Toaster Needs Repair? 6 Quick Fixes to Try Before Buying a New One

When a toaster starts burning toast or stops working completely, it doesn’t always mean that it has broken down for good. Sometimes all it takes to get a toaster working again is just a simple adjustment or repair that you can do yourself with just a few simple tools. Here are six of the more common things that can wrong with a toaster; you’ll be surprised at how easy it is to repair.

CAUTION: To avoid the risk of electric shock, remember to unplug the toaster before attempting to make any repairs.

Burnt toast. If your toaster is burning toast, double check the settings so that the level or dial is just below the mid point and not cranked to the highest number. Those higher numbers should only be used when trying to toast a slice of frozen bread or a dense bread product such as a bagel.

Toasts on one side. This happens in my toaster quite a bit, and is usually caused by one of two reasons:
Wrong Slot. If your toaster is like mine, there should be an arrow on the top that directs the operator to use a special slot when toasting only one piece of bread. Using the wrong slot results in slice of bread that’s only been toasted on one side.
Function switch set incorrectly. For dual function or four-slot toaster, the function switch controls which elements receive power. If the switch is in the wrong position, this too can cause partially toasted slices of bread.

Irregular toasting or uneven toasting. When bagels or English muffins get caught in a toaster, removing them may knock the toasting rack out of alignment which will affect the next piece of bread that’s dropped in the slot. To fix a dropped rack, unplug the toaster and gently move the rack back into the grooves where it belongs. You can refer to the rack in the other slot as your guide.

Smokes during use. Trapped food particles or an overflowing crumb tray can cause a toaster to smoke. To clean, unplug the toaster, tilt sideways over newspaper, and open up the crumb tray located in the base of the toaster. Gently brush off the crumbs from the tray. To remove trapped food particle in the rack or the element, a pair of chopsticks works great.

No power. A ground fault circuit interrupter (GFI) is an outlet that has been equipped with a built-in circuit breaker to prevent shock. If you’ve plugged the toaster into a kitchen outlet and the power cuts out suddenly, you may have tripped the GFI. To reset the GFI, look for the outlet nearest the toaster that has a red or black (or both) bar in the center of the outlet. Press the button marked “reset” to restore the power.

If resetting the GFI doesn’t work, try plugging in the toaster into another outlet in another room. If the toaster still won’t turn work, then it’s probably time to buy a new toaster.

More by this contributor:

Comparison shopping home repairs saved us $3000.
Finding and fixing the energy drains in our home
No Electricity? 5 easy things to check first.