Thanks to all for the comments. I really don't know why the problems happened.
Yes, I suggested the possiblility of a surge due to the elevators in my building, but I have never seen anything else like light bulb flickerings that I would have expected if the elevator motors caused an electrical wiring voltage spike. My best guess is that the h-connector and the power cord wiring in the Brewtus are under-designed and subject to failure. As a precaution, I added this surge protector: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000668YX/ref=oss_T2_product and replaced the heavy duty timer with this one: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000DZC226/ref=oss_T2_product The Sylvania timer has a few convenience design advantages over the Instamatic one. It has a lid that covers the settings and prevents the current time setting on the timer from being messed up everytime it was pushed around on the crowded counter top. As to the thought that 20,000 volt spark when a switch is closed is different than a voltage surge, I suspect that if you put a scope in the circuit you will see a 20,000 volt spike when that happens. I don't know if there is enough current in the spike to cause a problem, but.... I am sure that putting a capacitor on the switch would damp that spark, but the Instamatic timer claims to be designed for things like air conditioners with big motors that would not be sensitive to a little sparking so they probably didn't bother to add one. In any case, the problem happened twice and I hope that it never happens again. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Brewtus" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/brewtus?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
