• The service life of the cookware has increased and the cooking time has been reduced. After all, there was no need to worry about starting a fire.

And already in the 19th century the Germans made another breakthrough - the first kettles appeared, the heating of which was carried out using electrical energy. Of course, they only vaguely resembled modern models and were not as reliable. Rather, they were a newfangled toy for the aristocracy, but it was precisely this discovery contributed to the development of household electrical appliances.

New electric kettles:

1. They worked using electricity.
2. There was no need for a fire source at all.
3. They heated up much faster than their conventional counterparts.
4. They failed more often.
5. They were much more expensive, especially at first.

If it were not for the fashion for these devices, they would have been abandoned at the very beginning of the journey, citing low profitability. So sometimes fashion trends are beneficial.

Automatic kettle switch-off system

To avoid overheating or even fire, every modern electric kettle has a built-in simple system:

• There is a bimetallic plate inside the kettle.
• It consists of two metals, each of which changes its shape under the influence of temperature.
• But changes begin to occur at different indicators, so when the boiling temperature is reached, the shape of the plate changes.
• It bends inward, touches the contacts and ensures that the automatic system operates.
• In manual mode, you can turn off the kettle by pressing the button and using the same principle, but with minimal effort on the part of the person.

Now you can remember your school physics course and say that The boiling point may vary depending on pressure indicators.

It turns out that in mountainous areas such a system will be absolutely useless? But no, regulation occurs due to the effect of steam on the plate, not water. This also explains the fact that the heating device does not turn off immediately when it reaches a hundred degrees, but continues to work for some time, boiling water.

Comparison of metal and electric kettles

Are new technologies always that useful? The simplicity that our ancestors used for thousands of years has not disappeared from modern life. Until now, every apartment has an ordinary kettle on the gas stove, although it is not always used often.

Below table of differences between a regular gas kettle and an electric one:

An ordinary metal kettle, although unpretentious in everyday life, is not as convenient as its electric counterpart. You can pour 1.5-2 liters of water into the electrical appliance, place it on the stand and press the button. That’s it, after a few minutes the water will boil and you can start drinking tea or using it for another purpose.

A gas stove will take longer to heat water, let alone an electric stove. If for some reason you live without a kettle for a long time and get used to the boiling speed of a Turk or a metal equivalent, The speed of the electric kettle for the first week will be simply amazing. Once you get used to good things, you won’t want to go back.

Protecting electric kettles from overheating

To turn off the electric kettle:

• Due to the activation of a special automatic system.
• A bimetallic strip is used as a boiling indicator.
• Curving under the influence of temperature, it acts on the switch, opening the contact.
• The condition of the plate itself is affected by the temperature of the steam formed during the evaporation of boiling water.
• After boiling, the device does not turn off immediately, allowing the water to boil for 5-10 seconds. This is not a clever idea, the delay is explained by the fact that the steam takes time to reach the plate and heat it to the desired temperature.

This is such a simple system, the kettle doesn’t have any artificial intelligence, so you don’t have to worry about this for now. But it remains to be seen what the near future will give us; equipment has already gone on sale that can turn on and off after sending an SMS from the phone.

It’s convenient when you can heat up tea and heat up food in the microwave before you even drive up to the house.

There is no need to disassemble the electrical appliance to understand how the automatic shutdown in the kettle works. Even without ruining the equipment, you can get hurt yourself. Especially if you forget about basic safety rules. Still, this is working with electricity.

about the design and operation of an electric kettle

Below, specialist and heating appliance repairman Elena Amalova will tell you how an electric kettle works, how it turns off after boiling, and how to choose a good device:

Source: http://1-kak.ru/remont-i-interer/83-pereplanirovka-kvartiry.html

Do-it-yourself electric kettle repair: instructions and video

Household electrical appliances are widely used all over the world and one of the most common electrical appliances is the electric kettle.

Despite the reliability of many models and manufacturers, the service life of electric kettles, like other electrical appliances, is limited, so kettles, sooner or later, break.

And in this case, it is not necessary to send the kettle in for repair or purchase a new one - you can repair the electric kettle yourself. In this article, we will discuss with our readers how to repair the most common breakdowns in electric kettles.

