Heating blanket controller

[Diyer123]

I'm not an electrician- I don't know the right terminology- I'll try to be clear... I cut off the broken controller from my electric heating blanket. I connected one lead of the blanket to house mains. I connected the other from the blanket to one lead of a five bulb parallel incandescent lighting fixture. I connected the other lead of the fixture to one lead of a basic plug in dimmer switch. I connected the other lead of the dimmer switch to house mains. The blanket doesn't get as hot as I'd like it and it's sluggish to warm up, but it works well and will last longer than the originals which are made to break in a couple years. Is there a simpler way to use a dimmer switch to control an electric heating blanket?

 

[telectrix]

not being a wuss, i've never used an electric blanket. 'er indoors is enough to keep me warm.

 

[James]

do you have any pictures of this set up?

 

[DPG]

I suspect your lighting dimmer will not be up to the job of controlling your electric blanket. I would disconnect it until you can prove it will cope with it.

And as, above, photos would be useful here.

 

[loz2754]

do you have any pictures of this set up?

I do hope this was not directed to @telectrix!!

 

[stewartrossinv]

Attempting to replace a 240V power controller on a safety-critical item such as an electric underblanket without knowing how the original controller was built is not something I would recommend. Before I retired I was a stats person for the second-largest fire service in Britain. Although it is relatively rare, faults in electric underblankets have on occasions been responsible for lethal fires, normally through mistreatment of the electric underblanket (use when damaged for instance). There is no way of knowing what will happen should your home-made controller fail in use, so please don't end up as a fire statistic by trying to save a little money - replace the underblanket with a new one instead.

-Stewart