Hello guys,

After some previous discussions i had in this form, I decided to make load dump with electric stove coils.

I bought a 2000 Watt coils and cut into a number of pieces to match my load resistance. THe resistance values are drawing current in the range 1A- 6A.
But coils are heating up quickly and smoke is coming.

I have made sure all coils wattage levels are two times the required values.

Please advise on how to make a better solution

thanks
Jis

 

The electric stove coils were designed with the idea that there would be a heat sink, like a pot of water to boil, on top of the heating element. If you operate a stovetop at maximum temp with no thermal load (like a pot of water) then the heating element will get nearly white hot.

You might consider cooling the coils using water circulating through a copper pipe.

 

When you cut a 2000 Watts coil to pieces, the Power handling capacity of each piece will be leass than the original 2000 Watts.

The original 2000 Watts coil - 2000 Watts at What Voltage? If its rated at 230 Volts, it would draw a current of about 8.7 Amps. As long as the "pieces" do not draw more than this current, there should be no issue.

Dump loads will dissipate heat and will get hot. They may also "fume" the first time they are used. See what happens on continous use.

Ramesh

 

The water cooling solution is not so easy for me at this point of my project.

Anybody can suggest an alternative solution for me?

thanks
Jis

 

Try Air Cooling.

Distribute the "load" over more "pieces".

Ramesh

 

Stove coils can get red hot when operating under full load, so it would be normal to see some "smoke" when they are initially turned on. Is there a problem with the coils operating at a red heat in your application?

 

What values do you need?

Are you in USA?

I have access to many high wattage load resistors.

Can't seem to find your previous thread for the information. I may have offered before.

http://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/showthread.php?t=95116

 

The stove coils do not look reliable for me as lot of heat and smoke is making my setup fishy.

i had provided 2 times the wattage requirement. I am using a spring like coils.
is that a problem. Quality matters?

thanks
JIs

 

Are the coils like a spiral, typically found on the stove top? Or is the stove like a toaster oven and the coils like a spring, used as a heating element? Can you attach a picture?

 

A stove coil will dissipate enough power to heat up a stove.

2,000 watts is a lot of power. It is twenty times to power used on the Easy Bake oven, which ran off a 100 watt light bulb.

So it is the same power as 20 100 watt bulbs.

If I was to build such a fixture I would look for resistors totaling 4,000 watts, and put a fan on them too.

That is just what I did last week when I built a 1,000 watt load bank, used 2,000 watts of resistors.

 

Attached is the picture of the load dump.

 

Attached is the picture of the load dump.

After seeing the picture my guess is that the terminal strips are doing the smoking and are soon going to melt.

 

After seeing the picture my guess is that the terminal strips are doing the smoking and are soon going to melt.

Yeah, especially the wire wrapped around the strips at terminal 2.

I would definitely run this with the top securely fastened down. While this will increase the internal heat and speed up the inevitable failure it may help contain the flames.

 

It looks like I have to buy resistors which can replace the coils.
or can i do some workaround to have a reliable solution