The heater element is a simple part, but it must be well crafted. It is a tube into which is placed a heating coil. Slight traction is meant to straighten the wire and center it in the tube, after which the insulating compound is pumped in to fill completely, insulating the coil from the tube itself. After hardening, the tube is rolled into a coil as needed and the assembly completed. If there is any failure of the process of centering the wire or of the insulating compound, the coil will fail, either initially or after heating cycles. The unit may test normally when cold, but when heated, the wire may move in degraded insulating material to the point that the GFCI will trip, even though no direct short is present.when tested cold. If there is leakage from the heating wire to the outer coil on testing, then the insulation failure may be more complete, allowing contact or near contact in the cold state. It would seem that the manufacturing process for these heating coils is less than perfect given the frequent failures noted in the forum; perhaps Expobar could find a higher quality supplier for these parts, or, WLL will continue to supply free or cheap replacement.
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Len Sherman Sent: Friday, March 07, 2014 11:30 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: CFGI outlets I know this is a somewhat old thread, but I wonder if these unresolved GFCI problems could be related to the problem I've been having. This is still ongoing: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/brewtus/CHNJqggTxJY As a general response, THERE IS NO WAY that a properly functioning Brewtus should have a problem with GFCI, except maybe if water drips on the electrical connections. If the GFCI trips, something is wrong. In my case it seems to be directly traceable to the heater. I'm wondering if the units that had GFCI problems after getting repaired might have had heaters replaced, and if the recent replacement heaters are somehow prone to electrical leakage. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Brewtus" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/brewtus. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Brewtus" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/brewtus. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
