Someone should get Ralphy an electric blanket.

I remember helping my father in law with his vacuum cleaner. He kept vacuuming his Astro Turf mat on the balcony. Everytime I visited I had to change the internal fuse and remind him not to vacuum when the mat was still wet from rain. He always forgot so I put in a resettable fuse and showed him how to reset it after letting the machine dry. He was a wonderful man and I still remember his childish face of guilt every time he asked me to have a look 😁❤️

Never apologise to your brother, it sets a dangerous precedent! 😂

"quite often he puts a heater under the blanket with him and wonders why they die" - Both heater and Ralfy if he's not careful! Thanks for some good safety advice with this video.- It's so easy to forget to unplug, particularly if you're getting tired/frustrated.

"Hold on a minute, just let me pop this off and take a closer look at it" is one of my most used bedroom lines

Good opening comments on preferring repair rather than replacement, even for very cheap items, to reduce landfill. As for unplugging items when repairing them, I'm sure I don't know what you mean. I worked at a repair cafe, so would be delving into the innards of electrical items more than most people. I would allow my self one zap per month in order to start paying attention again.

I'm glad you mentioned the need to thermally isolate the soldering of the thermal fuse. I suffered a severe forehead-slapping event when I replaced one on a friend's heater. Of course, it didn't work after the first repair attempt. The thermal fuses should come with the ID ten-T user warning (ID10T). The second repair attempt solved the problem.

The designers made the plastic housing look pre-melted, hoping one wouldn't notice it if it did. 😂

This particular heater is probably the most generic on sale in the UK , they are branded with dozens of retail badges and cost around £10. Not surprising that most do not get repaired , tracing back from sale to manufacture and all the profit add ons and shipping it makes you wonder the actual cost is to make? Landfill galore. Excellent content as usual Clive.

Even the simplest repairs are good to watch,you have the ability to captivate an audience Clive.TY.

It is good practice when working on anything with a plug, to get into the strict rule of having the unplugged plug visible where you're working.

This reminded me of when I worked in a repair place on some kit that was quite sophisticated for measuring temperature in an industrial process. We had a new tech starting and we gave him a board where the (soldered) thermal fuse had popped. He was not the best at soldering and kept wondering why it still did not work after replacing the fuse time and time again. About a week later he had more or less mastered those fuses.

You're a very good brother. I did not know about the layers in contacts and would have been tempted to use some 600 grit sandpaper. Thanks Big Clive.

When working with electromechanical relays in substations, we used a $1 US bill for burnishing the contacts when the proper diamond dust burnishing tool wasn't available. My version of that fan "had" a tip switch safety feature. It didn't last long due to us repositioning the thing frequently while it was on.

Reminds me of cleaning the points in a distributor when cars used to have them.

Did a similar repair on a turn signal relay many years ago, thanks for sharing, Clive!

Doubtless the corrosion is from all the whisky vapors!🎉

This is an ideal candidate for a diode in series with the element to halve the power, if he's got it under a blanket it'll warm up very quickly even on half the rated power! What I've found interesting with this one incidentally is the complete lack of a tilt switch, all of these upright style that I've owned have had a microswitch on the bottom to detect if it falls over.

Years of great videos....glad you keep producing great content.

The pins on the mains plug look tarnished as well. At least those are self cleaning. I took a similar heater apart a couple of weeks ago, just to see how it was wired and what protection it had. All the screws in that one were standard types.

I had one similar to this. I fell asleep with it on and awoke to the room getting brighter. It was slightly on fire. Needless to say I jumped out of bed, grabbed it, ran down the hallway and threw it outside.

A squirt of contact cleaner on the paper/card, card preferably as paper disintegrates more quickly, as you pull it through the contacts aids contact recovery. I have a pack of old BT burnishing papers designed just for this contact cleaning activity on 3000 Type relays - not sure if these are still available though.

Funny, I repaired a similar one myself lately. Mine had only heat and no fan. My 1st thought was also that bi-metal contact. But I had continuity. The problem was in the winding of the motor. One of the very thin wires had come off. after resolder it, it was working again. Always interesting watching your videos!

