mwill07
Well-Known Member
So i screwed up a cleaning session yesterday - inadvertantly left the discharge from my pump outside the kettle while running and heating, and walked away to make a sandwich. I came back and my rig had now power and no water... the GFCI/breaker had thrown. No beer was harmed - it was just cleaning water.
A visual inspection inside the control box, all cables, and the element showed no visible damage. I was able to isolate the fault to the heating element - i can power up everything no problem if the element is unplugged, but if its plugged in, GFCI/ breaker shuts it down immediately when i switch the element on.
I took an ohm meter across the element. I measured 10.3 ohms across the element terminals (unplugged, of course). Each leg to ground: there was resistance, increasing with time, in the Kohm to Mohm range.
I think its a GFCI fault in the element, caused by dry-firing. Does this make sense? Common issue? Happen to anyone before?
A visual inspection inside the control box, all cables, and the element showed no visible damage. I was able to isolate the fault to the heating element - i can power up everything no problem if the element is unplugged, but if its plugged in, GFCI/ breaker shuts it down immediately when i switch the element on.
I took an ohm meter across the element. I measured 10.3 ohms across the element terminals (unplugged, of course). Each leg to ground: there was resistance, increasing with time, in the Kohm to Mohm range.
I think its a GFCI fault in the element, caused by dry-firing. Does this make sense? Common issue? Happen to anyone before?