Phase Angle Heater Warm Up?

[pope]

Hi guys, I've been using my 25a psr with a 5500w element for a while now and I love it (especially for reflux), but I usually just crank to POT to 100% to heat up the kettle and last time I did that it clicked off about 30-60 seconds into firing up. I checked the element but it looks fine, all the wired connections are tight, so I'm starting to think it could be that I ruined the phase angle relay. I have a replacement on order so I'll know when I get it wired up.

But if it is the psr that went out, do you think I should be starting off at 30% or so to let the psr and the heat sink warm up a bit before I bring it to full power?

[Brutal]

I installed a 30 amp dual pole light switch to bypass my ssr during warm up and other "wide open throttle" situations. You don't need control for wide open use and I assume it wears the relay some. My switch looks like a light switch in a house, but it's rated for 30 amps. Was on the shelf at Lowe's. I use mine at 100% a lot of the time because I mash with steam so I hoped to dodge a reliability issue with the switch.

[pope]

So is that a three-way switch then? One way being off, one on, and one diverting to the psr? And when it's on, there's essentially nothing between the breaker and the 5500w element, right? Just two poles flowing straight to the kettle?

[shadylane]

You can test the controller real easily with a 6" length of insolated wire.

[xyz123]

You can test the controller real easily with a 6" length of insolated wire.

How do you do that shadylane?

[pope]

This is embarrassing, but I did figure out that there was a connection issue; everything is now working great. Now that I have two working phase angle controllers, I think I'll keep going as-is until one actually fails.

[xyz123]

You can test the controller real easily with a 6" length of insolated wire.

This still has me stumped, I have looked all over the site using various search terms and can not find the answer?

[rad14701]

You can test the controller real easily with a 6" length of insolated wire.

This still has me stumped, I have looked all over the site using various search terms and can not find the answer?

Just connect it to a light bulb and it should work like a light dimmer which is essentially what it is...

[shadylane]

You can test the controller real easily with a 6" length of insolated wire.

This still has me stumped, I have looked all over the site using various search terms and can not find the answer?

Leave all the wiring the same.
Use the wire to jumper pins 1 and 2 on the phase angle controller.
That bypasses the controller and should make the heater run "wide open"
If it don't there's a problem with the wiring, heater, power ect...

If jumping screws 1 and 2 made the heater work, then there's a problem with the SSR or potentiometer .
Next remove the jumper from screws 1 and 2. Then use it to connect screws 3 and 4 together.
This bypasses the pot
If that makes the controler work wide open then the pot is bad.

[xyz123]

Cool, Thanks Shadylane.