Lovely walk-through. Unfortunately I've got a couple of these style heaters and the corpse of my once favourite hair dryer/shop low heat gun that have popped the heating coils. Gave a few attempt on the heaters, as the hot-spots that popped the coils were near their original connection. I massaged the coils further along to give me something to crimp them back into the original connection, but they still failed again in short service. The hair dryer... perhaps still too soon to approach; I loved that little guy, and it gave out in the midst of a continuingly unfortunate repair experience I still haven't quite recovered from.

Poor Ralphy being cold, nice quick fix Clive thanks

A wonderful tip re the paper/card for dealing with possible oxidation, thank you as always Clive.

The notes accompanying video are often as informational as the video. Thank you BigClive for keeping us warm and safe at the same time. PS - My bro is just like Ralphy -God bless his sole.

Takes me back to my student days. Now I have a wonderful system called "central heating".

My circa-2005 Razer mouse had started developing what I coined as _"Phantom Clicks",_ where often when I would click, they're would be additional clicks that would be detected. This actually plagued me twice, but the first time it took me almost a year to conclude what the cause was... It inevitably had gotten worse, to the point where sometimes it wouldn't register a click AT ALL... That's when I broke down and decided to go to the extreme with the disassembly... Relevance to this video? Being they are quality mice, they actually use micro-switches (long and rectangular) for all 6 buttons - L/R conventional, then 2x on the left side (thumb), and 2x on the right side (middle/ring finger). These switches once removed and _themselves_ taken apart (their case clips together visually), they kind of resemble the thermal cutoffs: round metal pads welded to flat metal springs. The non-detection of a click was due to... believe it or not... carbon dust buildup on the pads! There's not much voltage here, so I was quite shocked (pun intended) that _this_ was the cause... So just as you had, I cleaned them off and reassembled to switch half! _RANDOMLY NOT DETECTING CLICKS: _*_SOLVED!_* As for the _other_ issue, the phantom clicks, it was still switch related..... but in THE weirdest way. _(actually, as I type this, I remember I fixed this prior to the non-detection issue, thinking that this manifested again... but anyways)_ One thing I had noticed with the phantom click was that I seemed to be able to have a higher chance at triggering it based on where I had pressed down on the mouse button (beings that mouse buttons are wide). Turns out, it was because after a decade and a half of daily use for hours each day, and probably a million or more clicks.... The tiny rounded bump on top of the physical switch, had _worn a groove into the plastic standoff attached to the mouse button!_ So if I depressed in a way slightly different from usual, the non-worn portion would trigger the switch like normal. The phantom click being that the mouse buttons being plastic, could flex a tiny bit left or right, making the standoff run across these precision switches enough to cause a rapid fire click sequence! 😐 Solution? Stupid simple: a tiny dot of super glue to fill in the worn plastic, carefully sanded flat. _RANDOMLY CAUSED PHANTOM CLICKS: _*_SOLVED!_* My 2005 Copperhead lives on! Albeit, needing a new USB cable, since it's internally broken (a few times, but bent in a certain way and taped to not move, solved it each time 😊). Which is GREAT news for me! Because the version 2 they released, which I bought, has different side button placement and lacks the rubberized side grip, making it horrible to use in my big hand!

These cutouts work perfectly. I’ve just replaced one in an electric water heater. It was stuck on. Averages out nicely!

I am not surprised about corrosion, when this heater was used in Ralfys bothy. It feels like a humid place in the videos. Im afraid the fix won't last very long ...

greetings Mr. CLIVE, I really like when you repair any failure of anything electrical.

Hope Ralphy found you some of his delicious beverages as a thank you.

The thermal fuse i needed to repair an espresso machine was available with spot-welded pigtails, which saved me dealing with soldering to it. Recommended!

Me and my parent's own these fans. When the boiler packs up, they feel so good to stand in front of the hot air! Good products.

Good tip for soldering the thermal fuses! I learned that one the hard way.

