How to Repair a Toaster Oven Heater Wire

Toaster ovens can do much more than toast bread.

If a toaster oven heating wire burns out or breaks, it is often easiest to replace the wire. With some toaster ovens this is easily accomplished by simply unbolting the wires at either end and replacing them with proper parts. Some ovens, however, have the wires welded on. In these cases it becomes necessary to either snip the wire close to the weld and weld a replacement wire in its place, replace the whole heating element (an expensive method), or repair the wire itself.

Things You'll Need

• Sodium borate
• Needle-nose pliers
• Water
• High-temperature, solder-less, crimp connectors
• Small nut and bolt
• 2 washers

Instructions

Self-Weld the Wire

1. Mix a thick paste from sodium borate and water. The paste should stick together when pressed into a ball.

2. Loop the two ends of the oven heater wire together to hold them in contact while you spot-weld them.

3. Coat the loops with your sodium borate mixture. The sodium borate paste will act as a flux for your weld.

4. Plug in the toaster oven while observing the broken wire. That area, covered in flux, will heat up, melt the wires, and create a weld.

5. Unplug the toaster oven as soon as the flux starts to melt. Allow the heating elements to cool.

6. Remove the sodium borate flux by crushing it with pliers.

Crimp-Connect the Wire

1. Obtain a high-temperature, solder-less crimp connector designed for a butt connection.

2. Place one end of the wire into each side of the crimp connector.

3. Crimp the connector down on the wires using needle-nose pliers or specialty crimping tools.

Nut and Bolt

1. Use two washers and a small nut and bolt to connect the two ends of the broken wire.

2. Place the two washers on the bolt and put the nut on tight enough to barely allow you to thread the wires in between the two washers.

3. Thread both ends of the wire in between the two washers.

4. Tighten the nut all the way on the bolt.

Tips & Warnings

• Care should be used when working on electrical appliances to see that they are unplugged.

References

• Heating Element Alloys: Commercial Heating Elements
• Repiar Faq: Notes on the Troubleshooting and Repair of Small Household Appliances and Power Tools

Resources

• Appliance: Repairing a Toaster or Toaster Oven