Hi All. I have been chatting to a neighbouring repair cafe who are renewing their insurance and their insurance company is putting restrictions on certain items being repaired, including air fryers. I can understand petrol engine items and microwaves but have any of you had a similar experience with air fryers being a restricted item or have any knowledge why they would be restricted?
Restrictions as in no air fryers at all? Or only certain kinds/brands of air fryers? Iāve disassembled a couple, and I havenāt noticed any specific risk factors that wouldnāt apply to other kitchen equipment (mains electricity, high temperatures, food).
Hi Pete,
I canāt understand why air fryers and not, for example, deep fat fryers which are potentially far more dangerous
You say āincludingā: so what other items have they restricted?
And, no, Iāve never heard of anything like that. Iāve heard of one organisation insisting on qualified electrical engineers , but Iāve never heard of the kind of restrictions that you mention.
We are using Wessex insurance and I donāt think we have any restrictions on items. We are shying away from ebike batteries and microwaves depending on the type of repair needed (totally happy to take microwaves which are sparking in the cooking chamber since this is often due to charring of food buildup.)
Are they concerned about public liability (injury during the repair cafe, most likely to repairers) or product liability (damage or injury caused by the product after the repair)?
I commenting from Canberra Australia and a recent Restarter Project subscriber. I am one of convenors for the Tuggeranong Repair Cafe and curious to know about other repair cafes policy is on microwave repair restrictions and other noteworthy items. Our electricians have repaired or assessed microwave ovens. Our main restrictions are items must be able to be carried or wheeled in, microwave or lawnmower equivalent size. Welcome advice. TIA.
Hi @Pete_Martin, Iāve not heard of an insurer restricting repairs on air fryers before; it seems pretty unusual to me and Iām not sure why they include those. As others have said, it would be interesting to know what else is on their list.
@Karen_Nulty, welcome aboard! As Restart, we tend to advise against tackling microwaves at community repair events due to the higher level of risk involved (compared to most other devices a person can carry). You can read more about it in our Guidance: safety, risk and insurance at community repair events and Restarter Safety Guidelines. Of course, every group has a slightly different approach and tolerance for risk.
Thanks James
It seems very odd to me too as basically the crucial working technology in an air fryer is no different to a toaster!
I have asked the repair cafe to determine exactly the reason for the restriction, so that we can know whether it is because of this particular item or because of a perception of repair cafe on the part of the insurers. Either way, the reasoning I feel needs to be challenged.
Hi
I have extra information from my neighbouring repair cafe now regarding the restriction of air fryers in their insurance and I think it is very relevant to a growing number of repair cafes.
They have chosen to be insured with Wessex Insurance Brokers as they have specific repair cafe insurance. However, it is in the FAQs that Wessex state that white goods are not covered in the insurance, with air fryers in the list of white goods.
The section in the FAQa states
Can we repair white goods?
The repair of white goods is excluded from our policy. White goods are items such as:
Tumble dryers ā including vented, heat pump and condenser models
Washing machines ā including washer-dryer, freestanding, top-loading and integrated models
Fridges
Freezers
Fridge-freezer combos
Cookers ā (Other names for this include, stoves, ranges, cooker and oven)
Air fryers
Dishwashers
Water coolers
Air conditioners
Microwaves
Ice makers
Water heaters
Please note this list is not definitive, so if you have any doubt, give us a call.
They have asked for clarification and Wessex have just reiterated that air fryers are white goods and not covered in the insurance.
Obviously Wessex are becoming a major player in repair cafe insurance so have any other repair cafes had this in the FAQs? Also it is something to note if more and more RC go with Wessex too. Personally, I still find their decision odd - they have welding covered but not air fryers!!!
Iād guess that the big things on that list rarely come up, because whoās going to lug a cooker or a washing machine to a repair cafe in the hope that someone can repair it? And microwaves have some specific risks, as James mentioned. So I can understand from an insurerās perspective that it might be a useful simplification to cut out the entire category.
