I have a couple, and the silly blurb on the side of one I translate to it having a ptc heater, the heater element also being a thermistor, when cold the resistance is low making it pull more power, then when warm the resistance is higher making it pull less current, making the element sort of self regulating.
By all means clean it up, but if it still doesnt work better chuck it.
Petrol car engines often have a similar arrangement to warm the air entering the engine when cold to avoid performance flat spots.