halacha - Electric Appliances and Mikva

Do electric appliances need to be dunked (toveled) in a mikva?

Obviously, if the parts that touch the food are removable (e.g. an electric mixer's bowl and blade, or a blender's carafe, or the removable plates on the recent models of "George Foreman" grill), then I just remove those and dunk them in a mikva.

But what if the appliance doesn't come apart? Like a toaster, or an old-style George Foreman grill? Then what do I do?

Answer

Firstly, an appliance made by a Jew doesn't need to be dunked in a mikva. If you can "break" and then "fix" the appliance yourself, that works. (What's called "breaking" and "fixing"?)

I've seen some electric pump pots that say on them "made by a Jew, doesn't need dunking in a mikva, don't dunk me!"

But otherwise, here are three answers I've heard from different rabbis:

• Yes it needs to be dunked in the mikva. Anything without a microchip should work okay afterwards if you give it a very long time to dry properly. (Although these days, more and more appliances contain microchips.)


• It should, but because of the risk of electrocution, don't.


• Anything that plugs into the wall is considered "connected to the ground", is insusceptible to "tum'ah", and therefore needs not be dunked in the mikva.