Another scary discovery-recommendations?

[Christopher Charles]

I've encountered a situation similar to Roger's recent discovery. Last weekend I needed to add a 30A circuit for a new (used) jointer planer I scored on craigslist (I'll post some details soon). In the end, it made the most sense to move my shop heater onto the main panel by running a new line and then use the heater 30 amp line for the J/P.

The shop heater is a Farhenheat 5000W ceiling heater that I've had for ~4 years and has done a great job.

IMG_7242.jpg

The unit is hard-wired, so I opened the panel, which is on the bottom, and was greeted with some black powdered schmutz. Not good. Turns out it was insulation from one of main wires feeding the heater element off the power wiring block (wire black 6 near L2 in the diagram below). The second hot line (white wire with black to indicate hot) was browned a bit at the wire block as well.

IMG_7253.jpg
IMG_7222.jpgIMG_7224.jpg

My best diagnosis is a poor crimp on the heater element wire/undersized crimp clamp going to the block = resistance = enough heat to cook the insulation.

There's enough wire that I can cut and re-crimp / solder the connection, but a bit tough to trust! Thoughts?

Chris

[Jim Becker]

Chris, I had a similar issue with the Farenheit a number of years ago and had to replace some wiring and the temperature regulator.

[Christopher Charles]

Thanks Jim, good to know I'm not alone-lol!

[Tom M King]

I wouldn't use solder. I had a similar thing happen in a heat pump where someone had soldered a bit too small connector. The solder melted and made another mess to deal with. Just make sure all those connectors are tight.

[Christopher Charles]

Thanks Tom, that’s a great point and makes the job easier. I’ll plan to track down good connectors and keep a sharp eye on it when I get it wired back up.