Faulty Heater?

[Scarlett]

I have a white plug-in upright convector heater. The other day I plugged it in- there are 3 lights you can have on controlling the temperature. One light just shows it's on, two means heat, three means more heat. I twisted the dial and got lights one and three, walked away, and immediately my smoke alarm went off!! Scary- so it must have started to smoke. I unplugged it and have been too scared to plug it in since as I live alone. Any idea what I should do? I usually have it so the first two lights are on, so not sure why only lights one and three came on!

[EDDIE51]

There could be dust on the element that started to burn when you put it on, that sometimes happens if it has been a while since the heater was last used.

[The Builder]

Scarlett my friend ............. I think I can only say that it has gone to the great Heating system in the sky ........
It is an ex-heater
It has gone to sing in the choir invisibule
It is no more.

RIP

[The Builder]

Actually, Eddie's quite right. It does happen, but with enough smoke to set off an alarm, I don't think it's worth the expense of having someone take it apart to look at it.

[Scarlett]

Hahah oh no! So do I plug it in and see if I can make it work, or do I risk going up in smoke with it? Could it really just be dust? It does look quite dusty?!

[Scarlett]

I couldn't see any smoke- I guess the smoke alarm is very sensitive. Which is good. But I couldn't see any fault?

[The Builder]

What worries me is that light number 2 didn't come on. I would expect it to light if it was only dust on the element.

From here, it sounds like a switchgear fault.... not necessarily visible.

[treetops68]

Basicaly you have two choices, scarlett, have it checked out (which may not be cheap and could result in needing to buy a new one) or puting that money to a repacement and knowing you are not going up in smoke. Personally, I would never risk trying to use that type of heater if it's not working properly.

[Scarlett]

See what I would do if I was brave enough is plug it in and see if it starts the alarm off again. If it is just dust, I may be sitting here freezing for nothing. But I am worried about starting a fire!

[EDDIE51]

Our smoke alarm goes off if we burn a slice of toast. Even opening the oven door when it is hot can set our alarm off.
Scarlett I would take the heater outside and turn it on to see if it smokes (use an extension lead) if it does then see if it stops after a minute or so.
I would have expected a fault in the heater to trip your consumer unit before it did any damage. The consumer unit is what we used to call a fuse box but it has 'trips' not fuses

[HansUrbancka]

I think advice from EDDIE51 is on the right track.

If you have a trip switch consumer unit you should be safe enough in switching on the heater to see what happens. If there is a fault on the heater, it will cut out immediately.

Have you a neighbour who might know about such things and could have a look at it. ?

Hans.