Please help me fix my heater, its cold!

[Franknstein]

Hi guys

Thought if anyone knew how to help, you guys would. I have a little fan heater just like this:

**broken link removed**

Its 2000W and has the following Features: 1. Over-heat protection 2. Thermal fuse 3. Thermostat 4.

What happened the other day is it just started blowing cold air, obviously the heating element wasn't coming on. So I opened it up, and there are two safety switches wired in series on the heater element. One seems to look like an exposed relay contact connected to a tiny white block (Overheat protection I think)... and the other is a little aluminium cased fuse. The Overheat protection switch is still good, and has continuity, but the other fuse has blown (no continuity with meter). Now, because this heater is so cheap and rubbish, the fuse ends are riveted in place, and it seems not easily replacable. What I want to do is Solder two wires in place, and run an external fuse holder of some sort.

What I need to know is, what kind of fuse must I get, what rating etc... can i just use a normal fuse, or must it be a thermal fuse or something?


I used threee strands of really thin copper wire to bridge the fuse the other nite and it worked for about 5 hrs before the copper bridge burned out.... could I use this method, but maybe put more copper strands? What would the current draw be on a 2000w device like this? What can a single copper strand normally handle?

Sorry for all the questions, but anything you guys can help me with will be much appreciated...!
Thanks!
Ryan

EDIT: the thermal fuse looks a little like the one on the top, but no colours at all: **broken link removed**

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Thermal fuses often fail for no reason, but for fan heaters it's commonly caused by the air flow being restricted, usually by dust buildup, clogged bearings, or worn bearings.

You really need to replace it with something similar, while they aren't that easy to get hold off, they aren't too hard - one UK source is RS Components.

 

[CheapSlider]

Thermal fuses are not the same as fusewire fuses. In the UK they are carried, among others, by **broken link removed**.

It would not be advisable to solder these in unless you are using a special high temperarture solder.

 

[Franknstein]

Ok, but what is the point of having a thermal cutout and a thermal fuse, the thermal cutout is the same thing, its just self resetting which is better, see my diagram below (excuse the quality, rubbish camera phone). It seems that the manufacturers have left an extra lug terminal in the circuit, if I move the blue wire to the lug terminal B, it will bypass the thermal fuse entirely, and leave the circuit only with the thermal cutout protection.

**broken link removed**


What you guys think... safe?

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

The thermal fuse is a last ditch safety component, the thermal cutout isn't that reliable from a safety point of view.

You really need to replace it with the correct component, in order to maintain it's safety level - obviously just shorting it out will make the heater work, but you're removing a level of protection.

 

[Optikon]

Hey, that's a really nice photo with editing. Makes communicating to others very simple. Hope you get your heater fixed.

 

[Franknstein]

Lol: Optikon

Thanks, I'm a graphic designer, I prefer pics to words

I moved the lug to terminal B for the mean time, I know its not the safest option, but I'll never leave it unattended, lookout for a burning smell and keep my fire extinguisher handy.... I will try get a couple of those thermal fuses sometime..

Thanks for the help guys!

 

[CheapSlider]

keep my fire extinguisher handy

Be carefull, you should only use a special fire extinguisher that is made for electrical fires. Use of any other type of extinguisher can be extremely dangerous. Do not use any water type Fire Extinguisher on electrical appliances.