How to check teng with a multimeter

Electric water heaters are widely used by modern people for solving household problems. Their main element, providing heating of water to the desired temperature, is a tubular electric heater (TEN). The wire spiral located inside the TEN has a high resistivity and heats up when an electric current passes through it, transferring heat to the body of the device through a heat-conducting filler. If a washing machine, electric kettle or other household appliance stops heating water, then the cause of the malfunction is most often the breakdown of the thermoelectric heater. In this article, we will talk about how to check the heating element with a multimeter to make sure it is faulty, or to establish that the problem is not in the heater.

Check features

Before checking the health of the heating element, it is necessary to calculate its resistance using the formula R = U²/ P. The letters in it mean:

• R is the resistance of the electric heater.
• U is the value of the supplied voltage.
• P is the power of the device, marked on its body.

Knowing the value of resistance is necessary in order to compare the results obtained during testing with it.

Having calculated it using the above formula, you can go directly to the diagnosis. Checking the heating element is performed in the following order:

• Disconnect the appliance cord from the power supply.
• Put the tester switch in the resistance range, in which the indicator obtained during the calculation is located.
• Apply the multimeter probes to the housing of the household appliance and, in turn, to the output contacts of the heater.
• Decipher the readings on the multimeter display. If the tester shows a resistance equal to that obtained in the calculations, the heating element is operational. The number "0" indicates the closure of the spiral located inside the element. The number "1" or infinity means that the spiral is broken.

The whole process in detail in the video:

Having finished testing, you should ring the heating element to find out if an electrical breakdown is going on to the body part.

This procedure is also performed with a multimeter in this way:

• Set the meter to buzzer mode with the regulator on the tester panel.
• Touch the probes to the body and, in turn, to all contacts of the electric heater.

If, when the probes touch the terminals, the device emits signals at a high frequency, this indicates that electricity "breaks through" to the case. It is impossible to touch such a device, if it is connected to the network, otherwise a strong electric shock is possible.

How to check the heating element of a water heater?

The boiler is checked for the serviceability of the electric heater in the same manner as described above. The only peculiarity of this procedure is that, in addition to the heating element, the thermostat also needs to be checked. The resistance value of serviceable heating elements of water heaters, depending on the brand of devices, can range from 0.37 to 0.71 MOhm.

As mentioned, after diagnosing the electric heater, you should check if there is a breakdown to the body part. We have already described how to ring the heating element with a multimeter: you need to set the meter to buzzer mode, and then, touching the contacts with the multimeter probes, listen to the signals that the device emits.

How is the heating element of the washing machine checked?

The most important difficulty when checking a washing machine heater is that it is quite difficult to find it - especially for many modern units, the internal structure of which is quite confusing.Most often, the heating element in washing machines is located near the back cover, just below the loading tank. However, in some models it is installed from the front, and in machines with top loading, electric heaters are often located on one of the sides.

Checking the heating element of the washing machine has another nuance - these heating elements are equipped with three outputs, and when checking, you need to connect to only two of them, and it is important not to confuse these contacts. Usually, the terminals to which you need to connect (zero and phase) are located at the edges, and between them there is a ground contact, which does not matter for verification.

Otherwise, the diagnosis of the heating element of the washing machine is carried out in accordance with the above instructions.

The resistance value of a serviceable electric heater of modern washing machines in most cases ranges from 25 to 60 ohms.

Checking the heating element of the electric kettle

The electric heater of these devices always has free access, and it is not difficult to find it. To check it, you must first calculate the resistance of the element using the formula. Then you need to set the measuring device to the minimum resistance mode, then attach the probes to the terminals of the heating element and see what data is reflected on the tester display. With a faulty heater, the value of the obtained resistance will differ markedly from the calculated one. If the multimeter shows "1" or infinity, the spiral is broken.

The presence of a short circuit can be said if the device produces the same indicators when one of its probes is applied to a metal pipe, and the other to a heating element.

In the following video, the process of checking the heating element of the electric kettle:

Conclusion

In this article, we figured out how to correctly check heating elements of various household appliances using a multimeter. Finally, it must be said that if a heating element is found to be malfunctioning due to a short circuit or a break in the spiral, it is possible to restore the operability of household appliances only by replacing the non-working element. The same must be done if the electric heater gives a breakdown to the device case, otherwise the operation of such a device may lead to electric shock.