Wife was stung by the mixmaster

[lorainfurniture]

Per one of my previous posts I was able to find a practically new mixmaster, and with the help of a member here I was able to secure all the optional attachments. I really love this mixer.

About 3 weeks ago I had a power surge. Something happened to the mixmaster and the body became energized. My wife was shocked. Literally.

It's now sitting in my basement, and she refuses to ever look at it again let alone use it.

Should I just sell it and move on? How could I possibly convince her to give it another go?

 

[rickr]

.

Put a three wire cord on it, so it is grounded. That is what I did with mine. It is easy to do, and the old cord should be replaced anyway. I used a three wire cord from a computer tower. Just cut the one end off.

 

[realvanman]

Interesting. Evidently it has developed a ground fault. Indeed it is very possible that it had the ground fault all along. The conditions required to get shocked are fairly rare, so long as one is taking ordinary, reasonable precautions.

It's a good idea to treat all electrical equipment as though it is ungrounded and may be live, ground wire or not. Unless you're working on wood or linoleum, wear shoes or slippers or the like. NEVER touch something known to be grounded, such as a sink or stove, with one hand and the metal parts of an appliance with the other hand! Grounding conductors and their connections can and do fail, and should only be considered a second line of defense.

The problem, at this point, with simply installing a three wire cord is that the faulted part may well be damaged.

Now it's time to break out the multimeter, disassemble the mixer, and isolate the cause of the fault. Besides, it may have never been disassembled, cleaned, and lubricated. After sixty years I'd say it's due. As long as the fault isn't in the motor itself, it'll likely be an easy fix.

PS, original cords are extremely important to me, and indeed one very important part of what I look at when buying. I use two wire equipment all of the time.

When a cord *must* be replaced, I try to use something that appears, or is, period correct. The problem with computer cords is that they're made out of cheap plastic. They're stiff and shiny, and don't have the right feel. Even if you do go with a grounding plug, I would select some nice, soft, rubber-like SO type cord. The modern cord caps are hideous though, so I collect all the vintage ones I can, both two and three pole.

Keith

 

[retro-man]

I remember many years ago as a very young teen, my mother was mixing a cake with her metal housed portable mixer. I had touched her arm while I was leaning with my other hand on the sink. We both got a good shock. She was so mad at me. I was standing there looking at her, like I had no idea and I did not do it on purpose. Just to say that mixer was put to the basement and she never used it again. I think it was thrown at one point during a clean out.

Jon

 

[panthera]

Several possibilities

Here. First off, I'm glad she wasn't seriously injured - being shocked is not fun.

Some of these mixers have capacitors between the live current and the chassis. A serious overload (like a power surge/lightening strike) can kill a brand new capacitor, never mind an ancient one. This or a worn through power cord are the most likely causes of the problem and both are easily and quickly remedied.A grounded cord is a good idea. No, I am not referring to the ceramic capacitor for the governor, separate beasty.

I use GFCI outlets for all my electrical equipment in the kitchen (you can buy plug in ones at The Home Depot for less than $20) and recommend you do, too.

It's not likely that the motor/governor themselves have actually failed with a short to ground. You can test with a good VOM, but until you know for sure, I (and I say this as a guy who has over 30 Mixmasters of various vintages and loves and uses them) agree with your wife: If it's a bad enough shock to be that memorable, it's way more current that was needed to kill her. Way more.

 

 

 

 

[circlew]

I remember the old Sunbeam Model 9 that we got from my dad's Aunt Hazel would sometimes shock us if we were touching the stainless steel trim on the countertop and touched the mixer. This trim strip was touching the grounded range, so was grounded, too. We didn't use this mixer for long; I soon bought her a new Hamilton-Beach made Sears CounterCraft.

The kitchen receptacles at that time weren't GFCI, and weren't even the grounded type.

 

[sudsmaster]

Hmm. I have a Model 9, I'm a gonna have to take the volt-ohmeter to it...

 

[realvanman]

Testing for ground faults

You will usually get a voltage reading if you test for voltage between ground and the appliance frame, even if there are no faults. This is due to capacitive coupling between the energized parts inside and the frame.

Therefore it is instead necessary to use an ohmmeter between the frame and the the prongs of the plug.

A digital meter may well still give a reading, but as long as it is in the megohms it's fine. Leave the meter on a while and the capacitance may charge up and the meter read open circuit.

I just tested my Faberware coffee percolator with a voltmeter this morning while it was running, and got a reading of ~5 volts. So I reversed the plug and got ~112 volts. But this gradually fell off to ~60 volts, so I'm sure there's no fault.

Besides, touching the metal of it would result in a burn!

Next I will test it with an ohmmeter.

Keith