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 AC Heating Element Control		  New Topic  Reply to Topic
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rookk
New Member

USA
2 Posts
Posted - Sep 07 2009 :  5:54:18 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Hi, I need to reduce the wattage of a 320w heating element in a 110 - 120V AC water heater. Is there an inexpensive product out there that can help with this or schematics on making such a device?

Thanks in advance for any help. -kdr

Aaron Cake
Administrator

Canada
6718 Posts
Posted - Sep 19 2009 :  10:54:13 AM  Show Profile  Visit Aaron Cake's Homepage  Send Aaron Cake an ICQ Message  Send Aaron Cake a Yahoo! Message  Reply with Quote
A 500W light dimmer is about as simple as you can get. Not ideal, but it will work. Sort of.
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rookk
New Member

USA
2 Posts
Posted - Sep 30 2009 :  8:29:57 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
So by saying it will work, sort of, does that mean I can leave it unattended for 3 or 4 hours without burning down my house?

What would be the ideal way to do this?

Thanks for your help. -kdr
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Aaron Cake
Administrator

Canada
6718 Posts
Posted - Oct 03 2009 :  11:11:40 AM  Show Profile  Visit Aaron Cake's Homepage  Send Aaron Cake an ICQ Message  Send Aaron Cake a Yahoo! Message  Reply with Quote
You should be able to leave it unattended for as long as you like. A heating element is much like a light bulb in that it is a resistive load. A light dimmer is designed to control resistive loads by chopping bits off of the AC wave.

The ideal way would be to likely change the current to DC and PWM the element.
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