THERMOSTAT SWITCH-HEATING ELEMENT WIRING QUESTION

[Mooly]

+2

[teleman]

Working (nicely)..... rather low on heat, perhaps due to the low wattage (600w) of the the cartridge & the thermostat in addition?

Cost:
10Ø x 250mm (600w)Cartridge element .....£ 6.67
Thermoswitch...................................... £ 5.50
Alu.U channel ...................................... £ 2.00 (surplus)

Other parts needed;
Flame proof plastic or metal casing
IEC or similar mains panel socket
2x 50x 280-300mm 25mm MDF or similar wood pieces
1x 350mm 25mm MDF or similar wood (base)

suitable mains wire
Insulated 6 mm spade clips

[Mooly]

Thanks for the update and piccys. Certainly an unusual project. Hope you get the desired results

[teleman]

I left it to "burn in" for some time & could smell burning wood. On closure inspection it was obvious that a good portion of the sides were nearly charred.So I don't think using light wood like MDF,ply or any other soft or particle wood would be a good idea! I think I'd change to teak or similar hard wood.

I am not sure if placing the cartridge in a tight fitting steel tube would spread the heat even better or not?

It's just that the rotary thermoswitch threw me off by it's sheer simplicity than I imagined at first!. This is why I asked for some guidance, but sadly only to be inundated with unwarranted sarcasm & a few veiled insults thrown instead.

[palstanturhin]

Instead of wood or ply or anything that can burn, use a BRICK!
You mast have a friend who is working at a building site somewhere.
Get the brick from him. He also makes a nice "channel" to the brick for your thermoelement.
To make it have a totally nice and flat surfase, you can screw a couple of aluminum sheets on it...

[teleman]

Originally Posted by palstanturhin

Instead of wood or ply or anything that can burn, use a BRICK!
You mast have a friend who is working at a building site somewhere.
Get the brick from him. He also makes a nice "channel" to the brick for your thermoelement.
To make it have a totally nice and flat surfase, you can screw a couple of aluminum sheets on it...

This is not practical or possible IMHO.

The heating element can't/won't reach the temperature required as the brick will absorbe it. Brick over time will dry up & crack, not to mention the weight. You'd ideally need a hard wood which has a good heat resistance & not burn easily,hence soft woods are out of the question for this purpose.

Perhaps someone can suggest a suitable wood type for this!

[AndrewT]

Not wood is the best wood!

[palstanturhin]

Well... I dont know about Norway, but here at the almostRussia, we build even fireplaces and ridiculously high temperature ovens with bricks... ;-)
And they do not dry and crack...

I would definitely go with the 'not wood' here...

Weight is good. It holds on your table.
Ask your good friend to make the channel wide enough so that there will be some room between the aluminum profile and the brick and you can have some sort of fireproof thermal insulation there, such as an air gap...

[Mooly]

Old storage heater bricks (the type that use a single wire element) have channels in the top of them.