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giri
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Testing a Heater Coil

07/16/2009 2:01 PM

Hi.......I have a heater coil in my room.After switching on the supply if I test the voltage with a tester it should glow indicating the voltage.But the tester is not glowing & the heater is getting heated.Why the tester should not glow...pls help.

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Panneer Selvam
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#1

Re: Heater coil

07/16/2009 2:06 PM

There are two ends of coil. Perhaps you would have touched the end where neutral is connected, Check at the other end.

Panneer Selvam

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RVZ717
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#2

Re: Heater coil

07/16/2009 2:16 PM

What kind of "tester" are you using? Make sure your not attempting to use a 12VDC automotive "light" tester for your 110VAC Electric supply. Get a Digital Multimeter, set it to read AC Voltage and check across the Leads.

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Nah
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#3

Re: Heater coil

07/16/2009 2:46 PM

Tester is broken?
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ozzb
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#4

Re: Heater coil

07/16/2009 4:22 PM

Where on the heater are you testing?

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gsuhas
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#5

Re: Testing a Heater Coil

07/16/2009 11:55 PM

Welcome girl. Happy to reply some girl.

Many reasons:

1. The tester is not functioning. Test if it is working at some other point.

2. You are not providing a ground to the tester. Do not forget to touch the back side of the tester.

3. You are not testing at live point, but you are testing it at Neutral. Please test at other end of the heater.

4. Too much illumination in the room. The tester light illumination is too low many a times. Provide some shade to see the tester illuminated.
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#6
In reply to #5

Re: Testing a Heater Coil

07/17/2009 1:02 PM

I have a good tester(glows when put at the supply terminals.But when I put it on the tester coil it's not glowing.Does the coil acts as neutral?simply think it as a resistor across a voltage & if I put the tester on the resistor it must glow.....but here it's not glowwing......
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giri
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#7

Re: Testing a Heater Coil

07/17/2009 1:04 PM

I have a good tester only (glows when put at the supply terminals.But when I put it on the tester coil it's not glowing.Does the coil acts as neutral?simply think it as a resistor across a voltage & if I put the tester on the resistor it must glow.....but here it's not glowwing......

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gsuhas
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#11
In reply to #7

Re: Testing a Heater Coil

07/19/2009 11:55 PM

Good Girl

Then my first two points are clear. Then comes third point.

Does the coil acts as neutral?

Not the complete coil. You might be touching the tester to neutral of the coil. Coil has two ends: One where you are putting the tester and other one. Just try other end. Tester must glow.

(If not, I am curious why it is not. I need to come to your place... (do not mis understand me!))
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machine head
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#8

Re: Testing a Heater Coil

07/17/2009 5:47 PM

giri , dont probe the " coils " of your heater as they are insulated and wont show anything . Instead find where the supply wires connect to the coils and probe the connectors where there is bare metal. If your heater is 230v be sure your tester is capable to test 230volts.

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CraziestOzzy
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#9

Re: Testing a Heater Coil

07/18/2009 3:20 AM

If you don't know the answer to your question regards where to "probe", you should not be even testing the heater unit while it is turned on. You are clearly using the wrong probe for AC voltage tests. As mentioned by others, you need a multi-meter that test for AC...hate to burst your bubble

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giri
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#10
In reply to #9

Re: Testing a Heater Coil

07/18/2009 7:49 AM

The heater coil is of 1000w & is bare. Actually this generated curiousity in me when I went to purchase one.The shopper tested it with a tester after switching ON & then tester glowed(if the plug top connection is reversed at the socket the tester didn't glow).He changed the power cord with new plugtop ready with him & now the tester didn't glow in both the cases..Then he gave this cord along with heater.(He couldn't give the proper answer y the tester didn't glow this time & this power cord is ok).Hope I clarified some of your doubts now I would like to get the answer.

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giri
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#12
In reply to #10

Re: Testing a Heater Coil

07/20/2009 1:00 PM

Anybody here pls help??????

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rakesh_semwal
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#15
In reply to #12

Re: Testing a Heater Coil

07/21/2009 2:56 AM
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machine head
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#13
In reply to #10

Re: Testing a Heater Coil

07/20/2009 6:42 PM

Wow ., I do this stuff for a living and i am now totally confused .?

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CraziestOzzy
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#14
In reply to #13

Re: Testing a Heater Coil

07/20/2009 10:06 PM

same same....if the supply was DC rather than AC, I can understand what is going on. Otherwise, I suspect from the description given, the outer case holding the heater element may be live. But then...with just the element alone being tested under an AC condition, some weird things are described...I would thought a blocking diode was somewhere in the mix too, but that is not there either.

Oh well, where is Carl Sagan when you need him

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sb
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#16

Re: Testing a Heater Coil

07/21/2009 3:03 AM

The only point that does not show power even when the phase and neutral are interchanged is the Earth terminal. Since it is a room heater it must be a 3 wire system for safety purpose. The point that you are checking is it on the bare wire? or it is secondary heated (by wire inside heating up a thermally conducting - electrically insulated tube?) Most probable reason is the point you are trying out is the ground point and the shopkeeper has checked whether it is the ground or the neutral (both will be no glow on tester)

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giri
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#17
In reply to #16

Re: Testing a Heater Coil

07/29/2009 10:06 AM

But if the coil is like u said ,then how the tester glowed the first time with another plug cord inserted both ways?.....confusing .........

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Users who posted comments:

Anonymous Poster (1); CraziestOzzy (2); giri (4); gsuhas (2); machine head (2); Nah (1); ozzb (1); Panneer Selvam (1); rakesh_semwal (1); RVZ717 (1); sb (1)

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