eBay smoke machine MELTED.

This smoke machine has failed in one of the most destructive manners I've seen. The aluminium heater core has literally melted into a puddle. Let's take a look at how it was supposed to work and see if we can work out what happened.
Having disassembled the thermal switch in the video I'm inclined to think that an external fault occurred that caused current to bypass the thermal switch and flow through the heater until it overheated to such a degree that the thermal switch was baked and the contact lost its springiness and remained in the open position where the bimetallic disk would have been pushing it at the time.
The list of issues for this machine is staggering.
Three core cable but earth not connected despite threaded post being there for it.
Fuse holder fitted but not connected.
Cable has brittle insulation that splits around the gland area.
Cable may be copper coated aluminium.
Remote socket is standard 3 pin XLR with full mains voltage on it.
No last-resort thermal fuse, as used on most other machines.
Incoming supply polarity random between several units.
The one good feature it has is that the heater block is nicely made. It atomises the fog fluid well.
With a redesign of the electrics it could be quite a good machine.
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