How long do home shredders last

It depends on the type of shredder, the quality of the shredder, and the security level. Most household shredders can shred between minutes continuously before a cool-down period is needed. Professional shredders for offices can run for up to 30 minutes.

But there are also commercial shredders available that can run continuously without stopping to cool down. These are the real heavy-duty ones. It is important to know that the cooling down-time is much longer than the run-time for most shredders. A basic paper shredder with a 3 minute operating time needs to cool down for 30 minutes before the shredder is ready for the next shredding session. A higher DIN security level tends to have a negative impact on the maximum run-time.

Shredding into smaller particles requires more energy and power from the motor, which causes it to overheat more quickly. How quick or productive is the shredder?

To calculate the speed of a paper shredder you need to know these specifications formula by Fellowes :. You consider either the Fellowes Powershred 73Ci or the Fellowes Powershred 99Ci and you want to know which one works more efficiently.

Because the 99Ci is much faster and can run for a longer period of time. Of course, you want to shred confidential paper documents. But some shredders also shred other items, such as:. A basic shredder can shred documents with here and there a small staple. But if you want to shred CDs and credit cards, you need to look for shredders that can do this.

More advanced shredders can shred CDs, paperclips, and plastic cards, such as credit cards or loyalty cards. These shredders can have a dedicated slot to shred these cards with. But other types of shredders just let you shred the cards in the same space you feed your confidential papers in. It is crucial for recycling to find out if the shredder comes with a separate container to hold the plastic parts. Otherwise, the plastic particles are getting mixed up with the paper shreds, which contaminates the paper.

The shredder can have a dedicated CD slot to shred the optical media. Or the paper shredder lets you shred it in the main paper shredding feed. Do you want to shred cardboard waste? Be careful because not every paper shredder machine can handle this rigid material. Only heavy-duty or industrial paper shredders are powerful enough to slice through sheets of corrugated cardboard.

But keep in mind that a document shredder is made for shredding paper and not for shredding high volumes of cardboard. When you have high quantities of cardboard waste, such as boxes and other packaging material, we recommend investing in a dedicated cardboard shredder. These types of shredders are manufactured for shredding or perforating corrugated cardboard and paperboard.

These cardboard shredders are used for recycling your cardboard waste. The shredded cardboard can be used as packaging material, or you can bale the material, which you can sell to a recycling facility.

Check cardboard shredders. Just like the name implies, a manual feed shredder needs to be fed by hand. Depending on the sheet capacity, you grab a few sheets of paper and shred them. You grab another pile of paper and shred it, and so on. Manual shredding is fine for shredding a small pile of documents, but if you need to shred thousands of documents, this might not be convenient and efficient.

To save time and speed up the paper shredding process, then we recommend an automatic paper shredder. This shredder has an auto-feed functionality, which means it shreds a large pile of paper all on its own. So, how does it work? An auto-feed paper shredder has an input tray similar to that of an office printer or copier. You fill up the tray with your documents and press start.

The shredder takes care of the rest. The amount of paper you can shred per session depends on the shredder. Check Auto-Feed shredders. Always unplug the shredder when not using it and place it out of sight in a secure and safe place. For your safety and others, you might consider a paper shredder that comes with special safety features that prevent possible injuries. These safety features are recommended for personal home users and professional office users. What to do now? Some shredders let you solve the problem yourself.

But more expensive shredders can clear the paper jam for you by reversing the motor automatically. There are also shredding machines with sensors that detect when you want to shred too much paper the shredder can handle, so the shredder refuses to shred in the first place. How do you solve a paper jam?

Stop the shredder and press the reverse button, the cutting blades will turn in the opposite direction so the paper gets rolled out of the shredder. Why it made the cut : This Aurora model made the list as the best home paper shredder for its power, small size, versatile fit, and range of shreddable materials. The small, easily stored, no-basket design fits most wastebaskets. An extendable arm adjusts to security fit over an existing basket, reducing the number of office appliances.

A jam remover button helps dislodge paper or other materials from the blades. It shuts down and requires a cooldown period fairly quickly. The large capacity and quick runtime shred through sensitive documents with low noise. Why it made the cut: The Wolverines P-4 cross-cut comes with an sheet capacity and long runtime that catapult it to the front of the heavy-duty shredders. Those cutters handle a wide range of materials, including staples, paper clips, credit cards, CDs, and of course paper.

A high page capacity and minute runtime goes through paper quickly, without the need to cool for up to 60 minutes. While the wastebasket fills quickly, it is easy to empty and pulls completely out of the shredder.

The only other downside to this model is the noise. It makes a racket but gets the job done. This AmazonBasics paper shredder quickly shreds through eight sheets of paper but can also make quick work of credit cards and paper clips. Credit cards get a special center spot on the cutter, and it blows right through them. It also features the standard reverse mechanism and an auto-on feature that senses paper and turns on the cutters.

Two safety features keep everyone in the household safe. The Bonsaii Sheet Cross-Cut Paper Shredder offers an impressive array of features for a relatively inexpensive model.

Its page capacity gets only better when you consider that it can also shred credit cards, paper clips, and staples. That reduces the work it takes to prep papers for shredding. A safety mechanism turns off the machine if the head is removed from the wastebasket, keeping hands and fingers safe.

While we like the automatic overheat protection and cooling system, this model can only run for about four minutes before it needs to shut down.

That might limit the shredding capacity in a large office. Paper shredders are given a security rating according to the size of the paper pieces they create.

Larger pieces are easier to reassemble, warranting a lower security level. It never stalled on me and no paper jams and yes, I did test the page maximum! It worked for four hours straight. It did not overheat. In fact, as I reached for more papers I could hear a cooling fan kick into action! We plan to keep this shredder for a long time. It has a powerful built-in fan to cool the electrical motor so you can keep shredding. Not all paper shredders are equipped to shred credit cards, because grinding through plastic requires more power than cutting through paper, but over customers say this Fellowes shredder can.

However, reviewers love the novelty of a hand-cranked shredder and say that it fits the bill for small household jobs. My stress levels have gone down and I have less mail with delicate information. The Strategist is designed to surface the most useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape.

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