In alt.home.repair, on Tue, 12 Mar 2019 11:45:27 +0200, 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?

This question was for when I get home. I'm traveling and don't have a
soldering iron.

I did bring a tape measure, a very small digital VOM, a shirt pocket
thing that opens to large and small, Philips and flat screwdrivers, and
a couple jumper wires.

Two years ago my roommate had me putting casters on a cabinet ,
replacing hinges on a cabinet door, a couple things I forget, and
replacing two 220V outlets. She thanked me over and over for the
casters and one other thing and said not a word about the outlets, which
would have required an electrician I assume, and a hefty charge.

They were right next to each other but on separate circuits. I turned
off the breaker for one and thought I had both. I should have checked
earlier. I could have killed myself. (One was there to begin with, and
when the owner of the building put on another floor or two, he bribed
the other owners by givign each of them two more rooms, and in this case
more electricity in a room she already had, so one outlet was on one
circuit and the other 6 inches away on the other. They don't have dual
receptacles here, only single, so it didnt' seem strange that there
were two of them.

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?

I have to look at this thing in brighter light to decide if it's more
than the fuse. I'll get back to you all. It's perfectly clean inside
so I wonder what would make the fuse blow.

Yesterday I found two 25" CRT TVs in the trash, but I probably can't fix
them, or even carry them. Today I found a vacuum cleaner, and my
experience is that they always work and just need the lint removed from
the pipe. But I was walking -- didn't have the car -- and my roommates
have no carpeting, just tile.