Solder iron powers on but no heat

[Wormwood]

I last used my iron back in Jan for my SEX build - it behaved normally and at no point did I ever leave it on past the time I was using it. Last night my wife had snapped the connection wiring in the turbo head of our Dyson vacuum wand - seeing the problem straight off I powered on the iron ( the red led lit up) and left it for five. Upon returning I wiped the tip on the damp sponge just to ensure nothing was left after last time - no sizzle. I left it for about three minutes more then tested it again - nothing. It was at that point I moved my other hand closer to the iron - no resident heat, nothing. Stone cold.


Any ideas?

[Doc B.]

Sounds like the heating element is blown. Red light sounds like it is a solder station? If you can get at the wires feeding the iron's heating element, measure across them and see if there is any resistance

[Grainger49]

Just in case, try to tighten the tip in the iron.  Mine comes loose every so often.  That costs nothing, but Dan is probably right, the heating element.

[Wormwood]

Cheers Doc & Grainger - I will try both.

If it is a heating element is that easy to replace?

[4krow]

A word of advice, as I tightened the sleeve on my iron a wire was moving internally. It made contact with another wire, and you can guess the result. Probably not the same thing thaat happened to yours, but be aware of the possibility. In my case, enough damage was done, that I just ordered a new station.