Electric tank heater
- Thread starter dun
- Start date
Fire Sweep Ranch
Well-known member
We use the volt meter that we use on the fence. We just stick the tip in, and it will read if you have any
That was my concern too. Just talked to a friend of mine that's an electrician and he says that Lowes have some groundfault interrupt deals that you plug into a regular outlet then plug the heater into it.Alan":1gr2cgnw said:
skyhightree1
Well-known member
I can't answer your question but I can tell you what I found this morning when mine stopped working :lol2:
wbvs58
Well-known member
Yeh if plugged into an earth leakage protected power point it would shut down immediately any stray current went to ground no matter how small. Don't all your power circuits have to be protected by earth leakage safety switches?
If you used the multimeter use the Ohm function with one lead on the active side on the plug (not plugged in) and the other lead on the outside of the metal element part and if there is any connection between the two it will show on the meter.
Ken
If you used the multimeter use the Ohm function with one lead on the active side on the plug (not plugged in) and the other lead on the outside of the metal element part and if there is any connection between the two it will show on the meter.
Ken
plumber_greg
Well-known member
Ohm it, touch one to a wire, one to the outside of the element, if it reads anything it's shorting out. gs
kjonesel
Well-known member
I have had to butcher several cows when I was in high school after they were electrocuted on a water fountain. This was before the invention of ground fault receptacles. They are readily available and easy to install. What you will find is that they appear to be tripping for no reason, that's not the case. You will find that there are problems that were previously undetected. In some circuits where it would be difficult to reset the ground fault at the outlet a ground fault breaker could be installed. But keep in mind it will trip if there are improper wiring methods in your system (such as grounds and neutral conductors connected together on the load side). I personally have them on all my heaters fountain and tank alike.
jedstivers
Well-known member
They haven't been code here for long and if your doing your own wiring on outside stuff the it doesn't have to be code. They are in my house on all the outside receptacles and on any inside ones by water.wbvs58":gyhz0u4a said:
I had an extension cord pluged to a wall outlet with the other end not pluged to anything on the carport, when the concrete would get wet it would trip the breaker.
kjonesel
Well-known member
The tripping of the ground fault could be the cord or the outlet could be installed with the wiring reversed. They don't require an electrician to install but they do work when installed correctly. The National Electrical Code now requires that they be installed in all garages and barns. In most areas of the country agricultural buildings are still exempt from permitting and inspections. The time will soon be here when they will be inspected. In our area Harrison county now requires inspection (we have two inspectors and they no longer are busy with houses so they increase their workload) and the adjacent counties of Crawford and Washington have no inspections. These two counties don't have a riverboat to supplement their budgets. The other driver on code implementation is the insurance companies along with OSHA. They are looking at implementing any safety device to reduce injuries and claims. I look for OSHA to invade any farm that has non family employees soon.
wbvs58
Well-known member
Interesting, here earth leakage safety switches have been mandatory on all new power circuits for close to 20 years now and at the same time a big push was on to have them retro fitted to old circuits with some government financial assistance. Lighting circuits have also been protected for about 8 years, I guess the 240V we play with has made it a bit more urgent.
They are very effective to the point of being a bit annoying at times. I have 2 perfectly good plug in ovens that I thought I could use in my shed to dry out welding rods but they activate the safety switch every time I plug them in.
Ken
They are very effective to the point of being a bit annoying at times. I have 2 perfectly good plug in ovens that I thought I could use in my shed to dry out welding rods but they activate the safety switch every time I plug them in.
Ken
kjonesel
Well-known member
We don't work with the 2-pole GFCI breakers that much in the US but what we are going to is main breakers that are Ground Fault protected. I feel that is where we will end up. On them the setting is adjustable and are always shipped out of the factory on the architects engineered settings are on the minimum setting. Just last weekend a maintenance worker had the panels at a school that was five years old all go out after discussing it with him on the phone we figured out the main had tripped, no reason was found. The downside to this is that they freezing temperatures, refrigerators, and freezers of food. It could have been a real mess come Monday.
lavacarancher
Well-known member
Dun, a couple of folks have eluded to the GFCI system and that might be an option for you. If the heater was wired with three wires ( hot, neutral and ground) then you could install a GFCI receptacle and plug the heater into it. If there are any faults or leakage it will trip the breaker built into the receptacle.
I got a GFI adapter. Plugs into the recepticle and the device plugs into it (cost 9 bucks at lowes). Works slick. Anyway the cows are drinking the water just like normal and the heater is working just dandy.lavacarancher":hrt5bedi said:
I'm lucky that it's on some wiring that I did. Other then in the house, none of the old wiring had a ground so anything that might get wet I replaced the wiring, just never thought of GFI for the recepticles when I did it
The idiot that wired this place, for 220 used 2 14/3 with a bare ground wire. just used the 2 runs of each and the bare wire is one neutral side
