Things seem to be falling apart and I’m starting to seriously need a husband around here.
Yesterday I used my big, OLD Kitchen Aid mixer. Every now and then, depending on what I’ve been mixing, the bowl sticks and I can’t get it loose. Sometimes even Vince struggles to get the bowl loose. Yesterday I was kneading bread dough, which I don’t usually do in the Kitchen Aid. I went to unscrew the bowl . . nope . . it’s stuck! I’ve tried everything and I can’t get it unstuck. I wiped the bowl as best I could and stuck it back in the appliance garage. I have another mixer that will do but it’s not my favorite.
Today I went to put the garage door down. Nope . . go down a foot or so and go back up. I have ZERO idea what to do besides call Jeremy and I was not about to do that. I looked at it, wiped away a few spider webs from the “eye”. Nope, still not going down. I went over to one of the eyes and it was kinda wiggly like it’s not attached tightly to the wall. I wiggled it til the other side stopped blinking and that fixed it . . at least for now. I’m afraid to open it again and since the cars are both inside, I may not be going anywhere til Vince gets here.
I was pretty happy with myself for getting that garage door down . . now if I could get the mixer bowl loose, I’d feel pretty competent in my efforts at living alone. Not happy about being here by myself this long but not feeling totally like a helpless wife.
Sharon Kay Downey says
I’m sure you miss Vince very much. Hopefully he’ll be with you soon. When we moved to our new home there were several things I needed done that I knew neither of us could do. Both the house and garage need to be brought up to electrical code and only one of the garage doors had wired with a motor to raise and lower it and I wanted both done. So after my electrician and his helper were done, I called a Door and glass co. He added the extra motor and checked the first one over and handed me two remotes so my husband and I would each have one. Can’t do too much about the Kitchen Aid Bowl but wonder if some WD40 might help in the threads of the machine where the bowl screw in. I’ve been planning to that to mine the next time I pull it out.
Sibyl says
Sharon instead of WD40 which might not be good in a cooking situation–why not some Pam spray–I use that on my food slicer when it sticks–that way at least it is food grade.
Sibyl says
Judy on your mixer–do you have a rubber mallet that you could gently tippy tap it to see if it would come loose? Just a thought Also like I was telling Sharon, use some Pam spray on it vs WD40 thinking food grade.
Becky Turner says
Yep… thats what I thought off allso. I have a small rubber mallet that I have used a time or two to get the bowl lose. It has only happed after making bread and not all the time.
Judy Laquidara says
It only happens with bread dough for me too and not all the time. I don’t have a rubber mallet here so when I go out again, I’ll pick up one.
Carol says
I’d try getting a dish towel very cold (maybe wrap ice in it for a few minutes) then wrap that around the base where the bowl meets the base and leave it a while–the cold might cause it to release. then I would smear a tiny bit of olive oil around those base threads. I have the KA as well and mine sometimes is seated pretty snug but have never been able to not release the bowl.
DarW says
I was going to suggest a heating pad wrapped around the base. Ice expands, heat contracts. Once warm, a rubber mallet or meat tenderizer pounding thingy (lol) wrapped in a dish towel to rap on the handle a few times or grab the handle and edge with silicon grabbers. I have little hand strength so always looking for alternatives to raw power.
Rebecca says
I think you have that backwards; that heat expands and cold contracts (short of freezing). I run hot water over stuck metal lids on glass jars, as the metal will heat and expand faster than glass.
Speaking of food-grade grease, mu husband and I had to open and clean, then re-pack (the grease in) my Kitchen Aid. We got a big tube of grease designed to work with food appliances!
Romonia Dinkla says
Our garage door does that if the sun hits the sensor just right. I have to set something where it causes a shadow on the sensor and then it works. It only happens at the time of day that the sun hits it just right.
Laura Haynes says
Twice a year, for 7-10 days at a time, for 20 years, once open our garage door will not close with the remote control. In our case it the position of the sun and how it hits our sensors. “Oh yeah, it must be that week again.”
And occasionally we have to dust spiders or realign the sensors, but those are almost a quick fix day.
Therese says
Try silicone spray into the threaded area after you ice down the bowl…..and grab the bowl with one of those rubberized jar openers, if you have one handy!
Cilla says
There might be a rope to pull that unlatches the motor so raising and lowering the garage door manually is an option. No idea on the mixer bowl.
Sharon says
I have a Kitchen Aid mixer and the bowl is hard to remove at times. One bowl I use has a handle. I can usually loosen that bowl by gently tapping the handle with a hammer. I can also usually loosen both bowls by “hugging” the mixer with the bowl facing out and grasping the bowl with both hands and twisting to the left. You know righty tighty, lefty loosey.
Judy Laquidara says
I actually wedged it against the appliance garage so the whole mixer wouldn’t slide on me and I still can’t get it loose. Yep, I’ve been using it or many years so I remember which way it goes. 🙂
Sheryl says
Get a Bosch mixer, Judy. They are fabulous and will last forever. I have both the Universal and Compact. I use them for different recipes. There’s no lock in for the bowl. The Universal is a bread dough kneading monster!
Judy Laquidara says
I have one. Great for kneading bread but I love the old Kitchen Aid so much more.
Jean says
Judy-with our garage door, we have the ability to manually raise and lower it if power is out, etc. I would think most garage doors do, but what do I know.
Judy Laquidara says
It’s only a couple of years old and it does have that but I’m not going to do that. If it isn’t working right, I’ll get Overhead Doors out to work on it. I think the eye sensor just got bumped.
Ruth says
Two days ago I opened the garage door and then it wouldn’t go down. So I checked if anything was blocking it, and removed the broom, but it still wouldn’t go down. I remembered my hubby telling me that it was very easy to knock the sensor eye loose so it wouldn’t focus on the opposite sensor eye. So then I leaned over and moved the sensor eye where the broom had been leaning, and managed to point it towards the other sensor eye on the other side of the open garage door. It worked! Now I don’t have to ask for help every time.
Judy Laquidara says
I think that’s what happened here too. I don’t remember hitting the sensor but it was off. Like you, I was feeling pretty handy to have fixed it myself (though it wasn’t a big deal!)