| A few months ago a friend contacted me to say that his bathroom heater seemed to be running a bit slower than normal and taking longer than it previously did to run up to speed. My first thought on examining it were that it could do with a good clean and overhaul to remove the dust and fluff. Click here to read the details of that project. When the junction box was opened to disconnect the heater the terminal block connector was found to be seriously damaged as were the connecting wires on both sides screw terminals. The plastic body of the terminal block had melted where the live wire was connected. The amazing thing was that the plastic had liquidized and blackened over time causing there to be a very hard film of the material covering the brass sgrew terminals! Some of the plastic had dripped off and was found inside the junction box. Unfortunately, whoever did the original installation did not prepare the wire ends and simply screwed the stranded wire into the connector block quite possibly catching only a few strands of wire causing a high resistance connection. Given that this device draws over 10 Amps at 240VAC this would explain why the plastic had melted. Fortunately the plastic was fire retardant. I removed the damaged wire and insulation, prepared the wire ends by applying solder and used a new terminal block unit. The junction box was cleaned out and the wiring re-installed. Click on any of the pictures to view a larger more detailed version. If only the original installer had taken the time to properly install the wiring, this problem would never have occurred. |
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AuthorAllan Faulds is an Electronic Design Engineer who develops Hardware and Software on a professional basis. He has a strong interest in applying his design and development skills to his areas of interest such as bicycle lighting and plant growing and greenhouse and garden control technology. Archives
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