A thermal fuse is an integral part of some appliances.
In home appliances, a thermal fuse is a safety component that shuts off the flow of electricity to your appliance's heating mechanisms when the appliance heats to dangerous levels. If your home appliance has suddenly stopped heating, a blown thermal fuse is the first and most likely suspect. Because lack of heat to an appliance could also signal a problem with the appliance's heating element or motor, it's best to run a few tests before blindly replacing the thermal fuse.
Instructions
Access the Thermal Fuse
1. Disconnect your home appliance from its power source before attempting to take your appliance apart. Make sure that all electricity or gas has been shut off to your appliance before continuing to the next step.
2. Find out where the thermal fuse is positioned on your particular appliance. The location of an appliance's thermal fuse is not standardized among brands and models. Consult your user manual or contact its manufacturer to determine the exact location of the thermal fuse in your home appliance. Thermal fuses are most commonly located behind an appliance's toe panel or rear access panel.
3. Remove the appropriate access panel to reveal the thermal fuse in your home appliance. If you are accessing the thermal fuse through the bottom toe panel, use a putty knife to apply pressure to the clips that secure the panel and it will come free. To access the thermal fuse through the appliance's rear panel, remove the screws that secure the panel.
4. Identify the thermal fuse in your appliance. The thermal fuse is a white plastic component with two attached wires.
Diagnostic Test
5. Grab the two wires connected to the thermal fuse and tape them together with electrical tape to bypass the fuse while you perform a short diagnostic test. This diagnostic test will help you find out whether or not the thermal fuse is actually causing the problem with your appliance.
6. Reassemble your home appliance by reversing the directions in Section 1. Plug your appliance back in and, if applicable, turn on the gas to your appliance.
7. Set your home appliance to run a heated cycle so that you can determine whether the thermal fuse is functioning properly. If your appliance appears to be working correctly with its thermal fuse bypassed, the fuse is faulty and should be replaced as soon as possible. If your appliance still doesn't work, troubleshoot other components to find the source of the problem.
Multimeter Test
8. Disconnect the two wires that are connected to your appliance's thermal fuse.
9. Set a digital multimeter, sometimes called an ohmmeter, to the Rx1 setting so that the multimeter will measure resistance.
10. Touch the leads of the multimeter to each side of your appliance's thermal fuse and note the reaction of the needle. If the needle moves over to "0", the thermal fuse is still conducting electricity to the heating mechanisms of your appliance and does not need to be replaced. If the needle doesn't move, the thermal fuse is bad and should be replaced right away.
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