I have a blender from the 1950s. When you touch it and something metal (like a cold water faucet) at the same time, you get a shock.
I understand this could be dangerous. My question: can a non-electrician such as myself make it safe, say by replacing the two-prong power cord with a grounded one (attached appropriately)? I have no problem throwing it away if the answer is no.
If you put on a grounded cord, you will blow your breaker the next time you plug it in.
You have a wiring short to the case of the blender, and you need to throw it away before it kills you.
Why are you even asking?
I have a very simple rule when fixing anything electrical. If the cost of buying a new item is less than the deductible my insurance charges for a trip to the ER, I don’t even consider it.
There’s a short to the case inside somewhere. Normally that would be a short to grounded, but it’s not ground until you make the connection as you mentioned. You could probably fix it if you’re comfortable tinkering, especially if it’s the type of blender with just an on/off switch. There’s probably just a stray wire touching something metal inside. But if you have no problem tossing it, that’s probably a better idea.
What he said, but some appliances of that vintage are actually very well made and worth keeping and maintaining (presumably it’s served well for fifty years already!), unlike the replacement you’d likely be getting. See if you can get a reference to a good general electrician or appliance shop.
repairing an appliance safely takes skill and knowledge. repairing an appliance from the 1950s even more so because there were fewer safety standards and parts inside could have seriously deteriorated. you would want to repair it to be safe and durable and not likely to break again. old appliances don’t take much to make them a serious hazard.
deteriorated parts (which could have caused you potentially fatal electrical hazard) might be unobtainable (likely) or unrepairable.
let a skilled appliance person repair it. let an appliance repair person have it for parts.
good that it didn’t kill you.
I dissent a bit from the notion that this is fraught with danger. IME, problems like this are often easy to fix - the more so because devices of that era were made to be disassembled for service.
A competent* person should take a look at this for a worn linecord, deteriorated insulation, etc. If the problem is obvious (as is the case about 90% of the time) and the fix straightforward (probably 70%), then it should be done.
A non-obvious problem, or one that requires special parts, probably isn’t worth addressing - toss it.
*Competent in this case would mean: Has some experience with such things and absolutely knows enough not to return an unsafe device to service. And of course any hint of electrical shock is unacceptable.
If a person needs to post this question on a message board, they aren’t competent to fix the problem. QED.
Perhaps they know someone who is.
I’ve repaired a bunch of “vintage” appliances, and my suspicion from afar is that either a wire has come loose or chafed internally, which is trivial to fix, or the motor windings are shorting to the frame, which is pretty much fatal.
My bigger question is why is the OP’s kitchen not up to code with GFI receptacles? If they had GFIs as mandated by code for the past 30 years or so, the GFI would detect the escaping current and kill power before the user even felt a tingle.
they are generally only required in new work or remodeling in much of the USA.
two wire circuits are OK if maintained, that is the reason that two wire receptacles are still made and sold.
But the OP’s question wasn’t whether the blender could be fixed at all, it was “can a non-electrician such as myself make it safe.”
I will agree with you that there’s probably a 90% chance the problem is no more serious than worn insulation/frayed cord and a kwik 'n ez fix.
However, I will also agree with you that there’s possibly a 10% chance it’s a non-obvious problem. And, as gotpasswords points out, serious mayhem can ensue.
So, if the OP wants to fix the blender (for its 50’s nostalgia value, or because he can’t bring himself to replace what should be a perfectly good appliance, your qualifier is the best approach. “A competent* person should take a look at this.”
Heck, the competent person can probably find a new cord that looks just like the one that needs replacing.