EZ Pro120 - strange problem

[bogart219]

Hello all,
Need help with a EZ Pro 120 countertop hoodless fryer. 120 volt -20 amp. Went on a service call today with another tech today. It had the exact same problem he encountered three weeks ago. The customer smelled a burning odor and took the side panel off. The female disconnect terminal to one side of the over temp limit was burnt and melted. The other end of this wire came from a heating element relay. Checked all wall power, ok.
When element on pulling about 17.5 amps. Everything appears to be working normal. Made frys ok. Thermo cycling the element on/off ok. #12 wire should be good for 20 amps. Anyone ever run into a problem like this on this unit or something similiar? Any suggestions would be appreciated!

[CODYKING]

In most cases if the unit is pulling proper amps, then it is caused by a bad connection. Could be bad crimp, loose terminal connection to spade. Did the last guy replace the wire or just cut it off and put new terminal on, did he cut it back far enough. Over 20 years doing this and that has been my experience.

[bogart219]

In most cases if the unit is pulling proper amps, then it is caused by a bad connection. Could be bad crimp, loose terminal connection to spade. Did the last guy replace the wire or just cut it off and put new terminal on, did he cut it back far enough. Over 20 years doing this and that has been my experience.

Yeah cody, thats what I was thinking too!

[ECtofix]

Good bit of discussion on that sorta thing here:

http://hvac-talk.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=270032

Wire termination points (where they connect to) are always potentially a weak link - especially in the high duty portion of a circuit. Also, factory connections are always suspect.

That limit may have sustained some damage too. Do a voltage drop test across it. If reading a half a volt or more across it, I'd replace it too.

Did the last guy replace the wire or just cut it off and put new terminal on, did he cut it back far enough. Over 20 years doing this and that has been my experience.

Yup. Might ought to cut wire back to fresh shiny strands or replace it altogether.

[bogart219]

Thanks for the info guys!