Problem solving help please

[CakeBoy]

Thanks GB, that is great and very clear as always, I feel comfortable about the way the element s setup now. We will start with a kill-a-watt shortly and report back

[lsjms]

Across the terminals + & - One probe tip on each element connecting strip - where the brown and blue wires go....

[CakeBoy]

Thanks

[lsjms]

Any joy?

[CakeBoy]

Sorry, trouble getting hold of a multimeter. It measures 40 Ohms and I think the element is rated 1.8kW but am trying to confirm that.

[bruceb]

Sorry, trouble getting hold of a multimeter. It measures 40 Ohms and I think the element is rated 1.8kW but am trying to confirm that.

40 Ohm/240V = 1440 Watts - It's in the right ballpark.

[CakeBoy]

Not the element then. This is a mystery.

[GreenBean]

Not the element then. This is a mystery.

This site lists the L'Anna element as 1960 Watts at 240 volts. This would equate to a resistance of about 29 Ohms if all three elements are OK or 44 Ohms if one element has failed.

If your L'Anna has the same heating element and the resistance reading is correct then it looks as though one of the three elements has failed. This would obviously not help the steaming sustainability but I would be surprised if it has an effect as marked as you describe.

[CakeBoy]

Thanks GB, that is interesting. Scott at HD is sending a new anti-vac tomorrow. I wonder if an element should be in the package. Shame our kill-a-watt was faulty in the end. How about we remove the plates from the three elements and connect them one at a time to the two wires to see if they heat?

[GreenBean]

... How about we remove the plates from the three elements and connect them one at a time to the two wires to see if they heat?

You could do that or disconnect them all and measure the resistance of each element separately. They should each measure about 88 Ohms. Once you have found two that read about 80 to 90 Ohms you can be certain that the remaining terminals are the last element if that is open circuit you know it has failed. If so a new element and gasket would have it sorted in no time.

[bruceb]

You can remove the jumpers between elements and then measure the resistance of the individual elements, or?

[CakeBoy]

Gentlemen, thank you all so very much. GB, you were spot on. We disconnected the positive side jumpers and measured each element both disconnected and each in turn with the live wire attached to the positive terminal. Indeed, both disconnected and live, two were 88 Ohms and the third registered no reading. So a new element it is. Thank you so much

[bruceb]

Good work. Now let's hope that get l'Anna back on her feet, so to speak.

As an aside, and for others on TMC, Amazon sells multimeters starting at about 6 GBP. For use in detecting problems in coffee machines these inexpensive digital meters are fully adequate. I have a couple of rather expensive Fluke meters I bought used from e-bay, but I keep an inexpensive one in my tool box just for these kinds of jobs. It makes life easier when something suddenly stops working. I mentioned Amazon because they are easiest to access and purchase from, often have free shipping and no questions asked returns, but similar meters are available from many sources.

[CakeBoy]

I second that, though a precautionary tale of stupidity. We had just such a meter, though it had never been used, it was there just in case of such an event. We also have a kill-a-watt. When it finally happened, the kill-a-watt turned out to have died since its last use a few years back and the multimeter was lost! Hence the delay whilst another was sourced

Also, it was quite clear we had no clue and I had forgotten all that I learned in school and college having never had call to use the knowledge since.

Thanks to everyone for their kindness. I shall be sticking to the anatomy of muffins from now on

[GreenBean]

Well done Cakey. I hope Anna is soon back in top form.

... I shall be sticking to the anatomy of muffins from now on

I will keep my fingers crossed that your muffin oven does not let you down then.