I fixed my Lead Pot!

Jeff H

NW Ohio
I have not made it all the way through the video, but I want to say that posts like this are inspiring. The automatic knee-jerk reaction to toss something and buy new is so prevalent today, that it's refreshing to see folks here FIX things. A couple summers ago, my 34 year-old micro-wave took a dump on me and I ordered $20 worth of parts from eBay to fix it. People actually made fun of me! Feeling not hurt at all, but dismayed at the attitudes.

The look on your face "30 minutes later" was priceless, whether it was genuine or just good acting, it looked like I've felt numerous times myself.
 

Snakeoil

Well-Known Member
CW, if you have a multimeter, you could have checked the heating coil for continuity. If the coil was broken, it would open circuit. You could also check the rheostat controller to see if you get variable resistance as you turn the knob. That would indicate that it is working. If you have continuity on the element and the controller works, then you can feel assured that the bad contact at the element terminals was your issue.

Another thing that could have been done is put the meter on the controller leads to the element and set the meter on volts. Then plug it in and vary the controller and watch the volts vary.
 

Tomme boy

Well-Known Member
Be careful of hose spade terminals. After so many times of heating up and down they get annealed and turn dead soft. And the replacement type you can buy from most places are not very good steel so they are worthless. You need a high heat resistant type. They are not cheap. Or maybe a stainless steel version.

I am out of the ones i had from my last job that we used on induction heaters. They were the high heat version. Regular spade terminals would have to be replaced after a week if someone used the wrong type. They would usually burn up the SCR'S and then they had to be replaced also.