Electric Blanket Repair
 

I have a mid century (not sure of the year) Crown electric blanket. I'm pretty sure it's a rebranded sunbeam. It has a service tag saying to send it to a service center in Waynesboro MS, which is the same place the sunbeam blankets were sent. Is that place still in business? If not, are there other solutions? Mine is still working, but I figure getting it serviced is a good idea for safety.

If you think it's deteriorating generally due age, please do not attempt to use it any more. A repairer generally would look for a failure point (which you don't have) and assume the rest of it is OK. I don't believe a service center would replace the whole circuit, but you should ask first, as, if it is old, that is the only safe option.

That's from the 90's. Not something you would want to repair or use and the blankets themselves they probably didn't repair, just the thermostat.

The 90s? Seriously? I thought that control was mid 60s as the latest.

RN Number comes back as Northern Electric 5224 N KEDZIE AVE Chicago IL 60625.

Agree that it's likely from the late 80s/90s, based on the control.

Cheers,

Well jeeze, I really though it was mid century.

And the service centers are all gone now?

With a new twin sized blanket being 29.97 at Walmart, who has motivation to repair them? No volume, no warranty, and liability? Hardly a business plan for success. Shipping the blanket alone would be $15 at least one-way....

The newer models all have the CPSC-driven safety features., and use considerably less wattage, thanks to new technology controls, usually an IC-controlled triac versus a pot/triac or resistive thermostat such as yours.

I'll keep warm the old fashioned way, with Cats.

http://www.repeatvids.com/video/?id=WD7lzCiDc04

the Sunbeam plant in Waynesboro MS is now just another abandoned building. The new 4 lane highway doesn't even go through Waynesboro anymore.

here's why you should toss that thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_JNxvlriZU

I have one from the early '80s myself. I don't use it.

The firm where I worked as an electrician, used to buy a bale of used rags, probably discards from thrift shops. A lot of times, the bale would come wrapped with an electric blanket. Many of them would be so worn, that you could see the resistance wire. It looked like the core in a resistance line cord.
The one in question, looks like it's been washed several times.
When in doubt, throw it out! :boring:

Boy I wish We had one!!!!

The other night I was chilly and wanted a heated blanket!!


Good luck getting her serviced :) (Examined,etc)

There still is new ones being made.
As I'm getting older, I like it a little warmer. I've never used one, even though, I slept in unheated bedrooms. You get better sleep when you generate your own heat. Plus it burns up calories. :thmbsp:

This thread cost me money! With this discussion, I gathered up the old Sunbeam electric blanket I bought in the early '80s (it's now in the To:Salvation Army bag, I figure they'll know what to do with it). I replaced it with a new "Soft and Warm" low voltage DC blanket. A bit expensive, but sure is nice! No more sleeping with an AC electromagnetic field around me. And I don't have to wonder if it will catch on fire.

:thmbsp:

What's a heating blanket if it doesn't make things hot?

Actually it's called SoftHeat. It should be safer than the old Sunbeam, but whether it will still be working in 5, 10, 20+ years like the old Sunbeams, who knows since it has a 16V 3.5A switch-mode power supply to derive the 16V DC it operates on. I suppose it could run on a big battery if all else failed..:scratch2:

Hot, but not to kindling point hopefully!

Could also find an appropriate printer power brick, or a beefy stepdown transformer....Heater wire don't care if it gets 16VDC or 16VAC (rms).

I don't think low voltage or DC operation makes the new ones safer (if the PS has enough overload, etc. protections built in IT might make it safer)....If you have ever had a starter motor short out in a BIG old American car and seen the sparks thrown off by the terminals, or built an output-transformer-less tube amp using 8 6AS7 tubes (with a heater draw of 2.5A @ 6.3V for each tube) and ran the 20A of heater current through wire rated for 11A (it was a temporary proof of concept test build) and watched it smoke, short and catch fire you would not find the low voltage alone to be more fire safe....

I doubt the controller unit between the power supply and the blanket that varies the heat, detects problems with the elements, and auto-shuts off after 10 hours would like AC.:no:

I figured the controller was part of the power supply and would get tossed with it upon failure....Not hard to rectify and filter AC.
Last time I had a heating pad (not a full blanket) was in the 90's, and that was a 60's or 70's model.

I like the Plutonium based blankets from the 50's, the radioactive decay provides the heat, and of course four out of five Doctors recommend it.. :D

This is the type I grew up with:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Two-Vintage-...-/260887109668

Parents and grandparents both had several blankets using that type of control. Note the power plug. The absence of a large flared surface at the point the blades come through dates it to sometime prior to the mid 1970s; anything later would have a more modern plug. Also, a polarized plug almost definitely means 70s or later.

I would not work on these . .I go through them yearly since they are are so cheaply made.I'll probably get away this year because I got a living throw.She keeps me warm in bed and her name is Buttons the cat.