Before you undertake the repair of any electrical appliance, you need to understand its operating principle - this rule also applies to the kettle. From the electrical diagram it is easy to understand the operating principle of this electrical appliance. Note that almost all models operate according to the operating principle below.

The principle of operation is as follows: after connecting the plug to the power source, the current passes through the wire to the contacts of the stand, on which all kettles are installed when heating water.

At the base of the kettle itself there are special contacts that are connected together with contacts located on the stand - this way the circuit is closed and the heating element is heated.

The electricity then passes through a thermal switch, a device that allows the kettle to turn off when it reaches a certain temperature (usually the boiling point).

Also in the standard circuit there is a thermal protection switch, which is constantly on and is activated only if the user turns on an empty kettle. From the designated switches, electricity passes directly to the electric heating element (which is also called the heating element).

We have looked at the basic principle of operation of an electric kettle - now we will consider separately the operation of some of its circuits and sections.

Electrical diagram of components

Carefully examine the teapot stand and its contact point with the teapot itself. Inside the circular grooves you can find an electrical contact located on a small spring.

It is through this contact that voltage from the general network is supplied to the electric kettle itself. In the center of the stand there is another contact, which, when in contact with the electric kettle, grounds its body.

In fact, this contact does not play any role and is intended only to protect the user in the event of a violation of the insulation integrity.

The power cord that fits the electric kettle stand, inside this stand, branches into three wires, to which the terminals are connected.

One wire is intended for grounding, the other two contacts go to concentric copper rings, which are used to transfer electricity from the stand to the electric kettle itself.

overheat protection

Heating elements have high power and get very hot during operation, so each electric kettle is additionally equipped with a special protection system. The basis of the operation of this system is bimetallic plates, which, when heated to a certain temperature, unbend and open the circuit, thereby preventing further overheating of the kettle.

Automatic shutdown

Almost all modern electric kettles have a special system that disconnects the heating element from the voltage when the water reaches boiling temperature.

The principle of operation of such a machine is simple - when heated, steam is supplied through a special channel to a bimetallic plate, which in turn is connected to a switch.

When the kettle boils and the steam pressure increases, the bimetallic plate heats up and presses on the switch lever, thereby disconnecting the electric kettle from the network.

We have looked at the main technical features, and now we will look at how to repair an electric kettle. For the convenience of readers, we will consider specific examples that most often arise with kettles from various companies (Tefal, Philips, etc.):

1. The kettle stopped heating water. In this case, the malfunction is very minor - a section on the heating element itself has broken or there is no contact between some terminals and the terminals on the heating element. The connection is restored very easily - to do this, you need to disassemble the kettle and determine the location of the contacts. When determining where there is no contact, it is necessary to restore the connection of the terminal with the terminals on the heating element using pliers.
2. The kettle has stopped heating water and the indicator does not show that the kettle is on. First of all, we check the voltage in the network. If there is one, the reason is poor contact between the current collectors at the base of the electric kettle body and the stand. In this case, it is necessary to check how the spring-loaded contacts, which we discussed above, are holding. To do this, the stand is disassembled and a ring with a suitable contact is taken out. It is necessary to check how tightly they are fixed - as a rule, they become loose over time and you simply need to tighten them more tightly so that electricity passes through the contacts.
3. The switch or overheat protection does not work. When considering the question of how to repair an electric kettle, most often in practice they are faced with a non-working switch. It may be broken due to wear of plastic parts, rust on the surface of the bimetallic plate. To check the condition, it is necessary to remove the switch from the housing and check the integrity of the parts. After this, it is necessary to inspect the condition of the plates. If there is a strong deposit of steam or rust on them, it must be removed and the operation of the switch must be checked again. These measures are also taken if the overheating protection stops working (in other words, the kettle stops turning off) - it is necessary to check the condition of the bimetallic plates and, if necessary, clean them.
4. The kettle is leaking. In this case, it is necessary to check the integrity of the kettle body and see exactly where the leak is coming from. As a rule, if there is a strong leak, there may be no talk of repairing the kettle, especially if its body is made of low-quality plastic or the internal surface is severely damaged as a result of damage.

In addition to the above information, we recommend watching a video where you can see detailed instructions for repairing electric kettles.