Blown Up Paper Shredder?

[cube_rat]

I bought a really cool, seemingly heavy duty paper shredder. I had a ton of CC statements to shred away. 5 minutes into the deed, I smelled a "burnt metal" smell", the motor was very hot and then it shut down Do shredders need to cool off?? Do they blow up from too much shredding in a short time span??

 

[Sarah in SC]

They need oil. Pretty regularly. Called shredder oil in the store, but looks a lot like light lubricating oil of any kind would work.
Sarah

 

[cube_rat]

They need oil. Pretty regularly. Called shredder oil in the store, but looks a lot like light lubricating oil of any kind would work.
Sarah

Thanks Sarah!

 

[AltaRed]

Retail shredders for the home are not meant to be used continuously. Heated up mine as well when trying to do too many sheets at a time and almost continuous feed. If the motor slows down too much, the load is too much.

Have never oiled my home shredder in the 5-6 years I have owned it. Just feed it gently and give it 10 seconds or so between each feed.

 

[Leonidas]

I got tired of taking everything to work and shredding it there so I bought one for home and fried it in one day of catching up on the backlog. The store replaced the dead one with the same model which has now seen several years of somewhat more reasonable use without a hiccup. I don't oil mine because the load is reasonable - but the monsters at work had to be oiled quite often or they slowed down.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Yep, if you read your documentation it probably says something about only being able to be used for a few minutes every hour, or a sheet limit.

I've discovered that if I have more than 5-6 sheets of paper to destroy, that a barbecue grill works best

 

[MJ]

I bought an el cheapo at Staples about 6 years ago. Recently before my move, on several occcasion I have used it continuously for upto 5 minutes with no problem other than it getting clogged due to improper feeding. I usually shred 1 document at a time but no more than 2. Still keeps on ticking shredding.

 

[samclem]

I'd like to get a "real" shredder real cheap. I keep hoping I'll stumble into one at the Defense Reutilization Marketing Office (DRMO) at our nearby Air Force base. They take 10 sheets at a time, run continuously without a problem, make wee-bitty bits (if anyone can put THAT stuff together, they've earned whatever they can steal).

Maybe Fawn Hall would be thrown in at the same price. . .

 

[Nords]

I'd like to get a "real" shredder real cheap.
Maybe Fawn Hall would be thrown in at the same price. . .

You guys are all so 20th century. Outsource!!

I'm not looking for a job, but... http://www.shredexcrd.com/

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

We had one of those "outsource shredders" who was just taking the documents to the dump and dropping them off.

 

[cube_rat]

I officially killed the shredder. The motor is blown. Off to the dumpster it goes. So much for QVC shredders.

 

[VoyT]

Maybe you could send it back?

 

[virginia]

I think I'd be tempted to send it back also.

 

[cube_rat]

I've had the paper shredder for 2 years, so I don't think I can send it back.

 

[VoyT]

   2 years?  Heck, I thought you just bought it!