Immersion heater 230V / 3 kW with thermostat 0-110 °C · 55 mm thread · for wax boilers

01 · WHAT IT IS

A heating tube with its thermostat

Three armoured steel tubes bent in a hairpin, threaded onto a flange and topped by a box with the temperature knob and a light: it screws into the bottom or the lower side of the boiler with its gasket, plugs into a 16 A Schuko with RCD and 2.5 mm² cable and heats whatever covers it. With 3 kW, 75 litres of wax from cold to 80 °C take in the order of two and a half hours, counting the heat of fusion and not counting losses: with the lid on and the boiler insulated, somewhat less.

02 · THE TEMPERATURE

The knob goes to 110; wax wants 75-85

Beeswax melts between 61 and 65 °C and is worked between 75 and 85: above that it starts to darken and lose aroma, and at 110 it is being spoiled even if it melts sooner. The thermostat cuts out and back in around the chosen point; it is not a switch: the element stays connected while the plug is in. For candles or cosmetics, 75 °C and pay attention.

03 · THE THREAD

55 mm per the supplier: measure before ordering

The supplier gives it as a 55 mm thread. Wax boilers take heaters of one and a half inches (47.8 mm outside diameter) or two inches (59.6): measure the outside diameter of the old heater’s thread or the inside of the boiler’s boss before ordering, because a thread that is not its own is not fixed with PTFE tape. If in doubt, write to us with the measurement and the boiler’s make.

04 · TWO USES

Spare, or a home-built bain-marie melter

As a spare, an hour’s work: drain, unscrew the burnt one, new gasket, screw in and prime. As part of a home-built melter, a 60-100 litre stainless tank with a bottom tap and a lid: the heater warms water in the outer tank and the wax goes in an inner vessel, in a bain-marie, which is how jacketed boilers heat (1626, 3063) and what avoids hot spots on the tube. For melting frames with steam, the boiler is a different one (2560, 1826).

05 · BEFORE YOU BUY

The heater is supplied with its thermostat box; gasket, cable and boiler come separately.

⚠ PRECAUTIONS

Never dry: the tube burns out in seconds if no liquid covers it. Starting from solid wax, hot water on top or a bain-marie. 30 mA RCD and earth; unplug when done, the knob regulates but does not cut off.