When a wire gets lots of electricity running through it, the wire glows "red hot." If you can keep that wire from burning up, you can use the heat for lots of tasks around your house. You can toast bagels or dry clothes, for example. That's what a heating element does--and that's why you'll find heating elements in dozens of appliances and devices throughout your home. Here's how to keep them glowing.

How Does It Work?

The heating element in an electric heater is a wire ribbon.

A heating element is an appliance component that consists of a metal wire heated by a controlled electric current. The resulting heat is then used to warm or heat something. Heating elements are found in dozens of everyday appliances and gadgets we rely upon such as coffee makers, electric irons, electric heaters, heating pads, popcorn poppers, electric water heaters, hair dryers, and slow cookers, to name just a few.

Most heating elements are open ribbon, open coil, or enclosed coil and are made of a nickel and chrome alloy. The material responds to electric current by resisting its flow and heating up. It is converting electricity into heat. Its rating is determined by the length and diameter of the wire (resistance in ohms) as well as the electrical current it can carry and voltage it needs to push the current.

What Can Go Wrong?

Cooking appliances and coffee makers typically have a sealed heating element that either works or doesn't.

Heating elements are relatively simple. They either work or they don't; they are on or off. Heating elements can break and burn out, sag, and become misshapen. Most elements cannot be repaired, but they usually can be replaced. If you can't remove the heating element to replace it, you'll probably need to replace the entire appliance.