Morphy Richards kettle leaking.....

[theflyingpig]

Bit of a strange one in that it doesn't leak all the time, and won't leak when you try and make it leak!
Got hold if some little triangular bits to take the bottom off, but I'm none the wiser... Filled up and left sitting - no leak visible...

Anyone come across this one before?

Thanks!

 

[theflyingpig]

Pics....

 

[Mottie]

Maybe heat is opening up a crack/joint?

 

[RandomGrinch]

Does the leak only occur when the kettle is particularly full, or after a vigorous boil?
There seems to be evidence of corrosion around the base, and particularly around the thermostat - the kettle has a steam tube connected to the top rim, that leads down to the thermostat disc. There should be a rubber seal at the base of this tube - if it is dirty, or deteriorated, the leak could be coming from steam escaping from the bottom of this tube.

 

[jj4091]

Quite common for them to leak, rarely repairable in my experiencer.

 

[JohnD]

If overfilled, I believe water can boil into the steam tube when heated.

 

[theflyingpig]

Thanks all... The steam tube seemed very loose where it connected to the switch so I put a tiny zip tie around it, boiled it a couple of times, DRY!

patted myself on the back, went to bed, got up to a puddle under kettle.....

 

[theflyingpig]

Now got it propped up over some newspaper, full,.... Go on, leak you bugger!

 

[opps]

Bin it.

It isn't worth while to repair.

I used to have a Porsche Siemens kettle that cost about £100- 15 years ago.

One day the kettle would not engage with the sub base. I used a cable tie to project the connection on the base upwards, it worked for about 5 months, then the kettle started to leak.

That is when I decided to bin the kettle.

Solid skin kettles might well last for years, but, IMO, any with plastic windows will fail.

 

[securespark]

I have always had trouble with kettles, less so leaking, but they always end up boiling longer than they did when just OOTB.

 

[theflyingpig]

Well, I thought I'd have one last go at it....partly beacuase I'm stubborn, but mostly because I was slightly enjoying how annoyed the missus was at having a dismantled kettle all over the kitchen table....

Removed a couple of pins that the button hinged on, that allowed me to lift away most of the guts of it, exposing the edge seal. Ran a healthy bead of high temp sealant around edge...

Two days of use later, no leaks yet. Allowing me to put the ancient noisy emergency kettle back in the loft and to look smug, however briefly.

 

[JohnD]

will this sealant prevent water draining out of the base

so it fills up?

 

[theflyingpig]

Yes, seems to have stopped it leaking out of base.....

 

[Eccles]

Seeing as you can get a brand new one in The Range for £15, why bother?

 

[theflyingpig]

Seeing as you can get a brand new one in The Range for £15, why bother?

I can't help it. But hell, I ain't apologizing for it