Fixing a friend's steam mop
Difficulty Level (Easy, Medium, Hard, Insane):
Easy
Process:
A friend of mine emailed me if I could have a look at her steam mop which apparently just stopped mid-way through a mopping session. Since I had already been used to fixing my own steam mop I figured I'd give it a try.
After taking it apart I noticed there were three thermal switches/fuses: One main fuse, one switch that turns OFF when it gets too hot and one switch that turns ON when it gets hotter than 105 degress Celsius (for the water pump).
I tested the components and realized that the main thermal protection fuse was blown (this was also the cause for my Cappucino maker repair). Since I had a thermal protection fuse in one of my parts boxes, I crimped some ends on it, removed the blown fuse, put the new one in and put it all back together. Easy as pie!
The only reason it took me almost two hours is because I had initially thought the switch that turnds ON when it gets hot was blown, so I replaced that one with one I had lying around just to realize that it's supposed to be OFF until the heating component gets hot before turning on the water pump to generate the steam. If it wasn't for that I could have probably done the whole thing in half an hour
Pictures:
 |
| Opening the one side |
 |
| Pulling out the heating element to reveal the thermal shut-off components |
 |
| Close-up of the thermal shut-off components. The one on the right turns the main power OFF when the heating element gets too hot and the one on the left turns the power to the water pump ON when the heating element gets hot enough (105 degrees Celsius) |
 |
| The same shut-off switch from the heating element of my old H2O steam mop |
 |
| Another view of the heating element. The white stuff is ceramic insulation wrapped around the heating element so as to not melt the plastic housing of the mop |
 |
| The thermal protection fuse that was blown (top, black) and the replacement one from my old H2O steam mop (bottom, silver) |
 |
| Putting it all back together |
 |
| Testing it out: it worked great |
Tools:
Screwdriver
Pliers
Multi-meter
Materials:
Thermal fuse
Electrical plugs
Electrical tape
Cost:
$0.65
Time:
1-2hrs
Savings:
$150.00
Conclusion:
Works like a charm...so far anyways
2 comments:
Came across this because I'm fixing my mop now as well, thank you! For the thermal protection fuse, did you also re-wrap it in that black tape (or just put the white sleeve back over it all) and if so, could you share what the tape is called as I do not have any.
If I have plugged in my steam mop and it is not powering on at all (and I know that the wall plug is working) do you think that means a blown fuse? Thank you :)
Post a Comment