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Bimetallic Thermostats

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ChinaVoodoo

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I have had problems with three different plug and play temperature controllers. Two from Auber, and one other (GE?). I'm just running lightbulbs, well within the amperage rating so I don't understand the problem. I've decided they are just unreliable with the elements inside the shed, or outside in the weather, and the amount of time on duty.

I was looking at these:

https://www.digikey.com/en/ptm/c/cantherm/disc-bimetallic-thermostats

Couldn't you just connect one rated for each temperature you want next to each other, and set up some mechanical switches to easily choose the temperature you want? They're really inexpensive.
 

Jitterbugdude

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You could but... The one that cuts out at 120 something degress (F) has a tolerance of +/- 9 degrees. That's a pretty wide margin to have your tobacco somewhere between 130 and 110 degrees F. I've been using a Ranco thermostat for about 8 years. Has a long probe wire (2 feet maybe?) and maintains +/- 1 degree F.
 

deluxestogie

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Those appear to be similar to water heater thermostats, in design. Their duty cycle rating (100,000) is likely 10 to 20 years, which is typical of a water heater thermostat. But those are designed to be attached against the exterior of the heated water tank.

I've used water heater thermostats inside kilns, as well as mounted on the outside of the metal Cozy Can (used as either a kiln or flue-cure chamber). Those that were exposed to the high humidity of the interior of a kiln failed after a year or two, rather than the expected 10+ years.

The digital temp sensor on my endoskeletal kiln (I assume to be a thermistor) failed after two years, and required replacing. [tech details in that thread]

It appears to me that the problem is the high-humidity environment, which seems to fry temp sensors as well as digital humidity sensors.

Bob
 

Jack in NB

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I've had good success with the 240 v wall mounted electric heat thermostats (Honeywell and White Rogers). They do need the calibration tweaked to operate in the 120 - 130 degree range - a screw adjustment on the spring.

I tried water heater thermostats first, but they had a several degree spread between on and off - too far apart for my preference - while the electric heat units were perhaps 2 degrees between off/on.
 
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