On Thu, 03 Nov 2005 19:01:18 GMT, HorneTD
wrote:

uncle k wrote:
We've all heard warnings about leaving small appliances plugged in 24/7,
especially if said appliances tend to get hot when operated... i.e. coffee
makers, toasters, curling irons, hair dryers, space heaters, etc.

I must admit that I have only mildly heeded these warnings, until recently.
We finally got to see a near disaster, first hand.

Unloading boxes of misc. for our recently purchased place in AZ, I found a
rather sophisticated looking hair dryer (Vidal Sassoon/1600 Watt), which
appeared to be clean and in good shape. It even had a circuit breaker built
into the power cord. However, there were no marks on the sliding switch,
indicating "off/high/low." Guessing, I slid the switch to the center,
expecting to find the "off" position. I plugged it in - nothing. Good. I
temporarily hung it on the towel rack, then turned around to see what else I
could find.


It is possible that the motor failed. These hair dryers take the
equivalent of electric radiant room heaters which on the high setting
is typically is 1500 watts or so, however they are designed to work
safely only when the blower motor provides cooling air. There should
be a thermal safety cutout in the appliance itself, but either this
failed or it wasn't installed.

Curious to know if your hair dryer had a UL listing (Underwriters
Laboratories)?

Beachcomber