I have a Walgreens Heating Pad, 40 watts, 120V AC. As with other heating pads I have owned in the past, this one stopped working. Any ideas how to debug/fix?
I forgot to add the switch lights up when turned on. I can switch from High - Medium - Low and the light on the control stays On. When I switch the control to Off, the light on the control goes out as expected.
Probably not a particularly helpful answer, but any device which is one short short of catching fire, if it stops working, I toss it.
Short-term workaround if you have a microwave: put a damp washcloth in a half-gallon or gallon ziplock back. Wrap that in another towel. Microwave for a bit until it’s hot. Repeat as needed. If you want damp heat, wait until after it’s nuked to wrap it in a damp towel.
Yeah, it’s probably a broken heating element. They’re not really designed to be repairable.
My first approach would be to bring it back to Walgreens and see if you can guilt them into giving you a replacement (assuming it’s out of warrantee). My second approach would be to suck it up and buy a different brand. If I were desperate or curious, I might do some surgery with an exacto knife to try to find a broken wire and try to solder it back together but the result would probably be neither safe nor very long-lived.
new styles are electronic switching.
i had the safety timer function stop working just out of warranty.
the pad itself is sealed for safety. if there was a broken wire in there you might fix it but it would become a hazard.
i do like to fix stuff but i wouldn’t try with what this is.
I have a large Walgreens heating pad, still in the box, never used, if you need it and have to have one.