Replacing a termal fuse in a night storage heater
 

Hi all,

The thermostat control in my night storage heater seized up recently,
causing overheating. Fortunately, the thermal fuse did its job, and
cut the power. I've now unseized the thermostat, and need to replace
the fuse. Should I buy the fuse from a spare distributor (for about
15UKP), or can I fit a thermal fuse bought from Maplins for 50 pence?.
Is there any real difference between the two types of fuse? The lowest
temperature Maplin fuse is 93 deg. C. which seems rather high. Roughly
what temperature should it cut-out at?

thanks,

dan.

On 4 Mar 2005 03:53:29 -0800, (Daniel Towner)
wrote:

Hi all,

The thermostat control in my night storage heater seized up recently,
causing overheating. Fortunately, the thermal fuse did its job, and
cut the power. I've now unseized the thermostat, and need to replace
the fuse. Should I buy the fuse from a spare distributor (for about
15UKP), or can I fit a thermal fuse bought from Maplins for 50 pence?.
Is there any real difference between the two types of fuse? The lowest
temperature Maplin fuse is 93 deg. C. which seems rather high. Roughly
what temperature should it cut-out at?

thanks,

dan.

hi dan,
i very much doubt that a thermal cutout/fuse costing 50p will be
capable of taking the load current of a storage heater. the best
advice is to get the correct part as specified by the manufacture, as
this is a safety critical component, stops the house burning down.
furthermore are you sure the thermostat is ok ?
regards
bob

burbeck wrote:

hi dan,
i very much doubt that a thermal cutout/fuse costing 50p will be
capable of taking the load current of a storage heater.

Probably not, unless it's a small heater, the Maplin one is rated at 10A
max with a max rupture current of 40A res, 20A ind.

the best advice is to get the correct part as specified by the manufacture, as
this is a safety critical component, stops the house burning down.
furthermore are you sure the thermostat is ok ?
regards
bob

Obviously agree with this, but the manufacturer's part most likely comes
as an assembly with leads and connectors, I don't see anything wrong
with replacing just the fuse itself with an *identical* one, and
provided it is mounted in exactly the same way as the original.

Lee
--
Email address is valid, but is unlikely to be read.

In article , Daniel
Towner writes
Hi all,

The thermostat control in my night storage heater seized up recently,
causing overheating. Fortunately, the thermal fuse did its job, and
cut the power. I've now unseized the thermostat, and need to replace
the fuse. Should I buy the fuse from a spare distributor (for about
15UKP), or can I fit a thermal fuse bought from Maplins for 50 pence?.
Is there any real difference between the two types of fuse? The lowest
temperature Maplin fuse is 93 deg. C. which seems rather high. Roughly
what temperature should it cut-out at?

Try this crowd:
http://freespace.virgin.net/storage.heater/ , haven't used them but their site
makes them look small and helpful. Or google for "storage heater" +spares
--
fred

On Fri, 04 Mar 2005 03:53:29 -0800, Daniel Towner wrote:

Hi all,

The thermostat control in my night storage heater seized up recently,
causing overheating. Fortunately, the thermal fuse did its job, and
cut the power. I've now unseized the thermostat, and need to replace
the fuse. Should I buy the fuse from a spare distributor (for about
15UKP), or can I fit a thermal fuse bought from Maplins for 50 pence?.
Is there any real difference between the two types of fuse? The lowest
temperature Maplin fuse is 93 deg. C. which seems rather high. Roughly
what temperature should it cut-out at?


These are an important safety item. If you get the wrong spec you may have
a fire.

The thermal fuse is essentially a small rod of low melting point metal.
It probably is intended to melt at around 100C or more, we are talking
about the innards of the heater.

A frequent cause of these parts failing is new users of the heaters
covering them to dry out clothes, although in your case it was the running
thermostat that got stuck.


--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk
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