Toaster Popped - Literally! Featuring Magic Smoke

[108CAM]

We were toasting some bread for lunch, just like we've done many times before but when the toaster popped, it was not the bread popping out.
Something in the electronics had failed with enough intensity to catch fire for a few moments before the circuit breakers kicked in and cut the power for the entire first story of our house. The fire burnt out on it's own and nothing was damaged, except for the toaster.

My mum then rushed into the scullery and unplugged the toaster. We then got into a conversation about what just happened and I suggested that we put the toaster outside so it wouldn't stink up the house. After opening the back door and cutting the cable (which I added to my scrap pile), my mum went outside and turned the power back on. We then opened some windows and turned on the range hood to suck the strong odour of burning electronics out of the house.

Once the smell has dissipated, I'll dismantle the toaster so I can see what failed and the resulting damage. I'll post a reply to this topic that will contain photos of what happened

[Psi]

Most likely a wire loop in one of the elements became detached and touched the metal case causing a dead short and spraying hot metal around the place, setting fire to the toast and/or bread dust at the bottom of the toaster.

Somewhat more common when toasting bread that's frozen into an odd/bent shape, since frozen bread is somewhat solid and may scrape against the elements on its way down.

[TomKatt]

They don't make anything like they used to.  Modern toasters are no longer simple electromechanical bi-thermal strip controlled appliances - they have active electronics with timers and often some kind of sensor to provide you with all the benefits you don't need.

If I ever find one of those old auto-popup toasters at a yard sale, I'm buying it and scrapping the pos I've got now.

[Stray Electron]

   You probably should not have cut the cord off of it until you knew if it could be fixed or not. Repairing the cord may be the hardest part of the repair.  I've never worked on a modern toaster but as a kid I fixed plenty of oven heating elements, toasters and the like simply splicing the heating element back together.  FWIW I just bought a new toaster about six weeks ago and it looks like it's built the same as the old toasters and I don't see any modern electronics in it. 

   If you decide to scrap it and if you're much of a DIY'er then you might want to keep the Nichrome heating element for other projects. I made my first PSU dummy load using Nichrome wire from heating elements but you can use the wire to make all sorts of heating/warmers.

[TomKatt]

FWIW I just bought a new toaster about six weeks ago and it looks like it's built the same as the old toasters and I don't see any modern electronics in it. 

You must have found the needle in the haystack, because even the most basic toaster on Amazon includes a 'cancel' button, which electronically releases the latch...  Unlike the old mechanical designs that you just pushed on the lever and unlatched the hook inside.