Electric space heater repair question

I had a $20 space heater fail after about 4.5 yrs of use. It looks the nichrome filament burned through near a crimp fastener (below is a pic).

Is there any cheap easy method of repairing this, without it winding up burning down the house?

Thanks

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Reply to
DaveT
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DaveT-

Did the wire break, or did it just pull out of the crimp? It may have just been poorly attached. If you can poke it back where it came from, you can crimp it more tightly.

From the photo, it is not clear how it was crimped before. There may be a metal sleeve that was placed over the joint and crimped. If the filament broke, it may be best to replace the old sleeve and re-crimp.

As far as burning down the house, check to see that there are no other points where the filament might be short circuited to itself. If part of it shorted out, that would explain why it would burn through.

Fred

Reply to
Fred McKenzie

It didn't pull out, it burned out leaving a stub of wire in the crimp fastener. It was glowing orange right at that point in the weeks leading up to the failure.

It may have

Yeah, that's the way it was fastened.

If the

Reply to
DaveT

DaveT wrote in news:m4t60j$5da$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

A twenty-dollar space heater is a disposable item. Why are you even considering repairing it? Is your time worth nothing?

Reply to
Doug Miller

When talking about risk of burning down the house,now is not time to get cheap.

The ceramic "black box" heaters are safer.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

It's stupid to throw things away that can be repaired easily and safely.

That's why I'm asking about it.

Reply to
DaveT

Although I also agree that it's good to fix things rather than throw out... I will save you the trouble.

I tried repairing a heating device similar to yours by cleaning the connections very well and tightly crimping on an uninsulated butt connector. It went bad again within a few weeks.

For $20 you got your money's worth by now.... toss it.

Reply to
philo 

DaveT wrote in news:m4teks$91l$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

repairing it?

It's even more stupid to spend more than about an hour of your time trying to fix something that you can replace for twenty bucks.

And you've already used up ten or fifteen minutes of that hour, writing your post and reading the responses.

Reply to
Doug Miller

It looks as if it burnt off right at the connector. They make some crimp lugs that are rated for the high temperatuers. Not sure where you can buy them. You should be able to streach the wire the inch or so you need . Years ago I tried that with some standard crimp connectors near the middle of the wires. They only lasted for a short time as the connectors were not rated for the high heat.

Here is one place that list them for $ 1.24 each. Not sure if you can get just one mailed cheep or not.

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Reply to
Ralph Mowery

Did the same thing myself years ago. They do make nickel high temperature connectors that will stand the heat. Just did not have one at the time.

Reply to
Ralph Mowery

Thanks, it's probably not worth the trouble. Lowes and HD have plenty of connectors, but none described as high temperature. Amazon has high temperature connectors but price and s/h makes it not worthwhile.

I thought it might be a common problem w/ a common solution.

Reply to
DaveT

I'd invest in a ceramic heater. That said, it sure looks like the wire wasn't crimped into the terminal end. I'd slide the wire in, crush the terminal with small vise grips, and increase my fire insurance and put a new battery in the smoke detector.

- . Christopher A. Young Learn about Jesus

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Reply to
Stormin Mormon

It's stupid to post that it's not worthwhile to inquire about repairing something, in a forum where everybody is looking for information on repairing things.

That's stupid.

Reply to
DaveT

I'd just buy another one. Repair may work for a while but will fail again.

Reply to
Tony Hwang

Thanks for the info.

Heck I've used butt connectors for over 40 years and never thought to look into one designed for hi-temp. It seems obvious now that when the devices are made, that's what's used.

Reply to
philo 

It is and there is. Need anything else from Amazon? That way the shipping is reasonable or free. The right connector is the key to a good fix.

An alternative is to send it to the factory in China for their technician to do the repair. Cost is 80 cents US plus shipping.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

The nickel crimp connector is kind of pricey and would not be worth it to purchase for a $20 heater... but I have ordered stuff direct from China before.

Might have mentioned here before but:

I needed some spare CMOS batteries for the computer work I'm always doing. Figured they be a few dollars each at the local drug store.

Wrong. They were $7 each

I ordered from China $3.58

oh yes and that price included postage.

but I am not done yet

The $3.58 was for 20 of them!!!!!!

18 cents each ...including postage

The drug store that sells them for $7 each buys them from China anyway, just puts them in a plastic package that probably costs more than the battery.

Reply to
philo 

It's stupid to rebuke someone about a stupid post which says that it's stupid to try to bring the group on topic, because of the stupid replies to the stupid original post. Got it, Stupid?

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Having made the connection, you are now the butt of our ridicule. Turn up the temp!

- . Christopher A. Young Learn about Jesus

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Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Oh, man. I've got Billy Mays commercials echoing through my head. And what would you pay for this!

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

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