Iām not convinced air fryers really fit into this category, though. I understand āwhite goodsā to mean the big things that are installed semi-permanently, not stuff that goes on the countertop. Their list doesnāt mention kettles, toasters or rice cookers, for instance. But I donāt know how to convince them of that.
I understand āwhite goodsā to mean the big things that are installed semi-permanently, not stuff that goes on the countertop. Their list doesnāt mention kettles, toasters or rice cookers, for instance. But I donāt know how to convince them of that.
I completely agree. The air fryer is very much the odd one out; very small, no (potentially flammable pentane-based) refrigerant, no water involved, and no obvious reason why it would be in a higher risk category.
Itās not wessex weād need to convince if I understand correctly, they are a broker and the insurance is underwritten by. I have attached our full policy wording from March 2023, which barely even mentions repair, let alone things we canāt repair. It was from Stonefort, and I think wessex now have a different underwriter.
2023-03 Stonefort - Commercial Combined Policy Wording (Arches Mens Sheds Any Commercial Combined policies).pdf (1.1 MB)
Response from Wessex Brokers:
Currently we exclude cover for repairs to air fryers. The view of our insurer is that unlike kettles and toasters, they are able to run for long periods of time at high temperatures (and potentially unattended).
We are VERY keen to assist and to continue to developing our repair cafƩ product, so if you can help me to make the case to the underwriters, I will do so:
- How common are air fryer repairs,
- What are the most common faults,
- What safeguards are / can be put in place?
- Can you provide any additional information which might help
I look forward to your further throughs.
There are some stories in this thread, including from me. At least for one brand, blowing a thermal fuse seems to be a common fault, and itās exactly the kind of thing repair cafes are great for: the replacement part is small and cheap, and the only alternative is to junk the whole product. And not many people are likely to disassemble it and fit a suitable replacement thermal fuse at home.
Obviously the air fryer is PAT tested before & after the repair, as with anything mains powered. If the thermal fuse is the issue, it needs to be replaced with one with very similar specifications - an exact match might not be possible, especially on the temperature, as weāve got a collection of thermal fuses available at intervals of a few degrees C.
The ones Iāve seen have a safety switch to cut off the power if the basket is pulled out; we could test that this, or any other safety switch, is working correctly, even if thatās not involved in the repair. We could also test the timer for a short amount of time, especially on simpler models with a mechanical timer switch. Fully testing the timer or the thermostat isnāt really practical because of the time taken and the heat produced.
I just spotted while looking something up that various models of Tower air fryer were recalled earlier this year. Checking for recall notices is another precaution, which need not be specific to air fryers.
Thereās also some prior discussion of air fryers (including how many people are seeing) here: Influx of Air Fryers at our Repair Cafe
Would someone from Restarters be able to use data from the fixometer to report
- What % of items are air fryers?
- What % of electrical items are air fryers?
- What % of mains items are air fryers?
- Any possible breakdown of faults repaired?
Happy to take a look at that, unless someone beats me to it. 1 and 2 can have a good go, 3 and 4 tricky. Itās perhaps worth also doing it with the combined Open Repair Alliance data. The Fixometer data is currently more up-to-date, but the ORA data will have data from a wider breadth of groups across the UK.
It sounds like the ORA data would be more valuable for the insurers, since I doubt this has changed that much over the last 2 years.
Any thoughts from anyone else on this would be welcome for me to pass on to the broker.
Iāve had a look at the Open Repair Alliance data. I only looked at UK data.
There are 124 airfryers, of which 103 were brought to repair cafes in the last 2 years. Not surprising to see they are quite a new phenomenon.
That represents 0.34% of electrical items at repair cafes, and about 2.1% of all kitchen items. So they are a small portion of kitchen items, but might continue growing in popularity.
