So this past February for my 65th Birthday I decided to buy myself a practical gift with some of the cash I received in my cards. I bought a paper shredder and for the last two days I have been "Spring Cleaning" my files, etc. and shredding all the papers I don't need anymore. Since I hardly ever go through these kinds of things...I have an awful lot of paper stuff to shred and I was actually enjoying running the paper through the shredder until the shredder got clogged up and just stopped on me. Now it seems I spend half my time shredding and the other half unclogging the shredder. I'm not even putting in more than one paper at a time and I am waiting until each paper finishes shredding. So any suggestions as to why I am getting clogged up so often and what to do about this?
Usually when my shredder clogs it's either full or paper is stuck somewhere. Just unplug it and check between the tines for paper. Even the smallest piece can create havoc. You can also use reverse to help remove some of the paper. The time to worry is when you smell something burning which is the motor. Hope this helps Babs.
My shredder must your shredder's twin...it does the same thing too. I donated it away and do things by hand, much more quieter now. For old plastic cards just a scissors is just fine. I game up on my shredder for aside of it being so loud, living in an apt. you need to be mindful of your neighbors, it always got jammed. I had no sorrow parting with my shredder!
My shredder warns against shredding envelopes because the glue on them can build up and cause it to clog.
After two or three shredders....lubricating sheets, and more frustration, I have replaced them with a 30 gallon burn barrel. Very efficient.
Well I am glad to see I am not the only one who has shredder problems. It's not an expensive one so I thought that might be the problem too. And I'm going to try putting some lube oil on it. It will probably be alright if I just shred things as soon as I don't need them instead of trying to do years worth in a couple of days!
Since I do a lot of shredding, including cardboard, I like a heavy duty shredder that will take several thicknesses of paper and packing-type cardboard. We buy a lot of stuff on Amazon.com so we often have more boxes than I need for the compost pile. My wife also uses boxes to ship the stuff she sells on eBay but I still end up shredding quite a few cardboard boxes. Shredded cardboard composts more quickly than paper, which tends to clump together and resist composting and I found that if I mix cardboard in with it, it's less likely to clump. When my shredders die, they usually die while shredding cardboard but as long as I can get a few years out of them, I'm okay.
I've yet to find a durable shredded designed for home use. I used to bring my personal documents to work at a previous job where we had an industrial strength shredder, and shred them there. Even that would get stuck after a while, though. I've seen a few of the more exclusive cities in the area advertise shredder trucks once or twice a year. They bring in the trucks and invite citizens to bring their shredding, so as to decrease the chances of identity theft if they were discarded in the trash. A burn barrel sounds good. I might have to look into that. I know a few neighbors burn personal paperwork in their fire pits. I used to enjoy tearing the documents with my hands, and cutting the identifying portions into minute sections with scissors, but my hands can't take that anymore. The last shredder I bought lasted about two days. I threw out the top portion and kept the bottom to store fish tank supplies in.
I don't shred the whole document. I shred the important part of the document and trash the rest. I have been doing it for years now and I bought my shredder at Goodwill years ago. It was just the top feeder and underneath I place a trash bag inside a cardboard box. I had experienced those issues with my first shredder which I purchased new. I didn't hesitate to buy the used one for a couple of dollars.
I only paid about $20 for my shredder and even though it is not living up to my expectations it still is better than trying to tear up all my old papers. My hands also are having trouble tearing things to my satisfaction these days...they don't have the strength they used to have, and cutting things into really small pieces with scissors just isn't very enjoyable now days. So even though I have to stop and unclog my shredder I will do this because the papers I am shredding are worth the trouble of not having to worry about someone being able to take our personal info on them and use them against us.
Babs you have to do to what's best and comfortable for you. Pace yourself. When I worked at the health clinic they would give us those squeeze balls, some were small enough to fit in your palm, have you tried those? I would use them when I watched TV. Their purpose is to get the blood circulating and build muscle strength in your hands and fingers.
Thank you @Von Jones. I think the main problem is about 5 years worth of paper stuff that I let pile up...and didn't trash when I should have. Now that I'm Spring Cleaning I am taking that out too. There's satisfaction in seeing those bags of shredded paper...even with the unclogging I have to do to get there! A squeeze ball is a good idea for me to try. Thanks.
I have a paper shredder, I never use it. I can stand those little scraps of paper that always seem to get everywhere. I don't really think people are that interested in my old documents in the first place. If I have something that has sensitive information on it, I might tear it or white it out. but shredding papers just seems to leave a bunch of paper scraps for me to clean up...no matter how carefully you empty the container they stlll get everywhere! Thumbs done on a shredder as far as I am concerned.
I have had two or three home , light duty shredders, I suppose. They have all clogged at one time or another he other. My shredder is now in a bottom drawer of a filing cabinet. I no longer use it. I occasionally tear or cut up a document but no longer shred, but then I no longer have much to destroy.