I have returned a number of hair dryers to normal operation by removing an errant hair from between the contacts. I love simple fixes.

In my experience, thermal fuses going open are one of the principal reasons that people get rid of microwave ovens. There are usually more that just a single one in a typical oven, and when they go, they're gone. Replacing one is usually very simple--just a couple of crimp terminal wires and a screw--and you've got your oven back again. I keep a bag of about 10 of them (very cheap if ordered through Aliexpress) around for just such events.

That's why I prefer dark beamer IR bulbs, no moving parts, no noise, no contacts that can corrode, easy to replace, lower power and the heat can be directed exactly where you want it. Gives you more movement freedom than a heated blanket. 250W at 0.5 to 1m is enough down to 10⁰C to make it feel like 20⁰C. Two, one from each side is even more comfy. They can be found in most pet shops or for heating chickens etc. Heat the person, not the room!

Thanks to you for opening it, I have the same one at home but it's still working fine for the moment 🤞

I've done many repairs on those cheap heaters. There is one more contact (bimetallic strip) in the temperature control. I use 600 grit sandpaper to clean all the contacts. If I see any warping or melted plastic, I let them know that even if it works, I highly recommend replacing the whole heater.

I always use open barrel wire splices for that kind of thermal fuses and diodes in hair dryers, they also work to crimp the resistive wire.

I have the North American version of that heater. I got it when the oil-fired boiler in my apartment building had a catastrophic failure just after the start of the heating season. The heat exchanger fractured in use, and there was a vast quantity of steam that roared out of the firebox, followed by a great deal of water. It took a week to get a gas boiler installed as a replacement, and it got quite chilly. I occasionally use it when, like this year, the date local regulations require the heating to be turned on is not the date I would have waited for if I had my own thermostat.

I bought a metal case space heater for the small greenhouse. It didn't turn on. I opened it up and found the tip switch weight shaft bent from shipping perhaps. I straightened it out and it has worked since. One of the heater couple contacts did fail later, but using a burnishing stick, I got it working again. I used that stick in my career for the reed and relay contacts. It was in my wallet until I retired.

excellent, Thanks for the video. I have these heaters in one of the shops i work in and the same thing has happened to those as what has happened with this one. So going to have a look now i'm confident what to look for inside.👍

I've recently repaired my own example of this very common heater. Damp and dusty storage had caused the fan motor to seize; a little cleaning and lubrication and it's back at work.

We had a few of these fail and it was always the one shot thermal fuse. They were used as preheating the bathroom for the children, they were never covered, only used in the I. setting (1kW-230V) and most of the time they were let to cool down for a minute in the fan-only setting.

My expenses with these: Fan can fall off. Once switch for fan failed (inductive load), but not for heaters. I once de-rated one of these for use on old Communist apartment block where electrical wiring is rated only for lights and TVs, in all rooms there were unfused 6A sockets with 1.5mm sqr aluminium cables. They assumed that district heating would be good (it was not, 19 degrees at best). I first disconnected 2nd heater. Then my wife complained that 2nd level is not working (even though I warned her not to use it, because there was fire in identical tower block due to wire overloading). Next was to put diodes in series with heating elements (they were at least anty paralel). Last revision was that on 1st level both heaters are in series, and on 2nd only one, second heater was shorted out. Placebo is interesting thing when you have 2 levels, when one is hotter them other. Like amplifier that goes to 11.

And this reminds me that I need to clean the fan heater I've got. Thanks Clive. 😀👍

I soak the paper in a bit of contact cleaner before dragging it between the contacts. Usually works like a charm if the rest of the components are still functioning properly.

I was thinking the same thing as soon as the contact started going then it's going to build heat and shut off probably even more often and then like compoundingly take itself out which like you said if it welds then you got the fuse so I like how robust the safety is as silly as it seems

I’ve just been looking at all the videos on repairing patio heaters. Usually the tilt or “dump” switich. Most look to bypass but all the switch is is a microswitch with a ball bearing that sits in a cup when upright whose lever pushes the switch closed. Digging is a similar contact repair. They carry the thermocouple voltage of 30 mA so sensitive to corrosion.

