Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

hey guys,
below you will find some photos attached of my 3600W FSD Elements that i have just gotten wired up by a local electrician. the problem that i am having is one of them isnt getting hot.. :-| even though they are wired up the same, the one on the left gets hot instantaneously, wher as the one on the right doesnt, and even leaving it on for a few minutes, still nothing....? i have tested the one on the right with a multi meter and it has 240v at the element(or wher the wires connect to it) but just cant figure out what is going on... :angry-banghead: :angry-banghead:

any help would be greatly appreciated...

With your multimeter check the resistance at the plug top between the active and neutral on both elements...

To my untrained eye the wiring looks as though it's connected right, I'll refrain from advising on troubleshooting methods though as I'm not qualified to do so.

If all your testing finds element failure flick me an email & I'll get a new one express posted out to you :handgestures-thumbupleft:

punchy21 wrote:With your multimeter check the resistance at the plug top between the active and neutral on both elements...

When the power is off....

Is it at all possable that the linking bars were either installed wrong at the factory ...or removed and i stalled wrong.?

If so then my guess is that the linking bars are shorting out the elenemts and not connectong them in parralel as they should be .My logic is based on the possability of two elements being faulty is highly unlikely and seeing as you get 240v on the terminals.

Double check ...if so switch bars 90 deg

1 2many wrote:

punchy21 wrote:With your multimeter check the resistance at the plug top between the active and neutral on both elements...

When the power is off....

YES

Here's a couple of pics from my phone, hopefully you can see how the tabs (bridges) are meant to be.





Hope it helps.

if they are being held in vise the same way in the top view picture the Brass links are installed wrong.
Copy the element that works.

Mac your pic blew my theory right out the window. :oops:
Macs elements are diagnally wired to terminals so it doesn't matter which way the bars are connected, it will still work...unless you made slightly longer bars and cross crossed them ..and insulated the criss cross and...... :violence-smack: ..

Actually, how can the bridge be wrong ? :think:

:wtf:

edit: yup! as yummy said ;-)

It doesn't matter which way the plates are, if you think about it the elements are crossed so if you change the plates the other way you are achieving the same parallel connection. :-B

EDit pasted same time as yummy

Double edit posted :oops:

Kaneriley227 wrote: even though they are wired up the same, the one on the left gets hot instantaneously, wher as the one on the right doesnt, and even leaving it on for a few minutes,]

How long can these things run dry? :think:

assuming the element is ok I think punchy has the right idea, check the plug and lead..... if that's all good it's probable some bastard sold you a dodgy element :oops:

Ok so you have 2 elements with 2 posts each

If the bridges go across only 1 element then it won't make a circuit.
Active will be on 1 element and neutral on the other.

EDIT : just saw that pic. yes your right they can't be wrong

Cheers guys for the quick response.. Will give it all a go in the morning.. Hopefully it's something easy..

MacStill wrote:assuming the element is ok I think punchy has the right idea, check the plug and lead..... if that's all good it's probable some bastard sold you a dodgy element :oops:

Yeah.. Those dodgy barsteds... Haha :-D

Yeah thats my point...chances of two elements in parallel both being open curcuit seems highly .unlikely.
If it was right in front of me I'd be measuring the resistance of th element right on the terminals of the element (obviously with the power off ) :handgestures-thumbupleft: .

15 ohms .........element is fine.....look at the cable or crimp connections or plug.
30 ohms........one element is open( faulty)
<10MEGogms......both elements are open..extremely unlikely on a brand new element

Yummyrum wrote:Yeah thats my point...chances of two elements in parallel both being open curcuit seems highly .unlikely.
If it was right in front of me I'd be measuring the resistance of th element right on the terminals of the element (obviously with the power off ) :handgestures-thumbupleft: .

15 ohms .........element is fine.....look at the cable or crimp connections or plug.
30 ohms........one element is open( faulty)
<10MEGogms......both elements are open..extremely unlikely on a brand new element

:text-+1: I agree but op said he had "nothing" and given they are wired in parallel suggests to me that both are dead
and agree that is very unlikely.

My question is why didnt you electrician test them as safe to use as safe for use and working?
if i was to do that and you got hurt id be in alot of trouble. did they do it for cash or invoiced? If invoiced get em back to test it properly! If cash and I did it id still come back and test them for you.