Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

*mumblegrumblegrowlmuttercurse* I diked out the switch prematurely. When bypassing the switch by sticking wires together with that I think is called a "wire nut", the heater still didn't work. It turns out the wire itself had failed, specifically the blue wire leading to the common post of the switch.

Since when do you suspect the wire before the switch?

Actually, I would have tested the wire before, if it had been exposed at both ends. (One end goes to a slip-on connector with bare metal showing [pay very close attention to whether the power cord is plugged into the wall before deciding where to stick that probe] but the other end disappeared inside the housing of the switch. I did test both prongs of the damned wall cord to make sure they conducted to the junction thingamabob inside, and I tested the wire from that junction to the thermostat, which also had exposed metal at both ends, Just Because I already had the screepybox in hand ready to feep if given a chance, and hey, why not be thorough? But I didn't think to bother cutting other wires just to test them when wires are seldom the problem [inside an appliance, well secured by cable ties; I'm not talking about microphone cables and patch cords that get kinked and stepped on and such] without visible signs of say, abrasion or charring or a really hinky sharp bend that looks more like how insulation flexes than how metal does.

Feh. The wire did have a layer of heat-shrink around one segment, which I figured was related to the general cable-tie-down overkill observed elsewhere in the appliance. It was only after cutting out the switch, having the heater fail to heat, and deciding to stick the probe on the end I'd already stripped when I removed the switch, that I began to suspect the doubly-insulated section. Took the dikes to it upstream of that, and sure enough that's where the break was.

I'm beginning to suspect that this heater, which I thought was brand new when I got it <mumble> years ago, was actually a refurb. (It did work for, uh, about three years, I think, before its then-mysterious failure (followed by a very long term as a venerable member of my to-do list).)

I'm just annoyed at how long I've spent today finding out that an effing piece of metal with no moving (not even regularly flexing) parts was the bit that Failed -- and invisibly! Harrumph!

Well that, and the fact that I damaged the faceplate getting the switch out, and snipped four more wires than I needed to to make the thing work, and could've had a perfect repair in half an hour instead of the current hack-job, if I'd thought to test a damned BIT OF WIRE.

I need a grumpy-icon.