This was the third kitchen cook stove breaker this week with loose connections/ unbalanced temp between the two legs
Your theory on the cause of unbalanced current ?
Need to study a schematic but could it have to do with separate coils going off and on during use…?
Bob I did not say unbalanced current its unbalanced temp and yes it is the on and off of a highly used circuit that creates this loose connection out of the last 7 inspections 3 were loose
OK just assuming that the cause is high current rather than ambient temp here…
But the cruix of it is your theory on cause amounts to electric stoves drawing high current in off and on phases that produce expansion and contraction thus producing a loose connection ?
And we are not talking about ambient temp I am referencing the temp created by the loose connect. The ambient at the panel was 60 degrees give or take the connection was 190
If you like the word current Ok I like amp draw the amp draw on a cook element is balanced same amps on both legs. The only time that amps would be unbalanced is if there was a 120 circuit within the stove drawing amps such as a clock or timer ,led panel which is nothing campared to the elements
OK if that is the cause as I was wondering should you take the picture later or with a different set of elements drawing would it then show the top conductor as being a higher temp.
If all of the elements are 240 volts would it matter which ones were on or off during the test? The loose connection would always show up as the hotter of the two.
That is correct it does not matter which element is on they are all 240 volt I shoot the image while all are active before they start cycling I go for the max amps the cook stove can draw.
Bob I don’t know how to answer your question without insulting your intellegence in the electrical world your question makes no sense
Are you talking loose connection point only or entire conductor as the entire length of the conductor appears to be a higher temp in the picture to me ?
Perhaps I am misunderstanding the “whole picture” as my original inquiry revolved around the image of electric stoves and the way if you watch elements on the range top they alternate drawing current at different rates however can I assume this has absolutely no effect on one leg drawing more than the other ?
When I turn on the range top and take a normal digital picture it is rare to see all coils glowing at the exact same time and I was attempting to draw a correlation.
My thoughts were off base apparently as I am sure the balance is on both legs under normal conditions and if there was no loose connection they would be equal temps.
Now your talking like a reasonable person you were starting to scare me:D
Charlie I was just wondering if having the oven only or the range only might effect one leg or the other more though I am sure it does not.
By the way has anyone else ever noticed how all regular camera images of a red glowing heat element always turn out looking purple ?
Off subject but always wondered why .
The higher the amps the higher the temp. When I place the IR image in the sofware I can add or take away the cross hairs that indicate specific temps. I could place additional cross hairs on the conductor downstream from the lug/breaker connection and one can see a significant temp drop the further away from the breaker you get.
Could temperature difference at the breaker connection be caused by the downdraft and convection oven fan? They are most likely 120V which may result in a temperature difference at the legs.
Pic 390 is of the downdraft with only the burners on (exact temperature) and pic 396 is with the burners, downdraft and convection oven fan on which resulted in little temperature difference at connections. Charlie’s pic had a large temperature difference.
So, a loose connection it must be!
This oven had no convection fan and I would have taken that into considerration had one been present. Hello Marcel somehhow I knew you would mention the fan on 120 volts I just did not want to confuse BOB:D
Hey you guys north of the border should quit use C in your images it confuses us country boys;-)
Heck, I’m still confused about it…wish we would have stayed like our neighbor.
Gee whiz are you saying a 110 volt fan does not use 2 hots or something ?
Don’t take offense I just been ripping your shorts:p