Need advance electrical help

[jcs401]

Can someone help me out with some electrical/PID controller/Electric element clarification.
Currently this is my electric system I am using:

Manual/ Auto-tuning PID adjustment Temperature Controller SNR and SSR-40DA Solid State Relay, in an electrical project box. It has a 20amp 3prong plug outlet that I plug my 2000 watt element into using 12/3 cord.

The cord from the PID to the wall has your standard 3prong 15amp plug onto it going into the wall outlet in my garage which my electrical circuit box for the house states it is a 15amp breaker.I have a mini fridge as well as a big freezer and a couple drill chargers all running on that.

I plug my pid to the wall, then the element to the 20amp outlet on the (out) of the PID. All seems to work fine but I am confused on why with everything plugged in and a 2000watt element running with the fridge and freezer and chargers that nothing is tripping the breaker which I feel like this would be a lot to run on 15amp breaker.

Does this mean that my element is not outputting 100%? Is my PID/Relay having something to do with that? Do I need to switch out my breaker to 20amp and wall outlet to 20amp to get full power? What do I need to do?

 

[Bobby_M]

Current isn't pushed, it's pulled. In other words, if the load on the circuit is not such that will generate 20 amps then it will not be pulled. There are three reasons why your 2000 watt element would not trip a 15 amp breaker:

1. The actual voltage of your 120v supply is much lower, like 107. A 2000w element would be actually putting out 1590 watts and pulling 14.8 amps based on a element resistance of 7.2 ohms.

2. The actual resistance of the element (which is reported to being 7.2 ohms) is actually higher. This makes it a lower power element in reality. I'm still not aware if you got the element from me or elsewhere. If you got it from China, they may have mislabeled a 2000w/240v element as a 120v. The way to check any of these situations is to measure the resistance of the element and report back. It should be 7.2 ohms.

3. Significant bad connection somewhere in the wiring such that the 7.2 ohm element is acting like 12 ohms or something more.

Even if it's running a true 2000 watts, that's still only 16.6 amps and a 15 amp breaker will tolerate that for at least an hour.

 

[jcs401]

I did get it from you and have no complaints. I'm just trying to figure this all out. How do I go about taking measurements to find out it is working properly. All I measured is the outlet and it read 122 with my meter.

 

[jcs401]

Current isn't pushed, it's pulled. In other words, if the load on the circuit is not such that will generate 20 amps then it will not be pulled. There are three reasons why your 2000 watt element would not trip a 15 amp breaker:

1. The actual voltage of your 120v supply is much lower, like 107. A 2000w element would be actually putting out 1590 watts and pulling 14.8 amps based on a element resistance of 7.2 ohms.

2. The actual resistance of the element (which is reported to being 7.2 ohms) is actually higher. This makes it a lower power element in reality. I'm still not aware if you got the element from me or elsewhere. If you got it from China, they may have mislabeled a 2000w/240v element as a 120v. The way to check any of these situations is to measure the resistance of the element and report back. It should be 7.2 ohms.

3. Significant bad connection somewhere in the wiring such that the 7.2 ohm element is acting like 12 ohms or something more.

Even if it's running a true 2000 watts, that's still only 16.6 amps and a 15 amp breaker will tolerate that for at least an hour.

I did get it from you and have no complaints. I'm just trying to figure this all out. How do I go about taking measurements to find out it is working properly. All I measured is the outlet and it read 122 with my meter.

 

[whoaru99]

What voltage do you measure across/supplied to the element when it's supposed to be running at full power?

 

[jcs401]

What voltage do you measure across/supplied to the element when it's supposed to be running at full power?

How can I measure that? Would I just disconnect the element and measure it at the connectors while it is being ran through my pid?

 

[jcs401]

What voltage do you measure across/supplied to the element when it's supposed to be running at full power?

How can I measure it when the element cannot be ran without water? So I unhook the element and test the positive/negative while it is being ran through my pid controller?

 

[GHBWNY]

Can someone help me out with some electrical/PID controller/Electric element clarification.
Currently this is my electric system I am using:

Manual/ Auto-tuning PID adjustment Temperature Controller SNR and SSR-40DA Solid State Relay, in an electrical project box. It has a 20amp 3prong plug outlet that I plug my 2000 watt element into using 12/3 cord.

The cord from the PID to the wall has your standard 3prong 15amp plug onto it going into the wall outlet in my garage which my electrical circuit box for the house states it is a 15amp breaker.I have a mini fridge as well as a big freezer and a couple drill chargers all running on that.

I plug my pid to the wall, then the element to the 20amp outlet on the (out) of the PID. All seems to work fine but I am confused on why with everything plugged in and a 2000watt element running with the fridge and freezer and chargers that nothing is tripping the breaker which I feel like this would be a lot to run on 15amp breaker.

Does this mean that my element is not outputting 100%? Is my PID/Relay having something to do with that? Do I need to switch out my breaker to 20amp and wall outlet to 20amp to get full power? What do I need to do?

You could also have a faulty breaker in your panel. One older brand - Federal Pacific - is famous for malfunctioning, so much so that it has been nicknamed "Fire Pacific". Regardless of brand, if your breaker is bad, your panel can overheat, esp. with the load you're putting on 15 amps (I'm amazed it hasn't tripped). If it were me, I'd spend a few bucks on a new breaker and see if your load trips it.

 

[jlongstreet]

If you've got a meter, you should also be able to measure the resistance on your element if you set it to ohms. No need to fire it, just touch the leads to the terminals on the element.

 

[whoaru99]

How can I measure it when the element cannot be ran without water? So I unhook the element and test the positive/negative while it is being ran through my pid controller?

Can you access the wiring terminals of the receptacle the element is plugged into?

 

[jcs401]

Can you access the wiring terminals of the receptacle the element is plugged into?

No I cannot while it is on. I use a hot rod heat stick with the element in it from brewhardware.com

 

[jcs401]

Current isn't pushed, it's pulled. In other words, if the load on the circuit is not such that will generate 20 amps then it will not be pulled. There are three reasons why your 2000 watt element would not trip a 15 amp breaker:

1. The actual voltage of your 120v supply is much lower, like 107. A 2000w element would be actually putting out 1590 watts and pulling 14.8 amps based on a element resistance of 7.2 ohms.

2. The actual resistance of the element (which is reported to being 7.2 ohms) is actually higher. This makes it a lower power element in reality. I'm still not aware if you got the element from me or elsewhere. If you got it from China, they may have mislabeled a 2000w/240v element as a 120v. The way to check any of these situations is to measure the resistance of the element and report back. It should be 7.2 ohms.

3. Significant bad connection somewhere in the wiring such that the 7.2 ohm element is acting like 12 ohms or something more.

Even if it's running a true 2000 watts, that's still only 16.6 amps and a 15 amp breaker will tolerate that for at least an hour.

So this is what my reading was for ohms,View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1457729520.339116.jpg

 

[jcs401]

So this is what my reading was for ohms,View attachment 343654

This was the only setting on ohms that worked. When I touched the terminals it beeped and held at 6???

 

[Bobby_M]

6 ohms would be putting out more than 2000 watts, 2400 actually and pulling 20 amps. I'm at a loss.

 

[whoaru99]

No I cannot while it is on. I use a hot rod heat stick with the element in it from brewhardware.com

I mean at the 20A receptacle on the output of the PID (or whatever) as mentioned in the original post.

Only you can answer with certainly, but I have a hard time understanding how there is no access to measure the voltage going to the element. It doesn't have to be AT the element as shown in the picture with the ohms reading, but the power wires supplying the element come from somewhere....