Sunbeam Electric Blankets Keep Failing

[Bruce]

Hi,

If there is a better newsgroup for this, please let me know.

In the past few years, I've bought two king size Sunbeam electric heating
blankets. They were the mid- to high-end models. After less than a year
the first one would no longer heat, and we sent it back for repairs. The
repair (I believe they just replaced the controls) took six months turn
around, and postage was at our expense. After a few months more, it went
out again.

The second blanket, less than a year old, is having the same problem.
After only a few months use, the blanket will not heat, although the
control is set to high.

Has anyone else had similar problems with Sunbeam electric blankets? I
really hesitate to send it back to the factory for repairs.

I've looked for other brands of electric blankets, but Sunbeam seems to
be the only brand around. Are you aware of any other brands.

Sincerely,
Bruce

[Ron Hardin]

A Doberman runs about 100.5 degrees and is very comfortable.
--
Ron Hardin
rhha...@mindspring.com

On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.

[Bruce]

Ron Hardin <rhha...@mindspring.com> on 27 Nov 2003 had this to say
news:3FC67E...@mindspring.com:

> A Doberman runs about 100.5 degrees and is very comfortable.

I have 3 St. Bernards. It's called a three dog night. ;)

[wayne]

You may be sitting on them or have kids jumping on them and breaking the
wires! I have always had better luck with an electric mattress pad more
direct contact with the heat and they are made to be laid on so a bit more
durable they also tend to be lower wattage so they use less power!

Wayne

"Bruce" <parc...@netscape.net> wrote in message
news:Xns944094FFBAA1ESp...@204.127.199.17...

[indago]

031127 1742 - Ron Hardin wrote:

> A Doberman runs about 100.5 degrees and is very comfortable.

Only when it's in heat...

[Robert]

replying to Bruce, Robert wrote:

Same here. Had one repaired several times at my shipping expense of
course. Purchased a new one, same issue after about one year. Unit draws
about 35 watts max so the wires are connected, just very low heat. On the
previous unit twice was the control unit, once was the blanket connector.
No dogs, no kids, no rough use.

--

[Tony Hwang]

Was it made in China?

[flak...@gmail.com]

Over the years I've had two Sunbeam E blankets.
The first year they worked great, second year, no so great.
By the third year they barely got warm @ all

[cl...@snyder.on.ca]

Ours is over 20 years old and still working fine.

[Micky]

On Mon, 07 Dec 2015 02:44:03 +0000, Robert
<caedfaa9ed1216d60e...@example.com> wrote:

>

>Same here. Had one repaired several times at my shipping expense of
>course. Purchased a new one, same issue after about one year. Unit draws
>about 35 watts max

How does that compare with the rating on it, or on a typical electric
blanket** the same width as yours. If it uses 35 watts, the heat
has to go somewhere, and it doesn't go back to the electric company.

**I looked at a couple ads for you but neither were rated in watts or
amps or even volts.

I have 2 electric blankets, one that I bought 40 years ago when that
landlord I wrote about wasn't giving enough heat, and another that's
at least 30 years old. They both work but it's not a fair comparison
because I rarely use either.

But when I do use it, I note that though the control goes from 1 to
10, I can't put it any higher than 1, or I can't take the heat. This
would be in a room that is 67 degrees. I think if the room were 32,
6 would still be too hot. I'm sure it just turns on full power, and
then off, but I haven't measure the watts used.

Are you careful not to fold it or put weight on the folds?. After all
there are wires inside. Of course that would only matter if there
are parellel paths and you broke one of them.

[Mark Lloyd]

On 12/06/2015 09:06 PM, flak...@gmail.com wrote:

[snip]

>
> Over the years I've had two Sunbeam E blankets.
> The first year they worked great, second year, no so great.
> By the third year they barely got warm @ all
>

I've had 3 over about the last 10 years. I have had no problem with the
heat dropping off, they would just not work after 3-4 years. It was the
blanket that failed. I continued to use the first control, which I like
better than the other two.

--
18 days until the winter celebration (Friday December 25, 2015 12:00:00
AM for 1 day).

Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"[The Bible] has noble poetry in it... and some good morals and a wealth
of obscenity, and upwards of a thousand lies." -Mark Twain

[Peter]

On 12/7/2015 1:25 AM, Micky wrote:


> But when I do use it, I note that though the control goes from 1 to
> 10, I can't put it any higher than 1, or I can't take the heat.
> This would be in a room that is 67 degrees. I think if the room
> were 32, 6 would still be too hot. I'm sure it just turns on full
> power, and then off, but I haven't measure the watts used.
>
>

I'd had two problems with Sunbeam electric blanket controllers that I
was able to fix myself. (1) The comfort zone corresponded to about
number 1/2, and (2) the bedding would go from uncomfortably cold to
uncomfortably hot before the thermostat would cycle.

To fix problem number 1, I removed the control dial by peeling off the
decal in the middle, unscrewing the screw that holds the dial to the
control stem and pulling the dial up. I repositioned the dial on the
stem (only serrated inserts, no orientation key to prevent reinsertion
at any amount of rotation) so that my comfort zone corresponds to #5 on
the dial, pushed the dial back down and reinserted the screw.

To fix problem #2, I removed the bottom plate of the control unit by
taking out the two small Phillips head screws. I turned an adjusting
screw on the thermostat relay to narrow the gap between the relay arms,
thereby reducing the temperature deviation required to cycle the
thermostat. CAUTION: The adjustment screw will have 120V if the
controller is plugged in. Either use an insulated screwdriver or unplug
the controller before attempting this. You can tell when the gap is
appropriate by turning the adjustment screw and then rotating the
temperature control dial back and forth. You should aim for a position
of the relay arms to cause the relay to open/close with less than a 1
number rotation of the temperature control dial. Before I did this, I
was getting a 2-3 number deviation.

I've seen newer model controllers that may not yield to these fixes. My
model is 10-15 years old and the controller is a rectangular solid with
the temperature control dial at the very top of the box with a serrated
knob on top to turn it, and a metal bottom plate underneath the controller.

[John G]

My Sunbeam blanket had a problem after a year or two. They repaired it and it has been working for several years.

[Micky]

On Mon, 7 Dec 2015 08:54:25 -0500, Peter <pk...@netzero.com> wrote:

>On 12/7/2015 1:25 AM, Micky wrote:
>
>
>> But when I do use it, I note that though the control goes from 1 to
>> 10, I can't put it any higher than 1, or I can't take the heat.
>> This would be in a room that is 67 degrees. I think if the room
>> were 32, 6 would still be too hot. I'm sure it just turns on full
>> power, and then off, but I haven't measure the watts used.
>>
>>
>I'd had two problems with Sunbeam electric blanket controllers that I
>was able to fix myself. (1) The comfort zone corresponded to about
>number 1/2, and (2) the bedding would go from uncomfortably cold to
>uncomfortably hot before the thermostat would cycle.

I think I'm happy using 1, but people are always happy when they don't
know better. I'll certainly look into issue 1, and the next one (2)
too. Thanks.

[Micky]

On Mon, 7 Dec 2015 08:54:25 -0500, Peter <pk...@netzero.com> wrote:

>

>To fix problem #2, I removed the bottom plate of the control unit by
>taking out the two small Phillips head screws. I turned an adjusting
>screw on the thermostat relay to narrow the gap between the relay arms,
>thereby reducing the temperature deviation required to cycle the
>thermostat.

You know, I thought there was a thermal-swtich in the blanket, that
controlled the relay in the box, and the control was Yes or No. Not
a thermal rheostat. ???

[Peter]

I may be mistaken, but my perception is that in my model of electric
blanket, the thermal switches sewn in the blankets are over-heat
(safety) protection sensors. I think the bedside controllers sense
ambient temperature and have a built-in local mini-heater that warms up
both the controller thermostat's bi-metallic sensor and the blanket when
the relay is closed. When the local heater warms up the thermostat's
sensor, the relay opens, turning off both the bi-metallic heater and the
blanket. I use an electric blanket and have it sandwiched above a
woolen blanket but below a bedspread with a comforter on top of the
bedspread. The added insulation on top of the blanket maximizes
retention of the blanket's heat. However, as our house cools off during
the night (thermostat lowered from 68 to 58), I hear the blanket
controller cycling more frequently and I sometimes have to turn down the
blanket's controller to avoid feeling too warm.

