Winter Hack (sort of)

[MadGypsy]

My electric heater crapped out. Considering the simplicity of it I guessed that the thermostat died. I guessed correctly and I would like to share how I "fixed " it




See the black dot behind the elements? All these old school heaters have a similar device in about the same spot. That is the thermostat. Simply clip and strip the tips of the only TWO wires, twist them together, and add a wire nut (or at least some electric tape). I'm actually using some quality duct tape but, I'm not recommending that.

That's it.

There is something to note though. The heater won't turn off automatically anymore BUT, you won't freeze to death either. Just be responsible and you should be fine.

edit: OF COURSE, unplug the unit before attempting this and realize this makes the unit unsafe. The idea isn't to use it all winter. The idea is to use it til I have time to replace it in a day or two.

If you have more than 2 wires either:

a) that is not the thermostat
b) it is potentially more modern and I don't know what to do with the extra wires. in this case I would probably call it quits. The only way to figure this out without tools would be to plug it in and start touching wires together. That's a stupid risk. Get a blanket or suck it up when you plug yourself into the wall or create a short that harms you.

[Adam]

Basically then you are bypassing (what was) the thermostat.

I don't think the majority of people use them anyway, I always have our heaters thermo set to full and regulate by either turning on the one bar or two bar switch. Putting them both on causes our RCD to flip so we avoid that.

I would be slightly wary of ot leaving it unsupervised tho'. It could over heat and ignite which is a danger. It would most likely just burn its own element out but just to be on the safe side, stick it into a surge board before the wall socket. Hopefully the power drain from it super heating would trip it off.

Then again, it might not be as big an issue if your wall socket voltage isn't that high.
Australia has 240v, some parts of the US have 110v?

Maybe just to be on the safe side, buy a new heater?

[Mindf!3ldzX]

Saucier, MS
32.9°
Clear
Wind, 1.7 mph ENE
96% Humidity

We have a wood stove like this one literally...

with insulated piping going up to the top like this

It doesn't have a cap at the moment, I really need to get it capped off.

One of them f0kn Canadian biatches (probably Q Mark , I'll blame him) is shipping below freezing temperatures to the Gulf of Mexico, which is some bullshit if you ask me.

Return to Sender, address does not matter.



I murder tree's with a chainsaw, then I mutilate the logs with an axe. Fun Fun.

Basically then you are bypassing (what was) the thermostat.

I don't think the majority of people use them anyway, I always have our heaters thermo set to full and regulate by either turning on the one bar or two bar switch. Putting them both on causes our RCD to flip so we avoid that.

I would be slightly wary of ot leaving it unsupervised tho'. It could over heat and ignite which is a danger. It would most likely just burn its own element out but just to be on the safe side, stick it into a surge board before the wall socket. Hopefully the power drain from it super heating would trip it off.

Then again, it might not be as big an issue if your wall socket voltage isn't that high.
Australia has 240v, some parts of the US have 110v?

Maybe just to be on the safe side, buy a new heater?

Don't get me started with electric heaters. I woke up to one short circuited out and blazing on fire, it took out a plastic shelf I owned plus gobs of dry food. It was horrible, house was swamped with small pieces of burnt plastic where the heater and shelf went ablaze. True story, I ran to the sink to get some kind of container to pale water onto the fire (the breaker had already kicked) , and I grabbed a 2 piece bunt pan, which if I don't know what that is.... it is one of these.....


fn things bottom fell out and I ended up with a fn 8oz/10oz coffee mug trying to put the fire out. Bleh, I had waking nightmares for about a week, any time someone lit a fire in the morning I would wake up in a panic. I'm still terrified of burning wood at night, that screenshot above shows the fire I got going tonight.

zzzzZZZZZ good game, frag you later.

[MadGypsy]

@adam - It is a temporary fix to buy me some time to replace it (time achieved today). I would never leave this thing unsupervised, even when it worked fine. I don't trust open faced toasters, and that's about all this is.

[Mindf!3ldzX]

@adam - It is a temporary fix to buy me some time to replace it (time achieved today). I would never leave this thing unsupervised, even when it worked fine. I don't trust open faced toasters, and that's about all this is.

Funny how a lot of technology involves some capacity of controlled chaos. glowing elements on electric heaters = purposeful shorting in strategic places.

I recently took note that vaporizer batteries are the equivalent of laying a wire across a car battery, just in a controlled fashion.

Goes from "don't do that" to "thats how it works" o_O