Electric fan heater trouble.

Associate
Joined
22 Sep 2016
Posts
46
Hi

Having the most bizarre issues with electrical fan heaters.

I have had this fan heater for a while now and it has been fine. It’s just a cheapo £15 from the supermarket. A week or so ago I was using it on the low heat setting like I normally do, and it just turned off. I thought it was the thermostat thing that had kicked in and shut it off.

I left it for 10 minutes and tried switching it on again. The red power light came on, but the fan did not spin. Then after a few seconds, the heating coils inside started glowing bright red and it got super hot. There was even a small amount of smoke come off it. I crapped myself.

Anyway I chalked it up to just a random failure and I went out and bought another cheap one. Different brand and shape but essentially the same thing.

I used it for about 30 mins and then that too just shut off! I tried switching it off for 10mins and turning it on again and would you believe it, the fan doesn’t spin and the heating coils start glowing red and get hot as hell.

I find it hard to believe that two fans would randomly fail in quick sucesssion.

Anyone know what could be causing this?

FYI: the way it is powered:
I have a two gang plug socket. One has my phone charger plugged into it and the other socket has a 4-way extender plugged in and the heater has always been plugged into that. There is also my bedside light plugged into the 4-way.

The only thing that I have changed recently isi get a wireless charging pad that plugs into my iPhone power plug.

If it was the 4-way surely the bedside light wouldn’t work?

I just tried plugging the fan heater into another plug socket but same thing happens (no fan spin, red glowing heating coils).

Thanks.
 
Not hard to believe the fan would fail on a cheap heater is it? Take the new one back for a refund or exchange, mention the words dangerous and fire to speed up which option you choose ;)
 
I think you just bought cheap heaters and they've broken. Presumably you aren't blocking any air intakes etc?
 
Don't know answer but would recommend an oil filled radiator, after a quick Google, can get them fairly cheap, 1.5kw - 2kw from £40-£60.
 
@SheldonCooper one of the trade investigations shows details a load of these heaters from home bargains or B&M or similar and they were wired wrong, didn't have heat shields, were live and would burn houses down.
Cheap might be dangerous, worth taking it straight back to where you bought it.
 
Don't plug heaters into multi gang extensions, they need to be in a socket on their own.

Have you tried plugging the heater into a different socket to rule out an issue with the socket? Preferably plug it in to another circuit, so if it's upstairs now then plug it in to a circuit downstairs.

I repeat, do not daisy chain electric heaters. This should be obvious. :rolleyes:

P.s. what's the kilowatt rating of the heater? It should be a KW number on the sticker on the heater.
 
Don't plug heaters into multi gang extensions, they need to be in a socket on their own.

Have you tried plugging the heater into a different socket to rule out an issue with the socket? Preferably plug it in to another circuit, so if it's upstairs now then plug it in to a circuit downstairs.

I repeat, do not daisy chain electric heaters. This should be obvious. :rolleyes:

P.s. what's the kilowatt rating of the heater? It should be a KW number on the sticker on the heater.

Extensions are all 13 amps max , so if you daisy chain them it makes no difference as the load on one socket can be a maximum of 13 amps before the fuse pops, which is also the reason we do not need to know the KW rating of the heater.

The next point is that the OP has not daisy chained anything anyway.
 
Extensions are all 13 amps max , so if you daisy chain them it makes no difference as the load on one socket can be a maximum of 13 amps before the fuse pops, which is also the reason we do not need to know the KW rating of the heater.

The next point is that the OP has not daisy chained anything anyway.


Loads of extensions aren't fused.
 
Extensions are all 13 amps max , so if you daisy chain them it makes no difference as the load on one socket can be a maximum of 13 amps before the fuse pops, which is also the reason we do not need to know the KW rating of the heater.

The next point is that the OP has not daisy chained anything anyway.

13A max load in total, which is dictated by the fuse in the plug. Just because an extension lead has a 13A fuse in its plug, it doesn't mean each extension socket is capable of sustaining that load. Cheap extensions are scarily bad for this, I've had some burn and melt in the past.
 
Extensions are all 13 amps max , so if you daisy chain them it makes no difference as the load on one socket can be a maximum of 13 amps before the fuse pops, which is also the reason we do not need to know the KW rating of the heater.

The next point is that the OP has not daisy chained anything anyway.

The cable on the extension is rated to 13amps at it's manufactured length, daisy chains will cause the cable to overheat due to additional resistance.
 
The cable on the extension is rated to 13amps at it's manufactured length, daisy chains will cause the cable to overheat due to additional resistance.

Longer cables mean a voltage drop, which means a higher current is drawn for the same power. So it would blow the fuse.
 
Longer cables mean a voltage drop, which means a higher current is drawn for the same power. So it would blow the fuse.

It's an HRC fuse in the plug top, and that provides short circuit protection not overload protection. Overload protection is provided by the MCB which is rated at 32A.

Installations aren't designed to allow 13A current at each socket outlet, because if they did you'd be able to use literally one twin socket as the third outlet would take you to 39 Amps.

Multi gang extensions are designed for low current items like table lamps, TVs, chargers etc.. they aren't designed for 2Kw heaters.
 
Heh, the more you know.

Can't help thinking that with advances in MCB / RCD technology there isn't an occasion where the fuse would go before the breaker.
 
Back
Top Bottom