Conformity - November 2008 - (Page 45) pass or fail indication. It is very similar to a hipot tester. It is important to review CSA requirements, specifically CSA 22.2 No. 0.4, Bonding of Electrical Equipment, for production and compliance tests for bonding conductors. Pellet Stoves Pellet stoves have become a popular alternative for supplementary residential heat. A pellet stove is an appliance that burns compressed wood or biomass pellets to create a source of heat for residential rooms or for entire buildings. By slowly feeding fuel from a hopper into a burn-pot area, pellet stoves create a constant flame that requires little to no physical adjustments. Pellets are made from compacted sawdust, wood chips, bark, agricultural crop waste, waste paper, and other organic materials. Some models can also burn nutshells, corn kernels, sunflower seeds, cherry pits and small wood chips. Pellet stoves are more convenient to operate and have much higher combustion and heating efficiencies than ordinary wood stoves or fireplaces. As a consequence, they produce very little air pollution. In fact, pellet stoves are the cleanest of solid fuel-burning residential heating appliances, with combustion efficiencies of 78%–85%. The heating industry has considerably shifted toward biomass stoves and heating devices based on efficient combustible and renewable resources. The first pellet stoves were developed in the late 1970s and early 1980s and, with the prices now soaring over $4.00/gallon for fuel oil, pellet stoves are a popular alternative. Companies such as Maine Energy Systems hope to convert 10% of households in the state of Maine to wood pellet heat during the 2008-2009 heating season. Pellet stoves do require electricity to operate and, under normal usage, they consume about 100 kilowatt-hours (kWh) or about $9 worth of electricity per month. As they operate from electricity, they are required to meet the UL 1482 safety standard. Electrical Safety Testing for Pellet Stoves UL 1482 5th Ed., Solid-Fuel Type Room Heaters, was updated in February 1996. This standard covers room heaters that have a freestanding fire chamber, and which are radiant or circulating, including freestanding wood stoves, fireplace inserts, and pellet stoves. The Canadian standard covering these products is ULC 5627. Electrical safety testing called out in UL 1482 includes Dielectric Withstand testing, Bonding Joint testing, and Bonding Conductor testing. Manufacturing and production tests require Dielectric Withstand testing be performed on every stove. Dielectric Withstand testing outlined in the standard requires hipot testing at 60Hz for one minute between live parts (mains) and dead metal parts, and between live parts of high http://www.atecorp.com http://www.atecorp.com
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.