What is this wire?

Did someone say Thermal Fuse......:)

It's a thermal fuse. It's there so that if you have a fire on the stove and the fan is running, it will quickly open the fuse and stop the fan from making things worse.
You could bypass it or get a new one at Radio Shack.

Sure looks like a thermal fuse. :)

"Some repair shops advocate bypassing the thermal fuse by adding a jumper wire. While this method does determine whether the fuse is bad, it is too easy to forget to remove the jumper and replace the thermal fuse. Instead, remove the wire leads from the thermal fuse and set a multitester to its lowest RX setting. Touch the tester’s probes to each terminal on the fuse. A reading of infinity indicates the thermal fuse is good. Any other reading means the fuse has triggered and must be replaced."

oh I see it in the second picture. black is ground? or do they put fuseable links in ground wire?
bumpy

Yes two conductors. One hot with fuse, other ground ?? Where does the black lead go....to ground?

are there two conductors there?
bumpy

I can not see any discoloration in the fuse link. try to look at it a little closer and see if the fuse link burned out. if you you will need to do a replacement before you can get power to the fan. also wiggle the connectors to see if they are making contact.

I had the same problem on my hood fan. I thought it was something to reduce "noise" in the TV picture. I removed it and use the fan without it. If it's a fuse, perhaps I'd better rethink. I'll watch this thread to find out. Can't wait!

Here is another view