"Eastward Bound" > wrote in message
om...
| Auto Drip Coffee makers that keep the caref of coffee warm/hot for
| hours after can be fire hazards.
|
| Inside the base of the coffee maker is a metal heat strip that turns
| the power for heating off and on to regulate the heat. It's just a
| cheap 10 cent piece. As the strip gets hot enough it expands and
| pulls away closing the electrial curcuit. As it cools off again it
| contracts and closes the circuit to heat some more. It's a back and
| forth cycle until you either unplug the unit or switch it off.
|
| NOW, what can go wrong is that the cheap 10 cent electric/heat
| regulator switch can get STUCK in the CLOSED position. I have never
| seen it happen before to a coffee maker but I have seen this happen to
| many toasters that I have owned in the past. It burns the toast and
| smokes and soon enough starts a fire.
|
| But most all coffee makers now are made of plastic. If the unit gets
| hot enough the whole thing and melt and then suddenly burst into
| flames.
|
| They make coffee makers these days with no heat base. They just pour
| directly into a coffee canister that holds a lot of coffee and is well
| insulated to keep the coffee inside warm. Those are a good
| alternative.
| How big of a problem is this that I just described???

Eastward Bound wrote:
"...Inside the base of the coffee maker is a metal heat strip that turns
the power for heating off and on to regulate the heat..."
Its called a thermostat. It closes to complete the curcuit, and opens to
disrupt the flow of electricity.
In series with the thermostat that regulates the temperature there is a
thermal fuse;
http://tinyurl.com/3ct7u
a one shot device that permanently opens when it overheats. This typically
causes the owner to replace the (domestic)coffeemaker, as it is now
'broken'.
That said, other than automatic house heating, and water heating equipment,
NO heating appliance should be allowed to operate in the absence of
attention.Unplugging the unit makes things better yet.
ED3