Friday 15 June 2012

New clutch on the Kitchenaid blender

We touch upon all the important issues on Fun and VJs.

There may be doom and gloom out there in the big, bad world... but that is nothing compared to when your trusty blender fails to blend, midway through making pumpkin soup.

We've got the older style Kitchenaid blender with the glass jug. The clutch is the little crown on the top.

The rubber clutch which makes the blades spin in the blender jug had deteriorated. All the prongs had fallen off which meant no more blade spinning. I hate it when appliances break, usually you have to throw it away and buy a new one or there are expensive repairs. Most things these days aren't built to last!!

Our Kitchenaid blender is about six years old, so I called the helpline to find out what we needed to do to repair it. It turns out the rubber clutch is replaceable and they gave me the telephone numbers of the stores which stocked the part. You can even replace the part yourself (instructions here). What a relief!

Clutch on the Kitchenaid blender
Apparently the clutch deteriorates over time when you blend very hot liquids or if you pull the jug off the base before it stops blending. Guilty!

I went to Executive Chef in South Brisbane which is one of the places that stocks the part. For the magic sum of $9.95 the nice people at Executive Chef will sell you the clutch and if you bring the blender base with you, they will even replace the clutch for you. Very cool.

That is the most inexpensive repair ever (much cheaper than the Peugeot!). I had to share this with you, as I'm easily impressed by the small things.

17 comments:

  1. You have just got to love good service! No wonder kitchen aid has such a good name. No rip off services and expensive repairs. I love that!

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  2. Good stuff!
    My Peugeot has been coming up with 'gearbox faulty'. I'm scared.

    TDM xx

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  3. Ah, that's the only bit that fails on mine too. I'm on my third clutch in 5 years, as I'm very impatient when it comes to taking the blender off the base when it stops. The children just won't wait for their pancake batter.

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  4. You're a clutch veteran. I felt dreadful for being so negligent and heavy handed with my blender. I blame the children too. xx

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  5. Good old Kitchenaid! I won't report you for blender abuse this time.
    x

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  6. Hello:
    This seems to be very good news and we imagine that $9.95 is not much money. Happily we are not beset with such problems as we do not, as far as we know, own a blender.

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  7. I just bought an OmniBlend industrial blender which has dire warnings about removing the jug too soon - in fact it has a very stern beep. I'm too intimidated not to let it come. to. a. complete. stop!
    I was in Brisbane for a day during my whirlwind trip, in West End and New Farm and the university, thought of you!

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  8. That's a really nice story. I'm heartened by the fact that some appliances in this throw-away, cheap world are still in for the long-haul.

    I had a hand-blender disintegrate mid-pumpkin soup once. I never really got over that. Wasted pumpkin, broken blender, having to come up with something else for lunch.

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  9. In a world where Built In Obsolescence is set at about one year and one day, this is impressive. You can also get new pans for some bread makers when the non-stick wears out and the loaves begin to squat like old hippies, instead of coming out and being eaten.
    PP

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  10. I dropped my KitchenAid food processor bowl and a tiny bit of the handle chipped. It was the bit that locked it on though so the whole thing wouldn't work. I rang KitchenAid and explained it was my fault. They told me where I could buy a new one but because it was over 200km away the lady offered to just package one up for me and post it out for free. So kind and such brilliant customer service. Like you I was excited that I could get parts and keep food processing as so often I have to replace the whole appliance.

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  11. You'll be very impressed with me then, Bris.

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  12. For a second I read this as you were blending a clutch....I was thinking clutch purse... Pleased it wasn't but I didn't even know they had a clutch. My blender is olive green circa 1970s my mother in law got it from life line circa 1992. It still blends a treat. I used to think it was ugly but now of course it's retro lines I dig. Beautiful day today. Xx

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  13. i'm easily impressed by small things too, it always seems astounding these days to get good service at a good price.

    i bet jason was amazed too! : p

    have a great weekend darl xxx

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  14. Kitchenaids, hey? They just keep keeping on.

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  15. Bargain fix! That's great and unexpected in this day and age.
    Ps I knew you'd be a no paint voter re my wardrobe. I've had such interesting comment I think you have all swayed me :)

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  16. That all sounded too easy. My sister is still using mum's old Sunbeam Mixmaster that is about 30 years old. I bought a new Sunbeam Cafe Series mixer a while back - lasted a month and got a replacement. I think some companies are making more money on spare parts these days. My last blender died "mid-soup" blending as well. I eventually bought a Thermomix - hope it lasts the distance.

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  17. Wow. I can't believe a blender can last that long!

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