I've found that when a heater cuts out and in,,,,, as it's designed to do,,,,, the biometric strip loses some of it's springtness due to heat and flexability causing a weaker pressure between the contacts. This causes a bit of arcing, hence points failure. As you said these do have a cycle time as the heating and cooling takes place. Clive can you give us all a test on the accuracy of bimetallic trips and the differences in the temperatures of a trip, you might be surprised just how innacurate they are. Good vid, plus it keeps Ralfy happy

Thanks Clive that was a neat one. I have one of these, still working for now... looking forward to seeing it messing up with me 😉

I am also guilty of leaving my space heaters in my garage after spring hits so they are out of the way, and then shocked when one of them doesn't work again the first frost of winter.

When I was young and still learning, I once got my soldering iron out, opened the TV to be worked on, pulled the plug, started poking around, and found a loose wire. I reached for my soldering iron, only to discover it was cold. I then realized I had unplugged the soldering iron rather than the TV I was working on, and had been poking around in a live chassis for over 10 minutes. My knees got weak and I had to sit for a moment. So the comment about "sometimes they unplug the wrong thing" hit home. Never made that mistake again, though - one near-accident was enough to scare me into a more cautious behavior.

Had the exact same issue with one of the Beldray branded jobbies from Wilko. I recall I used Servisol to clean-up the contacts, and it's been fine ever since.

I have repaired several for friends and family by using a low-abrasive contact file and contact cleaner. They all seem to use very similar thermal breakers that get burnt contact surfaces within days of first use.

Interesting delve into the internals. Normally that style of heater has a switch under the base to switch off the heater if it gets knocked over

I fixed an appliance today. My vacuum cleaner's (Hoover's) on-off switch was "broken" in an "always on mode" for quite some time, figured I would just have to live with it. Needing to plug it into another wall outlet I set it upright and running. As I moved away, I tripped over the cord and knocked it to the floor. It hit hard enough that now the switch is working properly!

Vinegar and a couple of cotton buds, possibly a neutralising agent depending on how much vinegar has been used, and dry thoroughly. Works great on very corroded battery contacts.

That made me laugh. Yes. The turn on/off/on/off scenario. Been there done that and yes, got out of sequence!!!! Really enjoy your content. Thanks !!!!

I've had one of these for more than 5 years. Always been fine. I use it in my electronics workshop, it's on right now. Outside is 6 C, in hear it's a comfortable 21.

remembering to unplug devices is quite possibly the best advice one can give when repairing home appliances twice now i've been fixing something and turned it off by the switch on the device, assumed it's off and safe to work on, completely neglecting that the job i was doing was replacing capacitors on the power supply board and given myself a hearty dose of mains electricty across my fingertip

I recently had to start using one of these as the central heating packed in and on full (2kW) the plug becomes its own heater, excellent. It could be worth advising Ralph to check that after 10 mins or so on whatever heaters he has around the place. Cleaning up the prongs and tightly screwing down the contacts in the plug allowed me to use it on 1kW until I could get another heater.

Cool! I also had to fix this kind of heater in the past (the internals are literally the same), but the repairs were far less straightforward then here. It's actually a good heater in the sense of heating, but it could also be very dangerous! I was living in my cottage out of the city, and it got cold at night, so I usually had this heater on to maintain a temperature in the room. And one night I was already half-asleep when I heard the fan slow down just slightly. I didn't really pay much attention to that since it was still working fine. But what really woke me up seconds later was the big fire show in the middle of total darkness! I immediately jumped out of the bed and moved towards the outlet in the dark, my path being illuminated by all kinds of sparks and a fire in the middle of the room! Luckily I was not asleep and quickly reacted to that, and in the end only the heater suffered any damage. So, what went wrong? In my case, since my house was far from the city, there was not much power to run different loads. And if the neighbors decide to use, for example, a kettle, then all lights dim and flicker at my place. So it's very possible that my neighbor just wanted some tea in the middle of the night, and the power drop caused the fan inside the heater to slow down a bit. But the heating element is so strong that all the wiring inside immediately caught fire! I gotta say, based on that experience these heaters are running on edge all the time by poor design and could easily turn into fire hazard. As for the repairs, all the wiring was completely burned inside, so I had to reverse engineer the schematic using only my knowledge and experience (but its a very simple circuit of course). Everything else was burned and a bit molten, but still good enough to be put back together. So the moral of the story is: Don't leave working electronics unattended! Know your power supply capabilities before using loads! Use only reliable things and not this plastic crap (like, I have the same type of heater now but it's made completely out of metal, and way better engineered)