Other stuff with heating elements which could be a safety hazard if something is overlooks are coffee pots ,toasters,hot plates.

A notable exception to that polarization rule is Sears...TVs I have a 1963 roundy and a late 60's Japanese portable, and both have polarized cords and interlocks.

Um, roundy electric blanket? :scratch2: Never seen one. Always rectangular in shape.

The OP was talking about electric blanket control plugs, not TVs....

No, I was speaking generally. And yes, gramps' kitchen Portacolor had a polarized plug, but I never happened to pull it back in the day. The first time I ever saw a plug that fit only one way was around 1976 I'm pretty sure.

Ah man.....

You guys are nuts.... There are more electric blanket recalls and complaints than
the giant dehumidifier recall posted here last summer..... And the failure rate seems
to be much much higher..... go search the great wizard..... I would rather have an
electric space heater pointed at the bed..... And yah I accadentally covered it with a
regular blanket for 4+ hours and it's circuit protection kept it from fire, but really
deformed the cabinet..... It's about 20 yrs. old now, and needless to say, THAT is the
one I'm Keeping..... But I'll never use it like that again, we just got more bigger
regular blankets......

.

I use an electric throw - it safely stays on for 3 hours max. It's sandwiched between the flannel top sheet and the comforter, and uses about 27 watts. It operates for three hours, plenty of time to get warm for the night's sleep. Not tonight, though - with 74 degree daytime temps, it'll stay off...

As to recalls, baby and toddler stuff (cribs, beds, toys) still leads the way, followed by automobiles. I think electric appliances are a distant 6th, behind gas-powered tools (mowers, snow-blowers,..death and mayhem...), jewelry (child choke hazard and cadmium/lead...), and lighting. Just more of the preceding stuff - cars vs. electric blankets in sheer quantities...cars for the win!

Can you tell I was a Safety Analyst/Risk Assesor once? And that I subscribe to the CPSC feed on recalls? You can never have too much info, I figure, and it's our tax dollars to boot....

Cheers,

Man, who knew everyone had so much to say about electric blankets just below the surface, haha.

At this point, I'm looking to pick up a new one. Mid century ones are pretty expensive, though, unfortunately, so I guess it's a future purchase rather than an impulse. I like my current one, but I don't want to wake up with third degree burns.

If you watch TV in a cold room and know you won't fall asleep you could keep the old one as an "awake use only" blanket. If your awake you can toss it off and pull the cord before the sud starts to hit the fan....

When I was a kid the 40's central heater was on it's way out and did not warm the place enough, so blankets and heating pads kept me comfortable on many winter days in front of the TV....

are the modern blankets safe ?

I have one bought in 2011

Yes, incredibly so. The blankets produced since 2005 all have timers to limit the on time, and all are double insulated, with failsafe controls.

The older blankets with their resistive controls (think rheostat) or fixed/variable bimetallic contact controls could fail on, and create unsafe conditions. Typical failures were contacts that arc-welded themselves shut.
Newer ones use a uProcessor based controller, with a fail "open" condition the norm. The timers also cannot be bypassed easily, making a safer-than-ever blanket.

The elderly were especially vulnerable with the older blankets, and most nursing homes ban the ones without a timer function.

Well, I'm fearless when it comes to electric blankets (Ha!) Never been very worried about one. Right now we have one that's only a few years old, after the last unit died. At some point in the last 5 years I sent one to the "service center" for repair and got it back, good as new, as promised. I'm not so sure that they don't just throw the bad ones straight into the trash can and just send you a new one.

We have also bought non-electric blankets at Roses (a sketchy sorta place these days, with ready to expire food and various odd-lot kinda stuff) and they were actually factory second Sunbeam electric blankets without the heating elements. Cheap, so we didn't care.

At one point I had a controller (only) for a 50's era Simmons electric blanket. Bakelite case, had a vacuum tube in it. Sold it to somebody on the ARF.

Vacuum tube - probably a thyratron? I can't imagine the need for a traditional vacuum tube of any sort. 2D21/PL21 tubes were commonly used in controllers in the late 50s/early 60s.

I don't recall except I don't think it was anything "garden variety". I probably should have kept it, since it made a neat paperweight! The indicator dial looked like a thermometer.

I know a guy that repaired one after it died. Sure he got it working but one evening, I had to run to the third floor next door where there was fire and the smoke was worse than any fog. To this day, if I hadn't ran up there, this girl and her child would be dead. Wall and floor heavily damaged not to mention the bed. And the smell. Bottom line is you respect electricity. Especially the kind designed to make heat. :nono:

Electric blankets these days are for the most part, non-repairable. Cryptic part numbering, and no parts support make them a consumable at best. When/if my controller dies, it'll become just another blanket.

pac.attack76 --

Glad you were able to save them -- you're a hero!

It must be very sobering to know how things could have turned out otherwise. And, yes, electricity must be taken very seriously.