Approval for heat treat oven

D

Diggerdog

Joined
Aug 30, 2005
Messages
173
I am just finishing up the wiring of a home made heat treat oven and the guy who is installing the 220 volt circuit for me just decided that the oven should be CSA or UL approved or he may be liable for any damage or injury caused by this oven. I wouldn't mind having some gov't seal of approval for my own insurance coverage but I've never heard of getting such approval for a home made product. Has anyone ever dealt with this before or have any suggestions on how to handle this roadblock. Thanks. Dave
 
Dave, I don't know what the laws are in Canada, perhaps there is some implied liability. Sounds silly to me, though; UL approval is for commercial products.
 
Why does the guy installing the circuit even have anything to do with what you hook up to it? Just say its for a clothes dryer. :)
 
It's one of those don't ask/don't tell situations. By him knowing it's purpose it makes it a little questionable for him to do. Like Tik said, it's better to just say, it's for this reason, then hook it up. It's like if you go to a store and tell the people you plan to use said product for a crime, now they are liable if they sell it to you. If you kept your mouth shut, then it's all your fault.

-MJ
 
I am an electrician by trade. I have been in the trade for 16 years, and I have never heard of this.. If you pay me to install a 240v outlet, or any other outlet, I am only responsible for that outlet, and its path to the electric panel. In other words I have to make sure that from one end to the other of the circuit I install is up to code requirements. On the other hand if I seen someone doing something that looked like a fire waiting to happen, I might create a reason, or strongly urge the customer to not do what he or she wants to do. Regardless if I dont install it they will get someone else to install it, so I do the best I can to make it safe.
 
As long as its not wired directly into the panel you should be ok.just have him put in a plugin outlet.That way he assumed no responsibility.
 
allan lanigan said:
As long as its not wired directly into the panel you should be ok.just have him put in a plugin outlet.That way he assumed no responsibility.
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I might have spoke to soon...Is he providing an outlet, or directly connecting the oven? If the oven is hard wired thats a hole new ballgame..

I was assuming that he was providing an receptacle, and was telling you that you could not plug your oven into it.

Sorry for that
 
Thanks all for the advice. The oven is completely safe which is the only way I would have it. He was going to hardwire the oven and I think from the info from all of you I will just have him wire in a receptacle for a plug in. That should solve his concerns.
 
DiggerDog,

just wanted to say hello from a Lethbridge forumite! Where abouts in Southern Alberta are you?
 
Dave

This dicussion came up a while ago under home made ovens. As long as it is a plug, your electrician shouldn't have a problem. I'm not so sure about your fire insurance with a UL or other safetty seal. This may or may not also be one of those 'don't ask' issues, but that certainly would not be my advice in a public forum.:)

Rob!
 
BTW, what plans did you used for the HT oven? Ive had my thought about trying to build one without burning down the house and would be interested to hear how the whole process went, final cost, work involved etc before gauging to save for a built one or go the homemade route. Ive seen that one online tutorial on it, but others are a bit sketchy and assume more electrical knowledge than I have, haha!
 
Hey Crayola. Cheers to you. I've been living in Lethridge for 15 years now. As I get more involved in knifemaking I've had the opportunity to meet several other knifemakers in and around the city. It's one of the best parts of the hobby. I hate to tell our friends to the south that Alberta is now officially the knifemaking capital of the world. ;)
 
Hi TikTock. I used the online plans that you refered to. I have very little electrical knowledge however there is not much involved to wiring a simple control switch. A temperature controller is more costly and complicated to wire. There is much more work and expense involved to building this thing than it might seem. If I had it to do over again I would just purchase an oven from Rob. But that's just me. Dave
 
:) Thanks! I figured that HT is the most important part of knifemaking, and that eventually I will want something much more controlled than my propane forge can offer. The idea of setting an oven to 1450 and walking away, and coming back and it being at that temp is just sooooo appealing.
 
TikTock,
I went with roughly the same plans but longer(32" deep). I had the box fabricated by a metal shop, new firebricks from ebay, new digital controler and thermocouple from ebay, 2 kanthal heating elements from budget casting supply, 30 feet of #10 neoprene sjo cord from electrical supply, 240v 30amp plug from electrical supply, 240v 50amp plug from electrical supply, 30amp to 50amp adapter from electrical supply. I haven't got around to putting everthing together yet but in all I spent about $230.00 for everything including having the box fabricated. I bought 30ft of cord so with the adapters I can plug it into any standard stove or dryer receptacle anywhere. If you skip the expensive cord and adapters you can build one with digital controll for about $170.00.
 
Sleepy you've done pretty well so far. The kanthal heating elements and a simple control unit from BCS plus $15.00 shipping was $150.00 and the insulation bricks plus shipping were $125.00. Plus a thermocouple temp. gauge plus making the sheet metal body plus electrical, misc. etc. I'm way over what you spent. This was not an inexpensive or easy project for me.
 
3 months of searching threads, ebay, internet for info, and internet stores. I got very lucky with the cord. gave $15.00 for it. Somebody ordered it then didn't come back to pick it up so the parts house put on the sale table otherwise that alone would have been close to $80 or 90. I'm sure that once I get around to putting it together it will be worth all the time I spent gathering everything. Right now i'm not sure where half of it is since I havent got to unpack all my unnecessary things:eek: (as my wife puts it) untill we(I) get the renovations and repairs done on our house.:barf:
 
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