I require help repairing a Kitchenaid Water Kettle

[73's de Edd]

Sir Nick . . . . .palych65 . . . . .

I'm fully expecting it to be good, but initially check out the pot portions circular calrod heating element at its base plate.
Expecting an ~20'ish ohms reading for a good unit.
Open Line meter reading for a bad unit or else, with there being a CONNECTIVITY issue. BUT, with there being no such condition, if you will test directly at the large RED and PALE WHITEISH wires spot welded terminals, located at the Calrod heating elements ends.

With all of your reported good preliminary procedure, in your having seen that the unit is properly sequencing through its initial start up.
Looks like the next thing to evaluate, is being the NTC thermistor sensor that is being clamp mounted and sealed down within the heaters soleplate, of the hot pot portion.
Look at your 1st photo for its referencing.
It is being clamped in the heat sole plate using a right angle wide bend of a stainless steel bracket and its use of a stainless steel ISO /or/ Phillips mounting screw AND its two lighter gauge black wires that connect to a plug on a mini PeeCee Bee over to the right side. Don't touch its side clips of the Delrin / faux/ nylon as time and heat have dried them out and thereby made them so brittle that they will splinter off, upon there being any attempt of springing them outwardly.
Also leave the two plugs in place .

There is now being need for you to take some more ohmmic readings of connections made into that area .. . . . BUT . . . . I now refrain from my further entries . . . .awaiting / seeing if you ever show up here again.


73's de Edd . . . . .


NOW ARE YOU FULLY BEING ? . . . . .

 

[palych65]

Exactly the same but different? What do you think we can make of this?
Tell us what your problem is. It's a bit hazy today so the magic glass ball has some trouble showing us clear details.

I was referring to the same beeping scenario. All lights are working properly, when I press button to start heating, I can hear a click of the relay but then after 3 seconds, the relay clicks back, the "no water" light is blinking (the one that runs parallel to the handle) and the sound beeps till I unplug it.

 

[palych65]

Just had another look at the photo. One end of the heating element appears to be discoloured. Have you ohmmed the heating element?

Sir Nick . . . . .palych65 . . . . .

I'm fully expecting it to be good, but initially check out the pot portions circular calrod heating element at its base plate.
Expecting an ~20'ish ohms reading for a good unit.
Open Line meter reading for a bad unit or else, with there being a CONNECTIVITY issue. BUT, with there being no such condition, if you will test directly at the large RED and PALE WHITEISH wires spot welded terminals, located at the Calrod heating elements ends.

With all of your reported good preliminary procedure, in your having seen that the unit is properly sequencing through its initial start up.
Looks like the next thing to evaluate, is being the NTC thermistor sensor that is being clamp mounted and sealed down within the heaters soleplate, of the hot pot portion.
Look at your 1st photo for its referencing.
It is being clamped in the heat sole plate using a right angle wide bend of a stainless steel bracket and its use of a stainless steel ISO /or/ Phillips mounting screw AND its two lighter gauge black wires that connect to a plug on a mini PeeCee Bee over to the right side. Don't touch its side clips of the Delrin / faux/ nylon as time and heat have dried them out and thereby made them so brittle that they will splinter off, upon there being any attempt of springing them outwardly.
Also leave the two plugs in place .

There is now being need for you to take some more ohmmic readings of connections made into that area .. . . . BUT . . . . I now refrain from my further entries . . . .awaiting / seeing if you ever show up here again.


73's de Edd . . . . .


NOW ARE YOU FULLY BEING ? . . . . .

View attachment 51127



.

.

Hm So I ohmed these two, no response.... (photo 1)
I guess Technomaniac spotted discolourisation right.

I have also tested NTC with no response as well. Pardon my curiosity I have very carefully retrieved the connector from the clip. Does it mean its also dead?

 

[Technomaniac]

Is it correct that you're saying the heating element is open, and the NTC is also open? IF there is any electronics in the thing, ANY reading for the NTC could be plausibly normal.. I suppose if the NTC had failed, the element could have stayed on, boiled the water away and become too hot. But the discolouration on ONE END ONLY suggests that either a bad crimp on its connector or the element has departed company with its terminal, just inside near the end of the element. OR the element has arced to chassis just inside the end. The plastic insulation on the end of the wire looks OK. Have you ohmmed to ground?

