That $5 toaster I bought at a church rummage sale nearly burned my kitchen down

Picked up a vintage chrome toaster for 5 bucks at St. Mary's rummage sale last Saturday, figured it'd be a fun retro piece. Got home, plugged it in, and the thing started shooting smoke after 30 seconds - turned out the heating element was basically a exposed wire wrapped in rust. Anyone else have a thrift store appliance that tried to kill them?

2 comments

2 Comments

ellis.susan28d ago

Oh man, did that thing have one of those old cloth cords too? I picked up a vintage blender from a garage sale once that shot sparks across my counter and melted the plug.

adam_hernandez28d ago

My dad had an old Sunbeam mixer from the 50s with the cloth cord and all. Those cords dry rot over time and the insulation just crumbles. Best thing I ever did was cut the plug off and put a modern grounded cord on it. Took about ten minutes with a screwdriver and some wire nuts. If you don't want to mess with that, just replace the whole cord with a new cloth covered one from an appliance parts store. Old wiring is no joke, man. It'll burn your house down faster than you can say "vintage.