When I worked with PMG/Telecom in the 60's and 70's we were issued special cleaning strips called Microscrub. They had tiny abrasive hook tips, like micro fine Velcro which we used on relay contacts. I have never been able to source them commercially. We were taught to never use paper or cardboard as they would leave an insulating residue. Paper probably OK for 240v though.

the heaters we have here, most anyway, have a safety switch that prevents them from working unless they are flat on the floor. if you tilt them at all they shut off

Thank you for what you do.

I had a very well made vintage heater of this style made before the days of safety and certainly before RCDs were commonplace. It failed spectacularly when a large sewing needle fell into it whereupon it briefly shone brightly then spat out red hot heating element coil sections all over the carpet. I wasn’t sure which way to run!

The old one pound note was ideal to clean contacts as it had an ideal amount of abrasives to clean them nicely…

I always hang the cable round my neck, and I now wear rubber gloves after too many shocks to count. A couple with burns, one with irregular heart rhythm for a couple of days in hospital. That one was a colleague plugging it back in.

We had one like this years ago and the thermal fuse went, so we just used it as a cooling fan in summer. :)

I've often used an emery board on contacts like these. If they are solid silver and not gold plated it's fine, and often by the time this becomes an issue the gold playing is gone, anyway. It's only a few microns thick. OTOH, if arcing in involved and the contacts are pitted, then you're stuck replacing the part. I had a refrigerator thermostat i replaced a few years back where the contacts looked like the surface of the Moon, with deep pits completely covering each surface.

Switches and thermostats that break high current need a bit of time, a few seconds to a minute, to cool down from the arcing on opening before they are opened again or the contacts melt, corrode or weld together and then the thermal fuse becomes all that protects you from a fire or plastic casing turning to slag. The AC circuit switch arc only lasts until the AC voltage next passes thru zero ( 1/100th or 1/120th of a second). High voltage DC switches are always "snap action" as the arc will continue until the contacts are far enough apart to break the arc.

Here in Aus we have to have floor switches on box heaters, and the thermal cutouts cut the fan too

That heater makes an interesting contrast to a compact fan heater that I have. My heater has a spring loaded "foot" sticking out the bottom, so that if the heater tips over or is not standing upright on a solid surface it will not operate. I am slightly surprised that your (brother's) heater does not have that feature.

My Heater suffered from crimp failure over heat tripping the cut out, so soldered both crimps. Still works after 4 years.

In Argentina we got this model of heaters but the security parts are reduced a lot, and sometimes the fan gets stuck, people think it doesn't work anymore but turns out, just cleaning the fan works.

A common trick with classic arcade games is to drag a fresh US one-dollar bill between the button and joystick contacts to clean them. Super fine grit, and not as easy to rip as writing paper. Not sure how other currencies would fare in this regard.

It's a fairly well thought out design having a thermal cut out on the plastic case, one I used to have that the motor failed in didn't have that so Ralph's heater is safer by design.

" We'll put the cover back on, *just for safety* ". Says the man who cuts open fireworks, with a craft knife, on his work bench. 😁

I was fixing something on my bench at work, as i plugged it in, switched it on ALL the power in the workshop tripped. Bloody flying leads, (I should really have had a Cliff power terminal). I had big, black and copper skid marks on the back of the repair manual. 🤣🤣

My old blow heater needs a service every year, it's just the fan bearings well bushes really. So every year I take it apart and give it a clean and lubricate the bearings and like Ralphy I use it in conjunction with a blanket but never covered. The heater blows into my blanket which hangs down from my chair trapping the heat around my legs.

