You don't need to have a home theater to enjoy popcorn and a movie. Or just popcorn. And you don't have to accept microwave popcorn. You can make the real thing with a popcorn popper--and you can fix the popper when it breaks from constant use.

How Does It Work?

An electric popcorn popper is a motorized heating appliance.

A popcorn popper is a small electric appliance designed for heating kernels of popcorn to the point where they pop into an edible form. Corn poppers come in two basic types, hot-air poppers and oil poppers. Hot-air poppers have a fanlike impeller that agitates the kernels with a turbulent stream of hot air in the popping chamber. Oil poppers use a rotating rod to stir the kernels in a small amount of heated cooking oil. The heat in both styles of popper is generated by a heating element in the base, activated by a simple on-off switch and controlled by a thermostat. Both types include a motor. The heating element can be either a horseshoe-shaped solid rod or a springlike resistance coil.

What Can Go Wrong?

A faulty thermostat or thermal cut-off is often the cause of common popcorn popper problems such as scorched or unpopped corn and excessive popping time. Motors and other components can be replaced, but it may be as economical to replace the entire unit. As with other small heating appliances, the electrical cord, the switch, the thermal cutoff, and the heating element or coil all could be faulty.

Fix-It Tip

Oil poppers can easily get dirty because excess oil splatters and cooks on to metal components. After every use, clean the popper with a sponge dampened in soapy water; then rinse with clear water. Don't immerse the unit in water unless the manufacturer says it's safe to do so.