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13 Amp fuse for a 35 watt appliance .........

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Hi to Eric, Nigel and all,

I have mended dozens of hair straighteners and the usual fault is that people have melted the flex, usually resulting in a short and blown fuse!

So by my reasoning the cable probably isn't silicon or it wouldn't have melted, after all the ironing board has a silicon pad on it that is totally unharmed by the iron being placed against it even on full and for quite lengthy periods.

The straighteners I have fixed have always come with 5amp fuses in them apart from the odd one where people have changed the blown one already! Most people not connected with electronics or the electrical industry have no concept of what fuses do other than the appliance won't work if its blown, so they are quite happy to take the fuse from the hoover or the kettle and place it into their (for instance) portable radio which has just blown its 3Amp fuse.

Ergo sometimes the fuse a repairer finds in a broken appliance is not what the maker intended. Unfortunately this occurs too often and has at times caused serious results.

The ones I have fixed have all been low enough power to warrant trying a 3Amp fuse and indeed I have fitted them with 3Amp ones after repair and none have come back with a blown fuse (except a few repeat flex melters) the exception being one of the expensive ones (£100+) which had a larger wattage and did blow the 3Amp on fitting so I used a 5Amp.

IMHO 13Amps is way too much for such an appliance especially as i have NEVER seen one with an internal fuse yet!

As to the mention of a motor in someones it is also something I have never seen, though a few did seem to hum a bit, but that is something that I have noticed in many appliances, maybe this one was just a little more active in the electronic noise department.

BTW if the OP does decide to have a look inside them it is usually held together by a hidden double ended screw in the hinge section that is covered by easily removable caps.

Hope I have helped a little and forgive me if I went on a bit, but too many people are injured by using the wrong rating of a simple device which is intended to prevent this.

Al
 
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