night storage heater wiring fault

[unionman]

i have two night storage heaters that i use 1 in lounge and 1 on landing both were fitted 20 years ago by an electrical company, the one in the lounge has blown the on/of switch three times, i had the heaters replaced last year and used a cooker switch to connect the lounge heater to the fused feed it lasted 14 months and has now blown again , split the switch and burnt the wiring. the one on the landing works fine. the lounge switch is fitted between the side wall and the heater and seems tight.
the main fuse in the fused unit has blown once HELP

 

[holmslaw]

..

 

[unionman]

holmslaw thanks for your answer ,, the switch up untill the last one were the ones which came with the installation , the last switch was rated at 45 amps the original ones were 20 amps , the heater is switched on when the cold gets to much and left on until spring, the first we noticed was when we come down in morning to find the room like a fridge i checked the fuse in main box and replaced with like, i waited untill n/storage heater came on midnight , i knew it had come on ,the switch blew up.
at this point i threw the fusebox switch to isolate the heaters and went to bed. i did think that the switch on the problem heater was a bit cramped (its a pain to get to at my age) cheers

 

[unionman]

further info , i checked the main heater fusebox it is rated at 80 amps and has fuses for 4 heaters all rated at 15 amps i only use 2 of these all equipment and switches are the real deal not micky mouse cheap buys also the heater on landing has never given any problem it is the same heater as the lounge one

 

[flameport]

burnt the wiring.

The problem is that the copper wire will have been overheated and damaged. Fixing any new switch to that will result in a poor connection, overheating and the problem will repeat again and again.

The cable to the switch will either have to be cut back to an undamaged section, or replaced if this is not possible.
Same for the flex connected to the heater.

 

[unionman]

further to my question does anybody have an explanation as to why three switches have burnt out in the time we have had electric night storage heaters, the supply is routed through the wall between the hall and the lounge, the hall had a night storage heater which was never used it was to big for the space and a waste of time , it was removed but the wiring and switch is still in place also 15 amp fused i have considered running the heat resisting wire from the heater in lounge to the switch in hall and using this to control the lounge heater i also intend to fit new heat resisting wire from switch to heater, can anybody see any problems with this and any ideas about WHY the switches keep blowing on the SAME heater would be welcomed

 

[ban-all-sheds]

See flameport's answer - if, when first installed, the terminal screws in the switches were not done up tightly then you'd have got overheating, cable damage, dodgy connections on any replacement switch, more overheating, more cable damage, and so on.

 

[unionman]

many thanks your answer has made it clear, so by replacing the wire from the heater to the switch and make sure all connections are tight it should work?? i hope

 

[ban-all-sheds]

And possibly the cable from the CU to the switch.