My Sunbeam 110 V electric grill works OK but it glows only faintly red and it takes a while to grill a steak.
My clamp-on meter shows 12.2 Amps.
I imagine this mod:
Connect a 220 V infinite range element controller (15 Amp at 220 V capacity) and output it to the 110V element.
Adjust to a mild red color.
Grill .
What say you?
BoyntonStu
great heat till the element burns out:(
you might check about adding a second element somehow, providing 240 volts, providing 120 to each element.
wouldnt t be easier to buy a cheap propane grill?
I intend to run the element with about 15 Amps instead of 12.
Yes, it will shorten the life a bit, but it is currently barely glowing red.
You have to turn off the lights to see it.
I like the convenience of my Patio Caddy electric.
It is smaller and insulated.
It gets up to 500F.
I prefer electric and I have retired my gas grills.
If you are using an extension cord:
I suggest measuring voltage across the line at the grill's plug and at the outlet that your extension cord is plugged into.
If you lose more than just a few volts, get a new extension cord. Get one with as heavy a gauge of wire as you can find (preferably AWG 12, rated for 20 amps), and in the shortest length that you can find that will work.
Volts dropped with 12.5 amps at wire temperature 30 C: (Note - remedying a voltage drop will increase your current slightly! This is why I am using 12.5 amps rather than 12.2 amps.) Feet is length of cord, and volts dropped is "round trip drop", considering copper wire length of twice the length of the cord.
AWG 25 ft 50 ft 100 ft
16 2.6 5.2 10.414 1.64 3.28 6.56
12 1.03 2.06 4.12These figures are only approximate, since wire has a tolerance in cross section area, and stranded wire usually does not exactly match an AWG number.
I would change the extension cord if this will reduce voltage drop by more than 3-4 volts or so.
Also, if you are using 16 AWG extension cord, I consider its typical 13 amp rating not as conservative as the 15 amp rating typical of 14 AWG extension cord. For "equal conservativeness", I would use a 16 AWG extension cord with no more than 11 amps.
I also doubt any decent 100 foot extension cord comes in a gauge thinner than AWG 14.
- Don Klipstein ( snipped-for-privacy@misty.com)
15 amps instead of 12.2? If the resistance does not vary with voltage, then this means an RMS voltage of (15/12.2) times whatever voltage the element is now getting. This means power going into the heating element will be (15/12.2) squared times what it is getting now, or a 51% boost. More still if you control amps and the element's resistance increases with temperature (which it probably will). This does not sound like a moderate "red heat" but a brightish orange or maybe even a quite bright yellowish orange. I would operate the grill far from anything flammable, and have the plug in easy reach, also a largish BC rated fire extinguisher within reach. Bare nichrome wire can glow orange, but a heating element other than bare nichrome wire should generally not get past "dim side orangish red" that an electric stove "burner" does, and some may be limited to lower surface temperatures still!
If you want to check the effective voltage across the heating element while it has current or effective voltage adjusted by anything other than a "variac"-like device or a true rheostat (extremely unlikely, also would make close to enough heat to cook with), your RMS voltage reading will read erroneously low unless you use a "true RMS" voltmeter.
And if the voltage across the plug of your grill according to a true RMS voltmeter is above 125-126 volts or something close to that, I suspect 132 possibly but tops, then the UL listing of your grill does not apply, and your fire insurance company can give you grief if they have to get involved with anything related to this.
For that matter, your booster may turn your grill setup into an "experimental apparatus" lacking benefit of UL listing from the get-go!
- Don Klipstein ( snipped-for-privacy@misty.com)
You have to weigh the pros and cons of a new grill verses the electric fire you'll have by modifying the old grill.
Don,
When I look at my 220 V oven element in the 'broil' setting I can plainly see glowing red.
It seems to me that the 110 V grill element is of the same type material, and for it to run at 110V it must be shorter in length or thinner in diameter..
Logic follows that it should also glow the same color as the oven element without premature failure.
BoyntonStu
Yes, yes, we hear that all the time: the insurance won't pay off. Can you, or anyone, cite even _one_ case of that actually happening?
*If* it's the same material... which probably can't be determined reliably from visual inspection...
Yea, but if the insulation can't handle the additional heat. FIRE FIRE FIRE..
I liked the suggestion about the extension cord, which if you are using, you should not likely be using with this appliance.
I have an electric turkey fryer and it has similar problems, though the elements can't glow red because they are submerged in oil. The problem is that when you dump a room temperature 16 pound bird in the 400 degree oil, it immediately drops to something like 260 degrees or so. With the electric fryer, it never really recovers as it does in a mega-btu propane fryer ... but the electric isn't as dangerous. It is much better to fry the bird at somewhere over 300 degrees for best results. Anyway, what I would do is try in your case is a 220 volt Variac and adjust the voltage as needed. There are electronic ways to controlling the element, however, you might be able to borrow a Variac to try it as an experiment.
What's the voltage at the element while it is heating?
...
Just when I thought deep frying turkeys couldn't be any more dangerous. Maybe you could set the thing on a wobbly table and use a 20' extension cord with it draped across a high traffic area.
Make sure you have the emergency room on speed dial.
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