Ok, I've been having some issues with hotplates recently. I'm not sure if this is a fluke or related to some other issue... Now another 2 hot-plates (different) broke and one I "fixed" also broke again but at a different component (I replaced the thermal fuse but it is fine).
I've attached the wiring diagram and will attach a few photos showing new points of failure. Any help would be appreciated. The device is as simple as can be.... I don't see why things wouldn't work as they should. I will explain.
I changed the thermal fuse on one of the hotplates. Everything worked great for a few hours, then it stopped! (or at least the "light" burned out"). My wife unplugged it, I don't know whether it was still hot or not, she just unplugged it (maybe assumed it was not working?) and plugged in a 2nd hotplate.
I opened the 1st hotplate which I had previously repaired last week by changing the thermal fuse, and the thermal fuse was OK... Instead I noticed a melted plastic around the indicator bulb/resistor area (pictured below). However, based on the wiring, it is connected in parallel to the element... If anything, it would not affect the heating, just the light wouldn't go on. It was NOT a short through the light/resistor either, by removing the light/resistor the element worked normally, I just didn't have an indicator it was on/off.
So the question is, I need to replace this indicator... what is the best/easiest way? The element is 400 W and I measure about 30 ohm across it, but at 125V I am calculating it would get around 520 watt.... Does that bulb/resistor circuit draw some of the current I would need to replace with something similar to avoid the element from getting too much current? To bring it down to the rated 400 W?
Second hotplate that she used also burned out in a matter of a few hours, opened it up and confirmed it was the thermal fuse. This was a NEW HOTPLATE, and thermal fuse already gone? Something strange going on.
Anyways, back to the first hotplate.... The photos I attached show a bulb... not a conventional filament bulb, looks like it is a gas type and resistor I cannot tell the type, it had heat-shrink black insulation over it, I removed as carefully as possible. I am now measuring 55k ohm across resistor and 0.6 M ohm across bulb.... Both of which I suspect are not right. That would indicate why indicator bulb not working.... But did it cause the hotplate to stop functioning or was my wife just confused because the light went off and it was still "hot" to touch but she did not know if it was cooling down or perhaps completely off since she had no way to know whether the temperature was remaining steady or not?
And why did the new hotplate thermal fuse burn out already? And did my repair of the first hotplate perhaps put one of the wires too close to the element and that burned out the indicator light?
Would I just use something like this, and mount it outside the case (I'm worried it is not designed to withstand the heat):
https://secure.sayal.com/zinc/zinc_SEARCH.asp?txtSEARCH=211633