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View Full Version : Troubleshooting light flicker due to SpacePak electric emergency heat. (Video)



Stel
11-30-2011, 07:24 PM
I'm troubleshooting house light flicker due to SpacePak electric emergency heat. It's a 20kw SpacePak heating coil on a 200A residential service with #2 copper THHN run to the SpacePak. The two LED's in this SpacePak emergency electric heat unit (green on the left, red on the right) start to blink off together after the emergency heat has been on for about 3 minutes. Before that the LED's are solid on and the unit draws a steady 80-82 amps for 3 minutes (with no lights flickering). The LED "off blinks" coincide with the house lights flickering a little brighter due to a large change in draw. The amperage draw is in the low 80's when the led lights are solid and drops to below 60 amps while the led lights blink off for a fraction of a second. The led lights blink off roughly once per second. The amp meter has a slow response time so I am not sure how low the current draw actually drops, possibly lower than 60 or 50 amps. The house voltage at the service lateral conductors from the utility drops about 2.5 volts per leg to ground when the led lights are solid (about 5 volts leg to leg), coinciding with the draw change. What do these LED's indicate and is it normal behavior for them to blink off so frequently? Should the unit be varying it's draw so drastically so frequently?

SpacePak heater coil model number is: 45W53-WG0186-R4

Video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQqUckw3C7c

Links to some pics of the unit:
Wire Diagram (http://stelcontar.net/pics/spacepak01.jpg)
Nameplate (http://stelcontar.net/pics/spacepak02.jpg)
Heater Unit (http://stelcontar.net/pics/spacepak03.jpg)
Power Controller (http://stelcontar.net/pics/spacepak04.jpg)

Thanks for any help.

jpsmith1cm
11-30-2011, 08:36 PM
First off, Stel, we don't offer direct and in-depth DIY repair advice on this site.

We'll give you a lot of advice, but in your case, the BEST advice that you can get is to call a local professional and have the equipment serviced.

Check out our Contractor Locator Map in my signature line for a contractor near you.

Stel
11-30-2011, 09:08 PM
I am not a DIY'r. The contractor who installed the SpacePak doesn't seem to know whats going on either. I am simply here to see if any pro's can shed some insight into this unit's behavior. Thanks.