# Ol' Faithful blew a (thermal) fuse



## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

In some stroke of luck, I got my 'ol faithful wal-mart fogger off the shelf early this year. (Was hoping to make some spooky fog to video my 3D printed lanterns - but that is a story for another thread)

After ~17 years of use, I just expected to plug it in and get some fog. Not this time. I first thought "Wow - taking a long time to heat up!" But then after cautiously feeling around the case and eventually the nozzle... stone cold!

Pilot light switch was on, so I knew the power was good. Electrical fuse looked OK and tested good. Finally had a chance to crack the case and probe around with the meter a bit tonight. Everything seemed to be OK, except no continuity on the 'return' line from the heater.

Jumpered the thermal fuse and after a few minutes... POOWFFFF! Big clouds of fog once again!

I was half tempted to just permanently jumper the fuse, but my responsible side kicked in and said, "use the extra time and spend a dollar for the replacement fuse and do it right."

Looking back, I typically try to hide the fogger in a box, under a crate or something similar. So wondering if too much heat built up under the cover and blew the fuse. It would only need 133ºC or 270ºF.

Anyway, replacement should be here in about a week... so should have plenty of time to spare!


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

OK - fuse arrived and installed! Here is a quick run-down...if nothing else than for my reference in the future!

Here is where all the trouble is. Guess I might have placed too much 'covering' over the fogger and caused the thermal fuse to blow:



Close-up. 133ºC...270F and the fuse dies



Tucked back in the silicone sleeve and installed in the hanger:



Works once again!


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## Grizzelda (Oct 2, 2019)

That was a nice fix. Thanks for sharing.


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## rkimberly (May 31, 2015)

corey872 said:


> Anyway, replacement should be here in about a week... so should have plenty of time to spare!


I believe I'm having a similar problem. Can you let me know how to dertermine type of fuse and where to purchase a new one from?


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

Once you get the fuse out, the info should be printed on it. Mine was just listed 'normally' - no electronic 'codes', color bands, etc. Though, I believe they might also be color coded by temperature, too... mine was all green print and I noticed some replacement fuses had red, blue and purple print according to their rated temperature.

Mine specifically said:

133ºC (133 celsius)
10A (10 amps)
250V (250 volts)










I went to ebay for mine, but likely other sellers as well. You could probably search for the key temp/amperage rating and the words "thermal fuse" to find even more.

One other tip, make sure the 'thermostat switch' is actually cycling on/off to control the fogger temperature. If it gets stuck closed, it will cause the fogger to overheat and blow the thermal fuse. Unfortunately the thermal fuse is a "one shot" deal... once it's blown, that's it... replacement time.


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## rkimberly (May 31, 2015)

Fabulous! Thank you for all your help, it's much appreciated.


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

Welll crap!! I don't know much about much, but I'm guessing molten aluminum leaking out of the heater barrel isn't good!

Just to follow up on this thread - as mentioned above, got the repairs done and fogger back in great working condition a few weeks ago. My worry was that the thermostat control was 'sticking' and causing the thermal fuse to blow. But in several trial runs, it seemed to work fine.

So of course tonight, I plug the fogger in. It runs a bit then suddenly no fog!. A quick troubleshoot revealed another blown thermal fuse.

With ToT time virtually here, I did a desperation move and jumpered the thermal fuse. Seemed like it was working and I got a few more bursts of fog. So I started working on some other props. A few minutes later, the acrid / burning / overheating smell hit me and I knew it was over for the fog! 

May have to do a teardown sometime between now and 2020!


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## Fiend4Halloween (Aug 28, 2008)

Thanks for sharing the pix and info. Much appreciated. Hope your Halloween was a frightful one...in a good way!


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## goneferal (Sep 8, 2010)

Thanks for sharing. I wonder if this is what happened to my old fogger. I'll keep this in mind for the future.


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