[cl...@snyder.on.ca]

We just use the e-blanket as a pre-heater. Never sleep with it on.

[mako...@yahoo.com]

OP...good question, yes I have 2 such blankets, one has stopped heating, the other is still good.

I took one apart to attempt a repair. I was expecting to find a small single heating wire fed power at the two ends and maybe a break in the wire or a bad safety device.

But I was surprised to find instead a 2 conductor type of wire that was fed power across the two wires. Apparently the wire contains some special resistive material that connects across the two conductors and heats up all along the wire. In an analogy it is like parallel christmas lights instead of series. Also I think the material is self adjusting such that if a local piece of the wire gets too hot, the resistance goes up and the heat reduces at that portion only. It worked well when it worked, the heat was even.

So i could find nothing wrong with the control or the wiring other than the heating wire had a higher resistance across the two conductor compared to the good blanket. So I can only conclude that whatever resistive material the wire is made out of, it deteriorated over time. There is no single place where the wire is broken, it is just deteriorated over the length.

So I thought i can fix this, simply get some of this special wire and replace it. Well i have not been able to find this wire on ebay or any other place that a consumer could buy say 20 feet.

If I get more information on this special parallel conductor heating wire, I'll post it here.

If anyone else knows anything about it, let us know.

The wire looks like ordinary two conductor with white insulation. It looks like ordinary two conductor wire, but it isn't it has some built in heating stuff distributed throughout it's length that connects across the 2 conductors.



Mark

[mako...@yahoo.com]

looks like "self regulating heating cable" is a good search term

http://www.ebay.com/itm/120-Volt-AC-Self-Regulating-Heating-Cable-10-14-Watt-Heat-Per-Foot-/231487902992?hash=item35e5c11510:g:VlkAAOSwPYZU6sN-

But that stuff is a bit expensive

Mark

[Ralph Mowery]

<mako...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:fc72b85a-c83e-47fc...@googlegroups.com...

Interisting. When I was a boy we had electirc blankets around 1960 and one
went bad. It had some resistance wire in it like you would normally expect
to find.

While I have seen and used some of the wire like you are talking about for
pipes and also to heat other things I did not know they are making it in
electric blankets now.

[Micky]

On Tue, 8 Dec 2015 08:17:27 -0500, Peter <pk...@netzero.com> wrote:

You might well be right. Thanks. Maybe I'll look inside some day.

[michaelm...@gmail.com]

[michaelm...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, November 27, 2003 at 6:38:41 PM UTC-4, Bruce wrote:

[joe]

Sunbeam, and all other electric blankets, for me, never last more than a year. I'm pretty gentle with them as well.

--
For full context, visit https://www.homeownershub.com/maintenance/sunbeam-electric-blankets-keep-failing-489107-.htm

[Rod Speed]

joe <76b2be02d6a10b09...@example.com> wrote

> Sunbeam, and all other electric blankets, for me, never last more than a
> year.

Because you are morbidly obese. Mine has lasted decades now.

> I'm pretty gentle with them as well.

Bullshit you are.

[Clare Snyder]

On Wed, 06 Apr 2022 13:45:03 +0000, joe
<76b2be02d6a10b09...@example.com> wrote:

>Sunbeam, and all other electric blankets, for me, never last more than a year. I'm pretty gentle with them as well.

As I've said before, we are on our second Sunbeam electric blanket in
40 years. You HAVE to be doing something wrong. The first one was a
double size and we got a queen bed - continued using it untill it was
getting pretty worn - but still working, when we found the queen size
on sale at a good price and replaced it - over 15 years ago. Not sure
how long my wife had the original before we got married.

[Peeler]

On Thu, 07 Apr 2022 05:08:33 +1000, cantankerous trolling geezer Rodent
Speed, the auto-contradicting senile sociopath, blabbered, again:

<FLUSH the abnormal trolling senile cretin's latest trollshit unread>

--
FredXX to Rodent Speed:
"You are still an idiot and an embarrassment to your country. No wonder
we shipped the likes of you out of the British Isles. Perhaps stupidity
and criminality is inherited after all?"
Message-ID: <plbf76$gfl$1...@dont-email.me>

[Anon]

Same.