immersion heater elements

[Christhescott]

I was called out today to look at a factory with no hot water. It was a large cylinder tank with three immersion elements, top middle and bottom.

Top, stat OK, element was I think 2.00 ohms but i can't remember for sure, no short to earth. Can hear faint bubbling when on

Middle, stat OK, element had dead short to earth.

Bottom, stat badly overheated, no short to earth, shorted between both legs of element but no continuity on element, swapped out the stat for another and can hear faint buzzing from tank when switched on.

All were switched on when I arrived, OK so im sure the bottom two are burst but should the top one not still be working? Im guessing they have all failed one at a time and they have only noticed there was a problem when the last one failed.

 

[333rocky333]

should the top one not still be working?

As elements are usually 3kw or more, its most likely there is 3 seperate supplies, one for each

 

[EFLImpudence]

Top, stat OK, element was I think 2.00 ohms but i can't remember for sure, no short to earth. Can hear faint bubbling when on

Well - 2Ω would mean 115A, so...

If it was 20Ω it might be alright.

Middle, stat OK, element had dead short to earth.

Dead then.

Bottom, stat badly overheated, no short to earth, shorted between both legs of element but no continuity on element,

All a bit contradictory.

 

[JohnW2]

Bottom, stat badly overheated, no short to earth, shorted between both legs of element but no continuity on element,

All a bit contradictory.

A bit? - is that related to 'slightly pregnant'?

Kind Regards, John.

 

[Christhescott]

Bottom, stat badly overheated, no short to earth, shorted between both legs of element but no continuity on element,

All a bit contradictory.

A bit? - is that related to 'slightly pregnant'?

Kind Regards, John.

Haha, well those are the readings I got. It doesn't matter anyway as I have slopey shouldered it onto the plumber. It was just the top element I wasn't sure about, thought it might have offered to heat the water up a little bit but there was no heat at all on the pipes.

 

[JohnW2]

Haha, well those are the readings I got.

Fair enough - but what readings? You wrote "shorted between both legs of element but no continuity on element". Was there 'continuity' (which would include 'shorting') or not?

Kind Regards, John.