Posted Mon Aug 6, 2012, 8:13pm Subject: Variac Question
My father (a retired electrical engineer) has an old 7.5 amp variac. It's probably from the days when many things were still manufactured in America. It's not being used and it's no big deal if I burn it out. It also has a non-grounded plug and I can't remember if the behmor is 2 prong or 3 (I'm not home so I can't look).
My question is: should I use this variac? Is the worst case senario that the variac gets burned out? Is it almost a given that it will damage the variac? Thanks.
Prof Senior Member Joined: 10 Sep 2004 Posts: 631 Location: Seattle Expertise: Pro Roaster
Espresso: PV Lusso, Enrico of Italy Grinder: Pharos 696, Zass Drip: Brazen, Aeropress Roaster: Behmor, TO/SC, Poppery I
Posted Tue Aug 7, 2012, 7:12am Subject: Re: Variac Question
I think you need at least a 12A (maybe 15A) capable variac for the Behmor. I lost a couple 10A fuses on my Powerstat variac before I stopped using it with the Behmor. I have a plug to ignore the ground.
Posted Tue Aug 7, 2012, 11:14am Subject: Re: Variac Question
The Behmor pulls about 1650 watts at max (heater on full, afterburner on), which pretty well maxes out a 15 amp circuit. Average load over the course of a roast is somewhat less, but you need to have a Variac that can handle the max current draw, so, no, a 7.5 amp variable ac transformer will not work with a Behmor.
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