Russell Hobbs K2 kettle fixing kit

[suebutcher]

I need a couple of element fixing kits to keep my kettle going, particularly the silicone rubber element washers and the brass element fixing stud, but the only supplier I've found on the net doesn't post outside the UK. Any suggestions? (Apart from buying a modern kettle of course!)

[Herald1360]

Well.... put up the supplier details of what you want and I'll have a look and see what it would all come to if I posted them to you. If the total doesn't put you off, we have a solution.

Edit:

I guess it's the Bodmin supplier you're thinking of. Getting one to me would be £6. Two could be £10 or £12 depending on whether they'd combine postage. Guessing at <200g, posting to you could be about £4 for snail mail (up to 84 days!) or £10 plus a bit for standard signed for (5-7 days).

[suebutcher]

Thanks for the offer, Chris. Yes, it's the Bodmin supplier. Slow mail would be OK, the reused parts are holding up for now. I'll PM you about it.

So, I've been using a British K3 for about eight years, but the spout's just fallen off, so I've rebuilt my old New Zealand made K2. Before the K3 I had a Chinese-made K5, and it wasn't good. After a few weeks the water level indicator jammed up and started to disintegrate, and the element blew after a year. Typical.

[Brigham]

APART from buying a modern kettle?
If you have a Russell Hobbs K2, you've already BOUGHT a modern kettle!

[Paul_RK]

I'm surprised and glad to see these kits so readily available, perhaps I should buy one.

Wondering what I would do if our K2 were to fail, I looked around the market for new kettles in order to move it into semi-retirement, ruled out anything cordless or with a water level indicator, and settled on a two-litre Burco commercial kettle. It's quite similar in style and seems like the K2's natural heir. Nearly seven years and probably 25000 boilings later it's still going strong with just a replacement knob for the lid, as the original slowly crumbled away.

The K2 itself is indeed quite modern, but two or three older kettles here had died when another member of the household plugged them in and then forgot about them. Even when there's a mechanism to eject the connector, we found out the hard way that it doesn't always work.

Paul

['LIVEWIRE?']

Paul, What is your objection to cordless kettles (just curious, btw) I've owned and used cordless jug kettles for years, and find them very convenient to use. Wouldn't go back to a corded or conventional kettle now.

[Refugee]

There were a quite big batch of kettles with leaky water level gauges that leaked into the live base produced in the 1980s and 1990s.
I will not buy one unless I can see how the level gauge is constructed eliminating many branded models.

[Paul_RK]

Originally Posted by 'LIVEWIRE?'

What is your objection to cordless kettles (just curious, btw)

Nothing very informed. A glance at the type of connector used had reminded me too closely of one I'd met on cordless hair tongs, which had spectacularly fallen apart. That, and distrust of what might leach from plastics in repeated contact with boiling water, and the noise level from most or all of the jug kettles I'd ever come across, and accounts of how often the necessarily dissimilar materials used to allow a visible water gauge led to cracking or leakage within a year or so, together persuaded me to look for a new kettle as close to the K2 as possible in general design.

[Station X]

Originally Posted by 'LIVEWIRE?'

Paul, What is your objection to cordless kettles (just curious, btw) I've owned and used cordless jug kettles for years, and find them very convenient to use. Wouldn't go back to a corded or conventional kettle now.

I've had a Redring corded kettle for the last 35 years and nothing has ever gone wrong with it electrically. However the plastic turned from white to yellow, so it's now been relegated to the workshop.

In the past five years I've got through three cordless kettles. Cheap ones and expensive ones have all failed. It's generally the switch contacts in the base that burn out. This is what's happened to the latest Bosch one and it's very difficult to gain access to make a repair.

I'm going to try something like this:-

https://www.pattersons.co.uk/product...SABEgIKWPD_BwE

[paulsherwin]

Dirt cheap ones seem to last better than expensive ones, certainly where leakage is concerned, though they tend to have feeble elements so take a while to boil. I've never had a problem with cordless contacts on any kettle but maybe I've been lucky.

['LIVEWIRE?']

I, too, have never had problems with cordless jug kettles, usually only replacing them when the element failed, having some years ago, found that a new element for a kettle I had then was half the price of a new kettle from a local electrical shop. My current kettle is a Breville, now just over a year old, hasn't given any trouble. Before that I had a Philips one which lasted 5 or 6 years.

[AC/HL]

My Wife bought one of those glass bodied cordless kettles with a blue LED. It looked nice, but the contact in the base (RBJ to any Tankies) disintegrated in just a few months, as did it's guarantee replacement. We have a Swan brand one now, which seems OK.

[Refugee]

Wilco kettles last about 5 years and are quite cheap. Expensive ones just do not last any longer.

[suebutcher]

Originally Posted by Paul_RK

The K2 itself is indeed quite modern, but two or three older kettles here had died when another member of the household plugged them in and then forgot about them. Even when there's a mechanism to eject the connector, we found out the hard way that it doesn't always work.

My K2 was sidelined because I once turned it on when it was dry after I'd cleaned it the previous day, and the solder fell out of the joint holding the base. I'd forgotten to replace the copper heat conductor from the element the overheat cut-out lever the previous time I'd repaired it. At that time didn't have gas torch to fix the joint, but I was saved the bother by some friends gave me a dud NZ K2 kettle with a good body.

[sp10mk11]

I still use a K2, I have stock piled a few for spares if ever needed, good luck with your parts Sue, great kettles
Gary

[mark_in_manc]

I guess it depends on whether things fur up where one lives. No limescale here, so my K2 has done 25 years with me and who knows what before that.

I think a good while back, various wives at work must have said 'that old thing will do you for the lab - let's have a new one at home'. Then more recently folks in the lab said 'that looks a bit old, might be unsafe, better buy a new one'. Their loss has been my gain (x3)

[Herald1360]

Two kits ordered for Sue. I might get them by the weekend...... they should reach Oz by Christmas!