It looks like my replacement Instant Pot (bought June 2022, not used particularly heavily — maybe a couple to several times a month) is now about to self-destruct too. I just turned it on to reheat something and there was a hint of burning electronics smell pretty much immediately when it started heating.
When I opened the bottom, there was some brown discoloration around one of the cables in pretty much the same place as last time:
I’ve turned it back on and continued cooking because I’m hungry and screw it — if it catches fire, it catches fire, and that’s its destiny but I’d like to get one last meal out of it. It’s a race against time now to see whether my food gets hot before the thing dies.
Anyway, am I still reasonably within the period where I can take it back to Costco and complain? It’s been around 21 months now, so a bit longer than last time.
Don’t know whether it’s a shitty product, the humidity in Taiwan, or I’ve just been unlucky… but kind of annoying!
I can’t tell what’s burning based on the photo, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s some part designed to fail, or something. Or it could even be as simple as a poor connection leading to heating, which led to failure, etc.
Can you take it apart further?
Definitely try to return it. This product is a safety issue. Heating elements draw a TON of amps, I wouldn’t be surprised if the instant pot is drawing near the maximum amount of amps that a 110 circuit can supply. I know those Tatung rice cookers draws at least 800 watts (and those Tatung rice cooker never breaks)
I’m not sure either. To my untrained eye, it looks to be either the connection between that white cable and the circuit board or whatever’s on the other side of the circuit board (the start of this thread has some more photos from last time, where the burning was much worse).
I could take it apart further, but I can’t really be bothered at the moment (it’s still heating my food). The part of the base I removed to take the above photo is just an easy-access panel or something held on by a single small screw, and disassembling it further means dismantling the entire base like I did last time.
It might indeed be some kind of safety feature designed to (permanently) fail before something else does (I remember the Instant Pot is marketed as having multiple such safety features), but then it’s not very convenient if it’s triggering erroneously right at the start of cooking…
Yeah, I’m hesitant to buy a third one now. I mostly use it for cooking rice and reheating stuff, both of which I could do in a Tatung rice cooker, but the few additional features like the pressure cooker and sous vide options are quite convenient for things I want to do three times a year…
What I don’t know is what else has failed but as a precaution I’d probably be replacing various caps and resistors that might have cooked or whatever over time. A service manual would be extremely helpful here. Not sure if it exists. That circuit board doesn’t look horribly complex.
don’t be ripping it apart out of curiosity, they could refuse to take it back. (type of thing I would do).
See if you can swap it for one of the Japanese style ones, they have everything covered and are pretty bulletproof.
link for example
Edit: Just zoomed in and it looks like the heating element connection is overloading
Nah, I’m not. I did that last time anyway. Main goal here would be to return it, if they’ll take it.
Thanks, I’ll have to take a look at those and see what features they have. I think the pressure cooker feature would be a deal-breaker (because pulled pork).
I had a look last time to see whether I could conveniently buy a replacement board, but it didn’t seem possible or worthwhile. I’d be reluctant to repair it tbh after it’s already shown an inclination to catch fire, especially if that means bypassing safety features. I very occasionally leave it unattended for sous vide or whatever, so prefer to have something that doesn’t feel too dangerous.
If it’s catching fire I wouldn’t ever leave it alone.
I’d try and return the thing, and if not maybe buy something better made, if it exists because it seems everything’s engineered to fail now. Tatung cooker doesn’t break because it’s a very old design and everything’s made out of metal. It’s also quite expensive for what it is.
Yep, definitely the same issue as last time, with what appears to be the connection to the heating element somehow overloading!
I ran it once more after my last post, which led to it failing at the end with a C7 error (apparently indicating failure of the heating element, among other things). That connector has totally burned out now.
Weird for me to have encountered the same issue twice after about a year. I don’t think I’ve done anything too unusual with it, and I don’t even use the thing that often.
Only way connectors will burn out like this is a loose connection under load. I am thinking this is a manufacturing defect and it should lead to a recall.
Loose connection is always a reason for it overheating because it has a higher resistance than it should have. Instant pot I’m assuming is going to draw about 10 amps when running. If the connection is intermittent it’s all that amp going through a tiny amount of contact rather than full contact. This causes heating and the burn out you experience.
If it’s a properly fitted spade connector it should be extremely tight, but my guess is, it worked loose over time, or something. Have you tried wiggling it to see if it’s actually on tight?
Same thing can happen to say circuit breaker connections and such by the way. You have to make sure the connection is tight or else it can lead to electrical fires.
It’s probably too late for the results of a wiggle test to be meaningful (given that the connector has already clearly burned/melted), but I’ll check later.
I mean, you can see some rust around some of the screws/bolts in the base of the internal vessel/element holder (first picture), but that’s a different part and might be a design flaw. It was the same last time too.
That’s not really bad corrosion though. I think the connector is the culprit. Either it was bad or not rated for the expected amp. Because it looks like it heated enough to ignite it. Or the connector is not rated for the temperature it should be expected to see, meaning if it’s connected directly to a heating coil, it should be rated for high temperature, in excess of 100c.
I’m sure there are many people who’ve been quietly yet avidly following this thrilling story, so I’d just like to announce that Costco happily refunded me for my 22-month-old broken Instant Pot.
I’ve ordered a new one online to kick off the third part of the trilogy. See you all in 2025 when that one breaks!
If this is planned obsolescence it’s dangerous, how did this thing even get UL listed? These things shouldn’t be letting the magic smoke out at all. At this point might as well buy it off taobao, it’s probably all similar quality, but with taobao you cut out the middleman. Though it’s good to hear that Costco will honor returns.
