Control of a heater

Abstract

A haircare appliance comprises a heater and processing circuitry configured to detect the temperature of the heater 604. The processor controls the power supplied to the heater in a pre-heating mode 608 in response to the detected temperature being less than a threshold temperature, and controls the power supplied to the heater in a primary heating mode 610 in response to the detected temperature being greater than or equal to the threshold temperature. A lower power is supplied to the heater in the pre-heating mode than in the primary heating mode. Preferably the heater comprises a first heating element and a second heating element and the power is controlled to each element in an alternating manner in the pre-heating mode and simultaneously in the primary heating mode. A haircare appliance operable in an active state and a dwell state is also described, where the dwell temperature is preferably less than 70 degrees Celsius. The processor may switch the appliance from a dwell state to an active state in response to user input. Figure 6