Heating Element in Tower Thoughts

[Mr Walleye]

During the time I've spent here on the forum there have been a number of people who have had problems maintaining or in some cases even getting to their desired temps especially when they are located in colder climates. There have been people who have put additional heating elements into their towers as well. This morning I was surfing the web and came across the web site listed below. The heating element is a 500 watt tube type unit that comes in the Bradley from what I can tell. If you scroll down to the bottom of the page on this link, you can get various sizes, both in watts and lengths, of heating tubes. I guess my thought is... I wonder if it is possible to just remove the heating element and replace it with another that has a little higher output, maybe 800 to 1000 watts as an example. I realize how the unit is fused and wiring may be a factor but this was just a though. It has the potential to have much better preheat and recovery times. Anybody with any thoughts? Arcs... what's you thoughts on something like this?

http://www.trentheat.com/2.a.10.b.htm

Mike

[car54]

The wattage is determined by the length of the heater. If you can't go with a longer heater, there is no gain. That is why I installed a 500 watt salamander.



Brad

[Mr Walleye]

Hi Brad

That's true to a certain extent (although I don't know a great deal about this) it would appear that the construction make up of the tube also has a bearing on the output. In the link the chart at the bottom indicates that depending on the material the tube is made from a 14 inch tube could be any where from 350 to 800 watts if I'm reading it correctly.

When you added your 500 watt salamander how did you wire it? Have you noticed an improvement in both preheat and recovery times?

Mike

[Arcs_n_Sparks]

Heater output depends on several factor, so you can have different wattages for same length heater rod.

My only concern would be the wire gauge to the heater; will it support the additional amperage? I've never looked to see what guage it is and the length.

Arcs_n_Sparks

[Mr Walleye]

I guess if the wires for the element could always be upgraded relatively easily if they were not adequate.

Mike

[car54]

Walleye,

You are right are right about the wattage of the tube heaters. The salamander was wired straight out of the side of the Bradley. It came with ceramic beads around the wires and I also used an insulating sheath to cover the beads. The hole is sealed with high temp silicone. It is wired to a rheostat so I can control the wattage. I basically use it for recovery heat and it works good.

Brad