Quote:
Originally Posted by nota
I think you got it NAILED
I filed down the big prong plug to flip it
and now get no volts when off [unfliped it was 118 volts when off]
and get no volts on the frame in convection mode running
but 70 volts running on the broiler mode [unfliped it was 40 volts]
really do NOT UNDERSTAND this as I thought A/C went both ways  |
Dunno about US, this is how it works in EU:
One of wires is PHASE (brown), other is NULL (blue).
If equipment is earthed, the wire is YELLOW/GREEN.
NULL is connected to earth inside the fuse box.
Heater element is a hollow metal tube with resistive wire inside it. The wire (which is connected to AC and heated) is isolated from the tube.
In your case, heater wire shorted out to tube (and thus, chassis) roughly 30% from NULL (or PHASE, depending on how you flip your plug). If you connect the phase to heater terminal nearest the fault, you get 40V. Other way around, you get 70V.
If your equipment was grounded, a short to ground would draw 3X the current and blow your fuse (or flip the Ground Fault Switch, if you have one).
Is it's not grounded, you get a percentage of 110V on chassis, depending on where it shorted out. It all becomes a giant potentiometer.
Anyway, this is all academic. I strongly recommend discarding this equipment or disconnecting it and changing the heater. Even then, using unearthed equipment with metal chassis is questionable at best.
You were lucky as you use 110V and it shorted somewhere in-between, giving you non-lethal shock.