Ralphy should get a bear hug that will keep him warm

A fan with two blades is not something I expected. I have a box style heater fan. The switch tripped once when I ran it on full for a bit too long(I think? IDKY it tripped.) On this one, it cuts the fan also. I think the fan should always work, so even if the heater fails, it still works as a fan, which may also help it reset a bit faster.

I have identical looking heater, but it has only one set of thermal fuse and a cutout and it cuts all the power to the thing so the fan also doesn't work. I blown my thermal fuse by accidentally pushing it back against the wall reducing airflow. They use rivets on a mica board to mount the fuse and I used same technique to replace it without soldering. Instead of 2nd cutout mine has anti flip switch that didn't work due to the warped bottom plastic meaning that it would not close standing on a flat surface.

excellent advice all around there on this repair.

You’d think all that whisky would keep him warm! 😂

Your brother and his stone-age heater... I laugh heartily from deep within my wearable blanket. My feet resting comfortably upon a - slightly too hot - electric rug, while it is a bone-shattering 68F in this room. More of an icy torture chamber, really.

Umm nice cheers Clive, I just brought a cheap 750w heater with 24h timer for my bedroom to reduce my central heating usage. It works really well for the 15 minuet bursts I run it, it’s definitely a death trap inside though. I expect a huge bang one day 😁

Moral: do not releave yourself near the fan heater.

A friend's standard lamp has an E27 light bulb which flickers. The replacement did the same. The fault is a high impedance in-line switch moulded onto the cable. I need a new switch. I have fixed fan and convector heaters in the past.

One thing I tend to do when working on mains stuff is put the plug in my pocket. Cant be live if the plug is in my pocket!

A very good Saturday morning to you all from Wellington Somerset

I have a little group of electric heaters that I use in my outbuildings to protect pipes and loan out to family. They are 120v 1800watt heaters originally, called "milkhouse heaters". Very common in the rural areas in the US. Some of these are over 50 years old. They are in a 10"W, 8" thick, 18" H (ish) metal box with metal grilles. None of them have any of the original control circuitry left, some even have new heat elements. I have begun putting solid state relays and PID temp controllers in them. Started using old power resistors out of OLD elevator cabinets that I have stripped out over the years for heat elements. Have a series/parallel (High/Low) heat element switch on the loaners for use on loaded circuits. Even with the cost of the control circuits, it is better to have the safety of a rated thermal switch and a nice grounded metal box... I use 120v muffin fans that push the air through/past the heat elements so the fan lasts quite a while. I derate the units to 1200/ 1400watts and set a maximum discharge air temp of 150° in the control circuit. The auto shut down 'tip over' devices in these units are pretty robust. They are a heavy click switch, 20amp, with an arm and weight, total shutdown. I test the heater control circuits by getting them up to heat and dropping a blanket over them. They just shut down and the fan runs, 12watts or so. Never found any 'safety screws' in any of these... One added bonus, the muffin fans make that whine, so loaners usually come back soon if they were used around people, Lol. I can pick them up dead at farm auctions now for $1-$2, new ones are $50+ and are beginning to introduce a lot of plastic into the units. Taking the dollars out and putting in plastic, they rivet the boxes together now to discourage repair. Michael in Colorado.

For such a cheaply made unit, I was supprised to see a metal fan blade.

Our old toaster had pitted contacts on the electromagnetic switch. Cleaning worked for a while, but they are prone to sparking when they disconnect. I was going to fix it again, but it was less bother to buy a new one.

Good fix, thanks for sharing. Oddly you clean micromters in the same way.

Used to service carpenter and Ericsson relays used in radar kit (something to do when bored on nights). The card of choice was the RAF F731 serviceability label. The older coarse ones were the best - the newer glossy ones weren’t so good. We also had various grades of diamond coated scraper thingies (imagine a half in feeler gauge on a plastic handle), but they were never as good as card.