On 3/12/2019 6:22 AM, micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Tue, 12 Mar 2019 03:13:46 -0700, Mike
wrote:
On 3/12/2019 2:45 AM, micky wrote:
I have a little space heater with a burned out thermal fuse.
All the web hits for thermal fuses seem to be about big things like
clothes dryers.
At home I had a card with a selection of thermal fuses, but I never
knew what value I should use. The original one didnt' have a value
listed iirc. Or maybe getting hot made the number unreadable.
In addition, I was afraid to solder the thing in. The originals are
always riveted. I can't rivet. Can I solder?
Finally, I won't be able to buy replacement fuses at hardware stores,
will I? Just at a few online suppliers, unless I happen to be in the
same city where one of them is located?
You might consider the cost of a new heater in relation to the
cost of finding, acquiring, installing an unknown fuse.
I like to fix things, and I don't like to throw things away, So that
far surpasses the value of just buying a new one.
Assume you
fixed the cause of the failed fuse?
I wasn't here when it broke. But it's very clean inside. I'll take a
look at how it runs after its fixed, or maybe I'll jump the fuse for a
little while. I did bring a couple jumper wires.
Ditto on the "I like to fix things". I have a bathroom ceiling mounted
heater, fan, light, nightlight unit. Apparently, Broan/NuTone has
designed this thing poorly so that, especially in small bathrooms, it
will blow if left on for a long enough time. The only replacement is to
buy the new heater element from Broan/NuTone for something like $40. We
have burned out maybe 4 of these in the 10 years in this house. I'm
tired of paying for someone's bad design. So I searched on-line,
actually ebay, for a replacement thermal fuse and found this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/131594495259 I was able to use a very small
diameter screw and nut through the hole in the rivet, to tightly secure
the fuse. I did have have to open the hole just a little with a small
drill bit. It seems to work well with no soldering. BTW, these things
seem to be color coded for different temps. But it seems to be
identical to the original. I also bought an in-wall timers to shut off
the heater, if accidentally left on.