The3rd Earl Of Derby wrote:
Lobster wrote:

Daughter says her curling tongs are knackered (for the incogniscenti,
this is an electrical appliance looking like a large pink soldering
iron, which apparently you wind your hair round for some reason).

Had a look at the fuse - OK - then dismantled it to look for obvious
problems: none that I could see. Measured the resistance across the L
and N pins of the plug - it was 2.5 kohms; ie there was continuity in
the heating element. That resistance corresponds to a power of 23W
if I remember my O-level physics correctly. There's no power rating
on the tongs themselves. AFAICS the things aren't heating up at all.

Does this make any sense to anyone?

Probably a breakdown in that stuff(name escapes me) that insulates the
element.

But surely that would cause a short within the heating area, and
presumably therefore localised extra-hot heating of the element and/or
blowing a fuse, wouldn't it? Seems very curious to me.

Haven't a clue whether the 2.5kohms I measured is 'normal' or not. That
equates to 100mA; the device comes with a pre-fitted 3A fuse which ties
in with that.

Anybody able to measure the resistance of their own, working tongs, maybe?!

Thanks
David