 

[73's de Edd]

Sir palych65 . . . . . You're BA A A A A A A CK !

the "no water" light is blinking (the one that runs parallel to the handle)

Now, to be sure, is the above LED being the one that is shown in post # 57's top photo that comes up and out of the handle and uses a grey /grey- trace wire pair going to the closest 2 pin connector of the small PCB.
BUT . . . first of all, if you initially confirmed that you had a PROPERLY working ohms function of your meter, and that you then read Open Line display in your meters ohm test across the BROWN / HOT and Pale WHITISH BLUE / NEUTRAL tinned terminals at the CALROD heating elements ends . . . ALAS . . . . it then seems . . . . . ALL IS BEING OVER.
Because the two variants of this Snazzy Kitchen Aid hot pot unit are now discontinued and thereby being totally off the market.
Unless you can pick up a used whole top pot unit somewhere ? like E-bay ?
OR . . . OR . . . OR ! . . .. the most technically adept of the ~3 or so persons posting here, with their still nonworking units, might receive one other persons unit with a good CALROD heating element and then forge on with solving the repair quest, much to their benefit and also for other future readers benefit.
I would like for you to make some more resistance type checks for zero ohms / connective continuity for their readings to be posted here for others in the future referencing this info.

Firstly, without upsetting the mini PCB connectors and plugs, in measuruing the larger white 2 pin thermistor connector, are you sure that the meter probes went in far / deep enough to firmly touch the black wire connectors pins ? ( CONGRATS ! . . . in non destructively, safely getting that connector loose! ! ! )
I use wedge / inserted needles or sewing pins into connectors to assure contact integrity, and then connect to them with my meters probes.

Now, to let me fully grasp the now hidden circuit paths of that mini PCB . . . . . could you make several ohm readings of my supplied

Initially make ohmmeter probe connection to the PCB's heavy BLACK wire at the bare point that it enters into the PCB, [ Reference illustration's [ E ] and the other ohmmeter probe will then go to either 2nd [H] or 3rd [G ] ring out from the center pin, to establish which is being our negative polarity terminal ring.
Then the same type of test with heavy RED wire at [ F ]

With that testing complete we can then properly account for the G and H rings connections polarities.

From other times testings, the central pin [ J ] has been defined as one of the Calrod heating elements terminals and is being isolated relay switched to the HOT 240VAC power.
The other Calrod heating elements terminal connects to ring [ K ] and it is being isolated relay switched to the COM 240VAC power.

The final connection is being the YELLOW / GREEN trace and its connection to outer ring [ L ] , which is being the equipment ground for the exposed metal of the hot pot.

The L, K and J connections no longer concern us . . . . . . now for myself . . . . I just want to find out EXACTY how the G-H rings "communicate" with the main base unit.

Suggestions relate to the bracket mounted [ Z Z Z ] as being an extreme temperature sensing thermistor,but no one has come back with definitive resistance readings . . . . with likely 10K or possibly 100K ambient temp readings.
I, myself, am now leaning towards it might actually being a thermal switch . ***. . . a normally open circuit, unless a low water level, water boil off or even initially, no water at all, l results in it clicking to a closed circuitcondition . . . . . then the LED makee flasheee - flashee.
Therewith I assume that +5 ? VDC is incoming from the base unit via G-H rings and the switch is series wired to the handles internal mounted LED and that unit is actually being a SPECIAL all self cotained flashing LED.
*** I have pulls of these, from computer Li Ion batt packs that incorporated them for sensing / protection / indication of overcharge / overheating .

S O O O O O O O O . . . . . could you now pull out the ohmmeter probes and test for any shorting / continuity of wiring from.
A to B and then to C and D and Eand F
B to C-D-E-and F
C to D-E-and F
D to E-and F

That fullness should then give us all inter connection possibilities

Could you also plug in the base unit and have no pot a top it to then see if a ? level of DC voltage is present across the exposed / accessble G-H rings ?
( Unless some electro/mechanical interlocking aspects preclude this from being done. )

Since you now have item ZZZ free, for unfettered access to its A-B terminal ends could you subject the unit to boiling water to see if any continuity then shows up . . . . . . or the next echelon of testing would be using the high heat setting of a hair blow dryer or heat guns air stream.

RELATIVE ILLUSTRATION's . . . mark up

73's de Edd . . . . .




.