Lang cheesemelter over amping ??????

i"m a refrigeration guy working on a cheesemelter. This thing is wired to a 208 v 15 amp beraker, which seemed really small to me. Model #mm36 it was only running off of the front two elements when one blew they called me. the front two are wired in series rated 104 volt at 1800 watts. when the rear and final one kicks in I'm getting total 23 amps on the line and the breaker trips. On the front two only im getting 15 amp draw and the breaker holds. according to Lang it's rated at 17 amps. the cord plug seems a little burnt but i'm not getting any resistance from it to the contactor these things are wired really simply but is there simething else i'm missing, I'm getting proper voltage at the contactor 210 volts.

any thoughts would be appreciated

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Originally Posted by swinginutters

i"m a refrigeration guy working on a cheesemelter. This thing is wired to a 208 v 15 amp beraker, which seemed really small to me. Model #mm36 it was only running off of the front two elements when one blew they called me. the front two are wired in series rated 104 volt at 1800 watts. when the rear and final one kicks in I'm getting total 23 amps on the line and the breaker trips. On the front two only im getting 15 amp draw and the breaker holds. according to Lang it's rated at 17 amps. the cord plug seems a little burnt but i'm not getting any resistance from it to the contactor these things are wired really simply but is there simething else i'm missing, I'm getting proper voltage at the contactor 210 volts.

any thoughts would be appreciated

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lang says it should run 17 amps once all the heaters are on?? Or just the front two. Because you turn on the front 2 and your already pulling 15 amps.. your almost at full load amps. You mentioned the plug had some burning on it. Most likely the female plug socket is burnt up. and not making good connection. or maybe the wiring behind the plug burnt up.. Keep me posted

It's been a while since I saw a lang MM36 but if I recall all three heaters should never be on at once. I believe one is just a keep warm heater when the rack is in the up position. When the rack is pushed down the other two (104v purple) will energize and the back 208v element (clear) will go out. If the unit is has been wired for all element to come on at once then you found your problem. Either case verify this with lang. Like I said it's been a while since I have seen one.

Here is the manual for that unit

1800w / 104v = 17A

104v / 17A = 6.12 ohms

2 in series at 6.12 ohms each = 12.24 ohms

208v / 12.24 ohms = 16.99 A (your rated load). It cannot be wired to run all three elements at once.

Thank you for the help , god bless the internet, after looking at the manual it all made sense, all three elements are wired in series on stand by mode, it pulls 5 amps, then on constant or when the micro switch activates the front two energize and the rear deenergizes and it pulls 15 amps. after making the wiring changes it worked great. thanks again for the input.