Slightly OT: bizarre hair dryer repair

[The Revd]

In repairing a hair dryer which was working intermittently, I found a
break in the copper wiring inside the power cable. There was no
external damage to the cable to suggest that anything had happened
post production. The only thing I can think of is that during
production of the power cable one reel of copper wire ended and the
next started.

Can anyone confirm that such an occurrence is possible?

 

[Ian Field]

"The Revd" <peeling@degenerate.Grik> wrote in message
news:u83i47p8dqme89hjddrgoo6dda7t4jv103@4ax.com...

In repairing a hair dryer which was working intermittently, I found a
break in the copper wiring inside the power cable. There was no
external damage to the cable to suggest that anything had happened
post production. The only thing I can think of is that during
production of the power cable one reel of copper wire ended and the
next started.

Can anyone confirm that such an occurrence is possible?

Some appliances often suffer that kind of break, push along vacuum cleaners
to name just one.

 

[John Robertson]

The Revd wrote:

In repairing a hair dryer which was working intermittently, I found a
break in the copper wiring inside the power cable. There was no
external damage to the cable to suggest that anything had happened
post production. The only thing I can think of is that during
production of the power cable one reel of copper wire ended and the
next started.

Can anyone confirm that such an occurrence is possible?

Very unlikely - that would have been a hot spot and the insulation would
have been damaged.

More likely a problem where the wire was flexed too often- I usually see
these breaks near the strain relief for example.

John :-#)#

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[Cydrome Leader]

The Revd <peeling@degenerate.grik> wrote:

In repairing a hair dryer which was working intermittently, I found a
break in the copper wiring inside the power cable. There was no
external damage to the cable to suggest that anything had happened
post production. The only thing I can think of is that during
production of the power cable one reel of copper wire ended and the
next started.

Can anyone confirm that such an occurrence is possible?

I've seen it before. it made no sense to me either. The only thing I could
come up with was it crap junk wire and somebody tugged it or tripped on
the cord pulling the strands apart.

It might be like a hard disk. they fail just sitting there, but physically
destroying one is actually pretty hard when you want to do it.

 

[Arfa Daily]

"Ian Field" <gangprobing.alien@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:Snb2q.191203$Zn.115787@newsfe30.ams2...

"The Revd" <peeling@degenerate.Grik> wrote in message
news:u83i47p8dqme89hjddrgoo6dda7t4jv103@4ax.com...
In repairing a hair dryer which was working intermittently, I found a
break in the copper wiring inside the power cable. There was no
external damage to the cable to suggest that anything had happened
post production. The only thing I can think of is that during
production of the power cable one reel of copper wire ended and the
next started.

Can anyone confirm that such an occurrence is possible?


Some appliances often suffer that kind of break, push along vacuum
cleaners to name just one.

Electric drills, GHDs to name a couple more. There is seldom any external
signs of stress at the point where the break has occured. In my experience,
hairdryers are one of the more common items to suffer from this.

Arfa

 

[Winston]

KR wrote:

(...)

Cables do break like this, have seen it before. Usually metal fatigue
from flexing.

At my previous job, the lab manager would pull
on DMM test leads until the wire inside broke.
The silicone insulation looked just fine
to the naked eye and the broken probes would
yield intermittent and / or nonsense readings.


--Winston

 

[KR]

On Aug 15, 10:16 pm, The Revd <peel...@degenerate.Grik> wrote:

In repairing a hair dryer which was working intermittently, I found a
break in the copper wiring inside the power cable.  There was no
external damage to the cable to suggest that anything had happened
post production.  The only thing I can think of is that during
production of the power cable one reel of copper wire ended and the
next started.  

Can anyone confirm that such an occurrence is possible?

Cables do break like this, have seen it before. Usually metal fatigue
from flexing. Metal fatigue will happen in a LOT less number of
flexes than PVC insulation "fatigue".


On the other hand, it is possible that there was some kind of break,
weak point or many strands
were broken in manufacturing, or some other weird thing happened on
the assembly line
but this would likely cause arcing and visible heat stress to the
cable such as blackening on the inside and melting-
especially with something that pulls a few amps like a hair dryer ?