I just wired up a test harness to see what voltage the smoke machine would cut off current to the heating coil when I stopped(pretty unusual) and thought(don't know where this came from...) I should probably test it without anything connected to the PCB just to see what happens. So I did and lo and behold, it thought it was up to temperature... Check the voltage accross the pins... 2.5-3V there... Resistance of the temperature probe? 3 ohms... Hmmm... might not be a thermocouple... time for some more tests...

Attach the probe to PCB... heater turns on... remove it heater turns off... I can hear the relay ticking so that's not what caused it to overheat... some more research needed methinks... Wikipedia here I come...