It happened last week. I put a couple of frozen steaks on the grill, and turned the timer knob to what I thought was fifteen minutes. The knob came off in my hand. Looking back on it, the knob was getting harder and harder to turn, and the dinger at the end of time did not ding anymore.
My Nuwave oven, everything looks normal.
The engineer in me said, “look for spare parts.” The Nuwave website does not get into specific parts, only complete assemblies. I can buy a whole new heating head for $55.00 or even upgrade to digital for $65 but I can’t buy a knob or a timer switch.
Broken Timer Knob
Down to the shop I went yesterday. In five minutes I had the patient opened for examination. Four of those five minutes were spent in cleaning a space on my cluttered workbench.
The Heart of the Beast
The switch came off easily, but disconnecting the wires was harder.Eventually, I got them off and had the heart of the beast in my hand. The timer shaft was hard to turn. In fact it made a horrible grinding noise when I forced it to move. That is not a good sign. What the heck, shoot some WD40 down the shaft to loosen it some more. All it can do is blow a fuse if I over juice it. Now it moves easier, but still with noise.
Hang Zhou Westlake Timer Switch Factory DKJ/1-60
I copied the numbers off the switch and reassembled the unit. I went to Google and searched for the Hang Zhou Westlake Timer Switch Factory. It came up at the top. A click took me to their website. I found the DKJ/1-60 switch just as easily as I did the website. There was only one problem, there is not a single reference anywhere on the site about sales, purchase, price, etc, only specifications of the switch. How can these guys be beating the pants off the USA in manufacturing with errors like that? Not a single mention of sales anywhere.
If I read the specs correctly, this timer should last until the world ends. Are they lying, just putting out some grossly deficient product, or didn’t they test under real conditions? What ever the reason Hang Zhou owes me a replacement.
Note! As I searched for the company again to copy the link, I noticed numerous websites all offering switches for sale by Hang Zhou.
I resorted to sending an e-mail with my request through the “contact us” button.
I went back to the shop and made a new knob for the oven. The quickest was to grind down the thickness of a washer to fit into the slot on the shaft. I’m anxious to try it out.
My new timer switch knob
While I am at it, there is opportunity for severe finger cuts on the head. There are four metal clips which hold the head centered on the see through spacer. Be careful when removing or replacing the head. I cut my finger on one of those clips and bled profusely. I did not love my Nuwave during the time my finger was healing.
Nuwave head upside down revealing sharp clips
Close up of lethally sharp edged centering clip
One of four very sharp clips under the head
Filed under: Cooking, family, Food, Manufacturing | Tagged: Google, Humor, Switch, Timer | 4 Comments »
