another oven question

[corybarta]

I just built an oven, its 6 feet tall, 3.5 feet wide and 2 foot deep. I am running two heating elements and have them wired together and have them on the bottom of the oven. How long should it take the oven to reach 400 degrees. or do I need to add more elements. thanks

[trsick]

Hey Corey:
I would say, your oven will come up to temp with the 2 elements. Just might take longer than you like. You mentioned they "were wired together"?? You mean both elements are controled by the same thermostat? That's ok. If you have the means to add addtional elements, you may find it is quicker to come to temp. thus cheaper in the long run to operate.
I have a 8' x 8' oven. It has 8 - 3100w elements controled by 2 seperate thermostats. When I first turn it on, all 8 elements come on. Once the oven temps rise to 350F, 4 elements shut down & 4 stay on to keep the oven constant at roughly 400F. Works great! It takes about 15 minutes to come to 400F, then about 15 minutes to cure. So I only have it one about 30 - 40 minutes a day.
Good Luck
Bob

[corybarta]

yes I am running them off of one thermostat. And I do have the option of running a third element. I am going to get one this week. I also am not running a fan, is it real important to run a fan. Also one of the elements is glowing red like it should and the other one is barely red. I think one of my elements may be bad. thanks for the help

[trsick]

Hi Corey:
Your second element may not be bad? Do you have it wired in a series (jumping from one element to the other)? I f so, you may want to change that. Although you can have 2 wired off the same thermostat, you must wire them each directly to the stat.
As for the fan... it helps make the heat more stable thru out the oven space (no hot or cold spots).
Good Luck
Bob

[corybarta]

I do have them directly off of the stat, not in a series. One element ( the bright one) is off of the top of a house oven (the broil one) the dim one is the bottom element. I am going to wire in one or two more elements and see if it gets hotter faster, it should work I am running them off of a 220, 50 amp breaker, What do you think. thanks

[trsick]

Hey Corey:
You can safely run 4 elements of 1 - 50 amp breeaker. Although the math say's they will draw roughly 12 amps each. I have been checking mine with a meter & never had any element draw more than 10 amps each. So 4 @ 10 amps will be 40 amps = 80% of a 50 amp breaker safe but thats al I would put on that breaker.
Good Luck!
Bob

[corybarta]

Thanks Bob I will give it a try. I will let you know how it works

[gourdhedd]

Corey:
I built an oven a little smaller than yours, 36CF, and I heat it with 4ea 3000 watt elements. It heats up to 450 in less than 10 minutes. You may need a little more wattage. I figure mine does well with 333watts per CF.

Take a look at it at www.powdercoatoven.4t.com

Gary