Trouble with dual voltage immersion heater

If you take the immersion heater out of water while it is still plugged in you can short it out. It happened to me but hasn't happened since. It sounds like that happened to you as well.

In the future, only plug the immersion heater in when it is in water and unplug it before taking it out of water.

High wattage demands such as heating elements, air dryers, do not work as well as low wattage items. Someone can explain the physics . Just buy one there if the morning coffee is a critical requirement,

Thank you Frank and Frank.

Immersion heaters could be a good solution for carry on only packing so maybe I will try again.

Connie, it's certainly possible that the Immersion Heater burned out after the first use but that would be unusual. These are basically just a simple resistive heating element, and could be easily checked with a Multi-meter to see if it's failed (if you still have it, speak to an Electrician).

There could be other possible explanations as well. Did you check the Heater in another outlet? Perhaps the Heater caused the Fuse to "go"? Another possibility is that they mistakenly supplied a 115VAC Immersion Heater, and using that on a 220VAC electrical system WOULD cause it to fail very quickly!

You might contact the "reputable travel website" and relate your experiences with the product. They may be willing to replace it?

Good luck!

Gosh thanks for the heads up. I am taking a US voltage immersion heater and plan to use a converter while in Europe. Will that be OK?
I do not really like to go shopping in Europe.

It must be immersed at all times while plugged in. Even 1 second out of the liquid, while plugged in, can permanently zap it.

I second Frank (USA). That's the proper way to do it.

Cup heaters are required to have a "thermal fuse" that breaks the circuit if they get hotter than boiling water. This is to keep them from burning hotels down if you forget them and they boil all the water away. So if you pull them out of the water while still plugged in, they overheat and die. At twice the voltage in Europe, they will be 4x faster at heating water.

If you moved it from one cup to the other without unplugging, that could have done it in. I have a single- voltage one (220v) that has made 5 two-week trips so far. I bought it after burning up several dual voltage ones. But now I am VERY careful about unplugging it before I take it from the water.

Just to note that this is a zombie post from July 3 years ago. My guess is that Connie is over it by now...

I am over it but I believe the information is still valid. I believe what has been described here is exactly what happened. If I ever buy another one, I'll be sure to unplug it before I take it out of the water. That would have saved me a lot of money. I wish I had read the other posts about checking plugs and the heater itself but I threw it away before I saw them. Maybe that will help someone else also.