Heat Treat oven problems

OK disconnect the 68 volt ssr and wire nut the the two wires together, and run it with 1 ssr, the ssr's you bought are 40 amp so 1 will handle the current, im only using 1 ssr on my oven
 
The reason I asked about the dryer outlet......believe it or not I knew a guy that purchased a new electric dryer and figured ;0) if he put 2 regular plugs on the end of the pig-tail he could get 240 out of 1 wall socket....true story
 
I understand why you ask. You dont know my skill or lack there of and want to make sure what is going on. One more question. Since I have two elements set up for 220v do I put just one high temp wire on the ssr or both if I have it set up for 110v until I get another ssr in.
 
You should test L1 and L2 coming out of the wall to make sure you are getting full voltage, a bad circuit breaker, or connection might cause low voltage, if its either of those two things its also a fire hazard

I should have guessed that you had 25 amp ssr's buy the numbers D4825, I just took the side panel off mine and looked and I have the D4840
 
I have checked the box already and its at the correct voltage. I have two ssr's already shipped I think I will get them wired up instead of trying to make it still work as is. Your help has been amazing to isolate how to find out which ssr is bad. I will update after I get them I am hoping all is well after than. FINGERS CROSSED.
 
Kieran Klein said:
I understand why you ask. You dont know my skill or lack there of and want to make sure what is going on. One more question. Since I have two elements set up for 220v do I put just one high temp wire on the ssr or both if I have it set up for 110v until I get another ssr in.
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what gauge wire and length elements do you have?

at this point I would stop and get your new ssr before going any further, you dont want to burn the other one out
 
I'm getting a little out of my comfort zone here because I have done no research on duel element ovens, but I believe you need to wire those elements in parallel not in series, also that will put you at 26 amps


 
Kieran Klein said:
I appreciate your effort on trying to make it work. I feel uncomfortable overloading that ssr.
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I'm not suggesting you try again, im saying that because you have your elements wired end to end that you won't get the desired results, buy doubling the length of the element you are also increasing the resistance of the elements and they could burn out
 
All of the 110 volt outlets in your house have a black wire running to a breaker and a white wire running to connect to the incoming neutral line. One incoming power leg and a neutral gives you 110 VAC. To make this easier to understand, lets call the black 110 wire new volts, and the white wire used volts. In your household circuits power goes from the breaker to the black wire (new volts) to the load (light, toaster, act) to the white wire (used volts) to the incoming neutral. So you have used voltage on the neutral line. On your mini-buss you have the grounds connected to used voltage. Thats where the 68 and 100 volts are coming from. You still need to get that neutral wire off of the ground.
 
Kieran Klein said:
ooooooh ok wow I am sorry I misread that.
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No biggie ;0)

The reason I brought it up at all, is because the link you gave us points to 17AWG wire rated at 240AC, and you said you are using 10AWG wire. just trying to head off any future problems, you seem to have had more then enough already
 
John Moran said:
All of the 110 volt outlets in your house have a black wire running to a breaker and a white wire running to connect to the incoming neutral line. One incoming power leg and a neutral gives you 110 VAC. To make this easier to understand, lets call the black 110 wire new volts, and the white wire used volts. In your household circuits power goes from the breaker to the black wire (new volts) to the load (light, toaster, act) to the white wire (used volts) to the incoming neutral. So you have used voltage on the neutral line. On your mini-buss you have the grounds connected to used voltage. Thats where the 68 and 100 volts are coming from. You still need to get that neutral wire off of the ground.
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When I got the readings I had the white wire off the ground like you told me to do.
 
John Moran said:
You still need to get that neutral wire off of the ground.
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Just to clear things up a bit, the neutral wire and the unshielded ground wire are the same thing and can do the same job, the problem will arise if using the unshielded ground wire as the neutral and the appliance shorts out, and the unshielded ground wire is touching the metal case of the appliance and you are touching the appliance, you will get a shock, if using the shielded neutral wire and it shorts no shock can be had

Not to mention the fact that in this application L1 and L2 are completely insulated from the neutral and ground wire, its wired the same way as a hot water heater
 
Agreed, for the sake of simplicity, the ground and neutral in the USA are the same thing. They are all on the same buss in the fuse box.

It is how they are attached in the device that makes for a safe or unsafe situation. The danger is if the hot black wire touches the metal case of then device. If the ground is "grounded" to the case, there will be an instant short and the fuse/breaker will blow in milliseconds. If the case isn't grounded, the hot voltage will "float" on the case waiting for a path to ground or neutral. That could likely be you when you touch the case. Because you are a resistive load, the breaker won't blow unless the current through your body exceeds the rating value. That probably will not happen, and even if it does, you will be long dead.
What a GFI does is look for any difference in potential between the green ground and white neutral. If they are not zero potential, then it will trip the breaker. This prevents the above situation from happening.

Also, many consider the power going through the wires traveling down the black and back to the fuse box on the white. In actuality, it does not do either. It just goes back and forth through both.


Back to the current problem ( pun intended):
It is looking more and more like a bad SSR. I could test the current path with a meter in about 60 seconds, but it isn't all that easy to tell someone else what to do. Your results so far indicate voltage where it should be...just not going through both SSRs.
Here is the safe and easy way to diagnose them:
Unplug the power cord and remove the wires from 1 and 2 on both SSRs.
Tape the L1 and L2 wires up well to avoid any shocking situations ( pun intended again). The coil wires can just be moved out of the way.
Set the meter to continuity or to ohms.
Read across 1 and 2 on each SSR with the PID off. With the SSR open, you should get megohms of resistance (virtually no needle movement or a reading in the millions of ohms), or no continuity buzzer sounding.
Now, plug the power cord back in, turn the PID on ( look for the SSR indicator light), and read the same places. With the SSR now closed you should get a very low ohm reading near 1 ohm, or hear the buzzer go off. If either SSR does not close, then it is bad.
 
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Well new ssr's came in today with only a slightly new development. Now when everything is wired up I plugged in i get a humming sound. Ssr's are still good.
 
If it is running properly and the hum isn't a loud buzz, then it is probably OK.
Humming is normal with current flowing through any resistive load. It is called "60 cycle hum". That is how I can tell my oven is cycling on......I hear the hum. If you listen, you can hear it in a large building like a warehouse when the lights are on and it is quiet.

If it still isn't running you should get someone who is familiar with these things to come over with a good meter and take a look.
 
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