u/filco86

Got a call from a client saying: “The vending machine is smoking… I think the snacks are on fire.”

You can imagine the panic on their side. When I arrived, I was expecting to find something burned inside the machine — maybe a short circuit or something serious.

But once I opened it, everything inside actually looked fine. No burned products, no obvious damage.

So I started checking more carefully and moved to the back of the machine.

That’s where I found the real issue: the relay of the refrigeration unit had completely burned out.

There’s a small fan in that area, and it was pushing the smoke from the back into the cabinet, making it look like the whole machine was burning from the inside.

In reality, nothing inside had caught fire — it was just the relay creating all that smoke.

Weird situation, but a good reminder: sometimes the problem isn’t where it seems at first.

I got called to check a vending machine that was acting completely crazy. It wasn’t dead, but nothing worked properly. The controls were all over the place, it kept checking the boiler, but wouldn’t actually start anything.

It was a pretty big coffee machine, so I expected some clear fault. I start going through everything — power, wiring, pump, boilers, sensors — but nothing really made sense. No obvious issue, yet the machine was basically unusable.

So I start tracing everything back more carefully.

Eventually I get to the power input area and notice the fuse looks… off.

I pull it out, and that’s when it hits me.

It wasn’t really a fuse anymore. It was wrapped in aluminum foil like some kind of “fuse sandwich”.

Turns out the customer had “fixed” it instead of replacing it.

So instead of blowing like it should, it kept letting unstable current through, which ended up damaging the control board and messing with the machine logic.

What could have been a cheap fix turned into about a 400€ repair.

All because of a “quick fix”.