Jammed blender blades - Blendtec and Vitamix owners please read.

[raweater]

I've had several cases of my blender's blades jamming over at least 3 completely different blenders and am really sick of it. I've had it happen like 6 times since I'm raw across my last 3 blenders, but this last time was on my blendtec which I thought was immune to this problem.

I'm starting to wonder if it's something I'm doing as every single blender I ever had had this problem many times except the Blendtec which is it's first time. What happens is that the blade in the jar jams, the blender's motor is able to turn it but you can clearly hear it's forcing a lot and trying to turn the blade by hand is nearly impossible. Only the blades need replacing to resolve the problem.

One reason I bought a blendtec was not only for the power, but because I was really sick of jammed blades and thought this would put an end to it, but less than 6 months after I got it and about 800 blends it happens to the Blendtec!

I've only found one other reported case of this on the entire internet so hopefully it was bad luck and won't happen again, I also think it must be rare since most restaurants that blend many times a day almost all use a blendtec so it must be reliable.

It's being serviced under warranty now and I'm anxious to get it back because I'm back to my 750 watt blender that makes grainy smoothies like sandpaper, I'm used to the silky smooth ones the blendtec makes, plus my other blender requires complete disassembly after each use for cleaning, I'm used to just rinsing the Blendtec jar.

I'm curious about other blendtec owners, how many blends have you done (it says on the screen as soon as you turn it on) and have you or not had a jammed blade?

What about vitamix owners? Have any of you had jammed blades?

By the way what's the truth about the Blendtec's blade warranty? The store I bought it from said lifetime warranty on blades but other places say 1 year, which is it?

Thanks

[raweater]

OK I read the warranty part of the manual and it both says 1 year and lifetime warranty. It says "The jar assembly inclusing all moving jar parts is covered against leakage or breakage for 1 year. The blender jar blade and motor base drive socket are covered by a lifetime warranty."

So I still have no idea, is the blade covered for 1 year or lifetime? Is the blade itself and blade bearings which are what jammed the same thing?

[Bookish Lass]

I've never had jammed blades on my vitamix, nor on any cheapo blender I've owned.

[DebB]

I'm over 1600 uses on my BlendTec and have not had a jammed blade. I did have something happen with the blade when it was just a few days old and it actually smoked a little bit. I called the company (I ordered directly from BlendTec) and they sent me out a whole new container - but I haven't had to use it. Whatever happened was an isolated occurance.

Here's hoping your BlendTec's back in use very soon Raweater! *Ü*

[spicyfull]

Sounds like something you are doing in your "Test Kitchen" that is causing it to go wrong.

[Revvell]

Without knowing what you're putting into it when this happens, how would we know?

My guess is that you're putting stuff in it that maybe should go into a fp instead of into a blender.

Revvell (http://www.Revvellations.com)

[snoops]

When it jams what are you blending. Never had a problem yet with my Vitamix. But I would do thick stuff in my FP.

[raweater]

With my older breville blender it had jammed once with sundried tomatoes, I make themk myself and they become very hard, in fact shaking my jat of sundried tomatoes sounds just like it has plastic legos in it.

The only other hard thing I could think of is frozen fruit in smoothies, but the Breville and Blendtec both say they can handle those.

Isn't the Blendtec made for thick stuff? I make my sugar cream pie filling in it because it comes out so much smoother, but I do add a bit more water also.

I'm also not sure that thick or hard stuff would cause the blade bearings to jam, I'm not sure but I may have tilted the jar slightly once while blending, if so that certainly didn't help.

[Revvell]

Blenders are made for more juicy things; food processors for thicker things yet, I'm still not clear on what it is you're blending. Frozen fruit in smoothies I do often with my VM... I just add the fluid first ~ always.

Yuh. Tilting the jar will mess up the whole thing.

[snoops]

I blend frozen strawberries in mine but I try to buy the sliced ones to be easier on the blender. And I never put the liquid in first:o but I have heard you should.

[mstrish]

I have a Vitamix 5200 and blend everything in it and have never had this problem.

[RaeVynn]

My Vitamix has a built-in breaker that pops if the blades have too much load on them. It's a white button on the back of it, that I just reset.

I use the tamper with mine to keep stuff moving in the container, to keep it from bogging down too much.

Maybe you aren't putting enough liquid in? Put the liquid in first, then the food items, and see what happens.

[Revvell]

And I never put the liquid in first:o but I have heard you should.

See? That's why squirrels RAWK! We know stuffs. :D

[raweater]

My Vitamix has a built-in breaker that pops if the blades have too much load on them. It's a white button on the back of it, that I just reset.

I use the tamper with mine to keep stuff moving in the container, to keep it from bogging down too much.

Maybe you aren't putting enough liquid in? Put the liquid in first, then the food items, and see what happens.

The Blendtec has 3 protection modes, not just one, it detects jammed blades, overload and overheat. The blades weren't completely jammed, they just got very hard to turn and I could hear the motor forcing more than usual.

Anyway after 4 hours stuck in traffic and 40 Celsius heat and no AC I'm finally back with my repaired Blendtec. I think next time I'll have them pick it up and ship it back like Breville did because I'm never driving another total of 6 hours to get a blender fixed. Please I got there as they were closing, I almost drove 4 hours today for nothing.

[EatRaw]

I think next time I'll have them pick it up and ship it back like Breville did because I'm never driving another total of 6 hours to get a blender fixed. Please I got there as they were closing, I almost drove 4 hours today for nothing.

HUH?! I bought my blendtech per your review.

I really don't understand your post here?!

Especially....


Please I got there as they were closing, I almost drove 4 hours today for nothing.

What is your bellyache!? Jammed blades or customer service, warranty, or brand?

Pls. share. So far I love my Blendtec...no problems. I bought per your review, didn't read jammed blades in your review.

[raweater]

To have it repaired I had to take it to the nearest service center which was about a 30 minute drive but the traffic was a nightmare so it took at least 2 hours both ways.

The customer service was great but the place I took it too was not specifically Blendtec, they just repair commercial kitchen appliances from various manufacturers. When I brought it there they had closed 1 hour ago but luckily the last employee was leaving and he was nice enough to re open the place and prepare the papers for the repair. I was just not happy about being stuck in traffic 2 hours both ways when getting it back. With my Breville when it broke they had someone come pick it up and ship a new one to me, I didn't have to drive anywhere.

The jammed blade was not in my review because I bought the blender 6 months ago and reviewed it shortly after, the jammed blades occured this month after 700-800 uses.

As I mentioned I think I may have tilted the jar once while blending and that may be what started the process towards blade failure.

In any case the service center had it repaired in 2 days, I'm not sure if they just gave me a new jar or replaced the blade in the jar, the jar was dirty so I thought they just replaced the blade, but after cleaning it it seems cleaner than my original jar (the bottom near the blades was turning slightly opaque probably from grinding hard things like wheat berries to flour) so maybe it's a new jar.