Item subcategory | Prevalence |
---|---|
Food processor | 27.0% |
Toaster | 22.9% |
Kettle | 17.5% |
Small kitchen item | 12.1% |
Coffee maker | 10.8% |
Unspecified small kitchen item | 6.2% |
Airfryer | 2.1% |
Bread machine | 1.4% |
Grand Total | 100.0% |
Item status | Number in category | Average age for all items where age was provided (years) |
---|---|---|
Repairable | 31 | 3.96 |
Fixed | 44 | 2.1 |
End of life⦠| ||
ā¦Item too worn out | 1 | |
ā¦Lack of equipment | 1 | 5 |
ā¦No way to open product | 10 | 2.5 |
ā¦Repair information not available | 3 | 2.3 |
ā¦Spare parts not available | 7 | 1.5 |
ā¦Spare parts too expensive | 3 | 1.5 |
ā¦(blank) | 24 | 2.5 |
Grand Total | 124 | 2.68 |
A selection of the fixed items had usable fault descriptions. Among these I see a fair number of
- Thermal fuse replacement.
- Fan issues
- Physical damage
- Cable damage
I would say the first two might have some level of fire risk associated with them if done incorrectly, depending on the facts of the specific fault and the repair approach. Personally I would feel very confident to ensure my repair does not increase the risk of fire, similar to how I would feel about the risk from other repairs I carry out.
The last two, physical damage and cable damage are routine repairs that would not interact with the hot system and have no impact on the unitās fire risk level.
Data from the āproblemā field:
- No power
- Basket micro switch stuck. Repaired.
- Checked fuse, 3A blown. Not working. Replaced with 13A fuse.
- Could not find fault. Tried it several times. Working perfectly.
- Doesnāt come on.
- Fan sticking.
- fan was loud, cleaned out and tightened.
- Fuse has blown Repairer fitted replacement thermal fuses supplied by customer.
- FUSE NEEDED. NO POWER. REPLACED THERMAL FUSE.
- handle soldered back on.
- Interlock intermittent. Door will not close so not functioning. A slight bend of the fryer basket seemed to restore operation.
- Making a rattling noise when in use. Loose mesh re-attached and screwed back in.
- No fault found. Checked plug is ok. Stopped working.
- No power (reconnected main cable)
- No power. User hadnāt realised that there is an interlock to prevent motor not statring when not assembled.
- Not heating up intermittently. Cleaned contacts and switch.
- Not working.
- Nut fallen off inside. Retrieved nut & screwed back on. Repairability-8- difficult.
- One section not working. It turned out to be operator error. Referring to the manual showed the owner what they were doing wrong.
- Plastic failed. Plastic knob broken. Glued in place.
- Plug damaged. Replaced plug with a new one. Not sure that there may be other problems, advised not to use unattended.
- Plug had burnt out. Replaced.
- PSU faults.
- Reglue control knob.
- remade mains cable.
- replaced bulb.
- Replaced open circuit capacitor.
- Replaced plug.
- Safety interlock on handle stuck.
- Severed cable. Replaced cable.
- small switch needed replacing. does not work.
- Stopped working and blew fuse. No fault found, PAT tested ok and now works ok.
- There was an issue with broken plastic mechanical part that pushes micro switch. A new one was created with a piece of plastic and this resolved the problem.
- Thermal fuse blown. Replacement ordered and fitted.
- Thermal fuse gone. Customer brought replacement which we fitted.
Great analysis!
If youād like to increase the sample by including repairs from outside the UK, you can join the ORDS data to translation files found in the, ords-extra repo.
Doing this gives you the problem
and (product part of the) partner_product_category
values in English. You can then search for air fryers in each extra column.
When I searched using the regex r"(?i)air ?fr[yi]er"
) I got 570 results, see attached. Not all of them have problem text, age or barrier values, and occasionally something gets lost in translation, e.g. āCustomer starts greasing himself with olive oil.ā but maybe there are some extra insights to be had.
ords_202407_airfryers.csv (84.0 KB)