Old SAECO pot that bites

[shell70634]

I have an old SAECO pot that gives me an electrical shock when I touch it. It's never done that before. The lead melts just fine. The cord is a 2 wire. Would changing to a grounded 3 wire cord help? I removed the control cover and did not see any sign of the wires touching any part of the pot. I don't enjoy the bite. Any advice?

[w5pv]

It wouldn't hurt anything to use a three wire hook up.You could try turning the plug 180 degress to see if that will help in the past it was done with some success with biting. Hope itworks for you be safe with the electricity.

[Mk42gunner]

Find the short and fix it. Electrical shorts do not get better on their own.

After that a grounded three wire cord would not hurt anything, as long as it is heavy enough.

Robert

[Freightman]

Fix it or become a statistic, never can tell how much of a shock will stop your heart.

[mazo kid]

In order for the pot to "bite", it has to be leaking hot to the metal some place.....PERIOD! Most likely through the heating element, or thermostat if it has one. How is the condition of the cord where it enters the pot? Sometimes the cord insulation will deteriorate there where it is not easily seen.

[Silverboolit]

We use immersion heaters at work. A bad element will shock through the liquid. Check the elements if you do not find anything else!

[bangerjim]

Are you casting barefoot on a wet floor? There should be no electrical path thru you if you are not barefoot or touching another metal object with your other hand! :Bright idea:

If you have a bare/worn wire touching the case, that is easy to fix....move it and insulate it.


If you are having electrical leakage thru the heating element itself, time to get a new element or pot! You cannot fix that yourself.

A quick test: Take a 40 watt (or less) standard 120v lightbulb and hook one lead wire to a good know ground (waterpipe or other ground). Touch the other lead to your pot case. If the bulb even faintly lights up............you have a BIG serious problem!!!!!! It ain't jes leakage anymore!


If you put on a new 3 prong conector and cord and hook the ground wire to the case as you should, you either blow your breaker or GFI. If you using this outside, you SHOULD ALWAYS be on a GFI protected circuit anyway.

Don't take chances with a "bite". That is not a sign of anything good! It is your life your talking about here.

You want to meet your maker................someday...............just not tomorrow!

bangerjim :2_high5:

[oneokie]

Another vote for a bad element.

[Jeff Michel]

My old Lyman shocked me until I changed the cotton insulated power cord. Was worn through and never knew it.

[shell70634]

Found an excellent how-to article on line about changing heating elements. This is now my new rebuild project. It should be a fun and interesting project.
Thanx for the comments.

[Iron Mike Golf]

I recently replaced mine, too.

[Dale in Louisiana]

I have an old SAECO pot that gives me an electrical shock when I touch it. It's never done that before. The lead melts just fine. The cord is a 2 wire. Would changing to a grounded 3 wire cord help? I removed the control cover and did not see any sign of the wires touching any part of the pot. I don't enjoy the bite. Any advice?

On an old two-wire pot, neither wire should go to ground. You have a leak. Adding a ground conductor will give the short a better path to ground than your body, but contrary to the old adage, electricity does NOT take the path of least resistance. It takes ALL the paths. Most of it will follow the ground wire, but you've now created a resistive voltage divider and YOU are one of the paths. It's not something I'd want to be my life on and I do this stuff for a living.

On an old pot, the most likely problem is a bad heater element, but you also want to carefully check the cord where it enters the pot as well as the thermostat and other wiring.

If you are familiar with a multimeter, you can do a quick check of the heater element to the case of the pot with the wiring disconnected and find out easily if the element is the problem. If you're not comfortable with a meter, hunt down somebody who is.

While you're replacing the element, you can upgrade your pot to a three-wire cord for safety in the future. The hot leg of the new cord goes to the thermostat, the neutral (white) goes to the other terminal of the heater, and the ground goes to a good case ground spot.

dale in Louisiana

[USMC87]

Electrical shorts are nothing to ignore, I'd fix it or set it aside .

[Idz]

Installing a GFCI device that plugs into your outlet will protect you in the future after you fix your pot. The electrical code requires all new outlets that are outdoors, basements, garages, and near sinks are the GFCI type.

[Dale in Louisiana]

Installing a GFCI device that plugs into your outlet will protect you in the future after you fix your pot. The electrical code requires all new outlets that are outdoors, basements, garages, and near sinks are the GFCI type.

Chances are pretty good that the GFCI would trip immediately on this pot when he touched it. without a ground conductor (green wire) there's not an alternative path to ground until he touches it. With the ground wire, part of the current goes out on the hot wire, part comes back on the neutral (white) wire, and the rest comes back on the ground (green) wire. If what goes out on the hot is different from what comes back on the white (because it goes to ground via the green wire or your tender carcass) by more than four to six milliamps ( 0.006 amps) then the device trips. A normal, healthy person can just barely feel that current level. The trip operation is instantaneous.

That ground wire thing is a good reason to have a knowledgeable person upgrade older equipment that does not have a ground conductor. If your equipment has a two-prong plug, it lacks a ground conductor.

There's more to this than that, but you get the idea.

dale in Louisiana
(who teaches this stuff for a living)

[Iron Mike Golf]

Found an excellent how-to article on line about changing heating elements. This is now my new rebuild project. It should be a fun and interesting project.
Thanx for the comments.

shell, get the 42 inch element. Also, get a tubing bender. Start in the middle so you get a loop on the bottom next to the spout. You won't be able to exactly duplicate the SAECO shape, because the bend radius you can make with the replacement element is not as tight as what SAECO did.

Get some copper tubing and practice forming the element. You need to be able to figure out where on the element to put the bending jig so you get the bend right where you want it. I tried forming by hand around a dowel and a bending jig gives you much more control and tighter bends. Copper tubing, being hollow and empty, is easier to bend, but less forgiving (it will collapse on you).

[gimling]

Sounds like you have a hot wire that's worn in your cable, I would check where it enters your melter open up your pot and check. Earth ground being hooked up wouldn't change the fact that your a faster path to ground, 90% of all house hookups are NOT isolated meaning neutral and earthground are landed together in your electrical box.