Church heating AGAIN

[oharaf]

I am back at the problematic church heating again.!!!!

This time the contactor has burnt out, which given the fact it is about 37 yrs old may not be that much of a suprise.

Will post some pics later.

The church want me to install a new contactor, which I am sort of happy to do, but a little hesitant at the same time.

The heating is above the ceiling!!! Bizarre I know.

In the ideal world I would want to crawl all over the system, however, due to asbestos I cannot access 90% of the system.

Any ideas/ advice etc, most appreciated

 

[Spark123]

Connect your new contactor in. Loop test the supply to the heating, megger the heating system (but not any electronic timers etc!) to make sure it isn't down. When fired up stick a clamp on ammeter on it to see how many amps it is pulling.

 

[oharaf]

Cheers 123

That is about all I could think of as well, it is just not 'knowing' what is within the system!!!

At least the shiny new timer/thermo is easily removable

Will let you know the outcome

BTW has anyone seen the price for a contactor for a heating system!!!

Ouch!!!

 

[ColJack]

do you do a full test on a lighting system if you only change a light switch?

or are you refering to the fact that you've now had 2 parts burn out on the heating system and are worried that there may be a more sinister underlying cause?

 

[Spark123]

It depends why I was changing the switch - if something sinister had occured then I'd probe a little bit further than just swopping the switch.
Similar with the contactor - if I was replacing one not on a like for like then I may probe a little bit further than normal.

 

[ricicle]

BTW has anyone seen the price for a contactor for a heating system!!!

Ouch!!!

Should not be that expensive. Any will do as long as it is suitably rated (load and coil)

 

[Spark123]

depends on how expensive they think expensive is
iirc it was a fairly heavy resistive load wasn't it??

 

[ricicle]

Yes, it's been a while since I was installing 700kW contactors !

 

[Spark123]

Aye, haven't done a tiddler like that for a while either

 

[RF Lighting]

I once removed a 250kW oil filled contactor if that counts?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Dunno.

What did the magistrate say?

 

[oharaf]

Thanks for the advice and the tongue in cheek sarcasm

Fitted a lovely new contactor today, followed your advice 123 all checked out okay, would still have prefered to give it a real good going over but asbestos isn't our best friend

Oh nice asbestos pads under the fuses in the isolator

Any way all seems to be working just dandy.

Hope for their sake it is as i have said that if it goes again or any further problems arise then I'm running out of ideas, and it should be decommissioned.

Contactor was manufactured in 1970 so i think it had done its job.

 

[jason1958]

Asbestos backing pads in the fuse carriers?
If it is chrysotile, it is not so bad if not abraded / cut / broken etc.

I suspect I know why you want to eyeball stuff - as a GOOD spark
- Cotton insulated rubber wiring?
- IR tests are perfect on bare copper with air insulation

Always loved how my mothers power circuit butyl passed with flying colours, but an examination of any wiring accessory showed shrivelled rubber hanging off conductors and black carbon tracks on tinned copper.


I assume the church doesn't have gas?
Rinnai fan wall heaters are pretty good - fast, powerful, programmable, push-button start rather than the usual "impatiently hold down to bypass flame electrode interlock"

Radiant heaters work wonderfully.
M&S fit them in their plant section for keeping people very warm, heat people instantly. Our kitchen has too low a ceiling to use one miserably.

 

[Spark123]

I suspect I know why you want to eyeball stuff - as a GOOD spark
- Cotton insulated rubber wiring?
- IR tests are perfect on bare copper with air insulation

Good old VIR, suprisingly enough if it hasn't been exposed to air then it is usually still quite sound.

 

[jason1958]

> Good old VIR, suprisingly enough if it hasn't been
> exposed to air then it is usually still quite sound.

Indeed - sadly that caused someone to put it back in service in 1984.
By the mid 1990s it did however remove itself from service! The giveaway is when sockets progressively walk down the wall )))

It was nice stuff re flexibility.
I wish we had kept stranded 2.5mm - solid is ok in PVC, but by the time you stick BS7211 insulation & sheath on solid things get much stiffer.

Interestingly SWA bedding seems to have got softer over the years, simple finger nail nick and you can tear it down to near the gland.