Olivia Posted November 26, 2023 Report Share Posted November 26, 2023 Hi! I bought an old kiln. It looks really good, barely used. It’s an Estrin kiln. 240v, single phase, 25 amp. I have it wired from a 30 amp breaker. When energizing the lines (plugging it in), everything is good. There are 3 infinite switches and a kiln sitter. The moment any one of the infinite switches is turned on the breaker trips. To troubleshoot, I bypassed the kiln sitter, but the breaker still trips. Since it instantly trips, I think it’s a short somewhere, but I inspected all the lines. Everything looks good. Do faulty infinite switches act like this when they fail? Or should I keep looking for a short somewhere? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted November 27, 2023 Report Share Posted November 27, 2023 If it trips immediately, there's a short in the kiln somewhere. If it's happening with all of the switches, then the problem is probably not one of the switches being bad, but rather in the wiring somewhere. It could be the switches are wired wrong in some way. How many elements does the kiln have? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olivia Posted November 27, 2023 Author Report Share Posted November 27, 2023 9 minutes ago, neilestrick said: If it trips immediately, there's a short in the kiln somewhere. If it's happening with all of the switches, then the problem is probably not one of the switches being bad, but rather in the wiring somewhere. It could be the switches are wired wrong in some way. How many elements does the kiln have? Thanks for the reply. It has 2 elements per switch, and 3 switches. I’m also not convinced it’s the switches, but I’ve triple checked the wiring and it seems correct. I bought it from someone who was storing it outside I believe, and they weren’t sure when it was fired last. I think I need to buy a multimeter to find the short. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted November 27, 2023 Report Share Posted November 27, 2023 @Olivia Try disconnecting two switches at a time and see if it only trips with one of them. A meter won't find the short. You have to isolate it to figure out where it is. However having a meter is good for future repairs. Pyewackette 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olivia Posted November 27, 2023 Author Report Share Posted November 27, 2023 13 hours ago, neilestrick said: @Olivia Try disconnecting two switches at a time and see if it only trips with one of them. A meter won't find the short. You have to isolate it to figure out where it is. However having a meter is good for future repairs. Gave that a go. I isolated each one, disconnecting the others completely. Same result. When the switched is turned on, even to low, the breaker immediately trips. I wonder if it’s worth buying one new switch to test. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterH Posted November 27, 2023 Report Share Posted November 27, 2023 (edited) 55 minutes ago, Olivia said: Gave that a go. I isolated each one, disconnecting the others completely. Same result. When the switched is turned on, even to low, the breaker immediately trips. I wonder if it’s worth buying one new switch to test. Maybe reconnect one switch and disconnect its outputs -- and then see what happens when you turn the switch on? Edited November 27, 2023 by PeterH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted November 27, 2023 Report Share Posted November 27, 2023 This has to be a wiring problem unless something happened that managed to blow out all 3 switches, which I've never seen. How are the switches wired? Hot wires should go into L1 and L2, then two hots going out to the elements. It's generally a pretty simple wiring setup. Post some pictures and let us know what the tabs are labeled on the switches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.