Weep Mizer Sensor...

[Twodose]

Anyone ever bugged together the wire on a weep mizer sensor?

I am in the process of remodeling and want to add a second sensor.

It?s a belly crawl in a very tight space in the attic to reach the wires where they go into the Weep Mizer.

I would like to run a #18 stranded 4 wire to a box in a central location between the two sensors with easy access.

I Called Dixmor and they suggested not to do this because of the possibility of a short.

 

[Jeff_L]

I'm not sure what the term "bugged" means, but I'm assuming you're talking about splicing the two sensors together at a common point, then running the wire back to your WeepMizer? If so, I didn't see anything in their documentation which stated this could be done. I don't think the sensors have any type of address scheme on them.

At one of my washes I use two sensors on the same WeepMizer (I believe you can go up to three, and it takes the lowest value of them) and each one has a cable from it all the way back to the sensor. I put one on the north side of the building and the east side of the building.

 

[Twodose]

I Called Dixmor and they suggested not to do this because of the possibility of a short.

By "bugged" I mean to run the sensor wires to a junction box, then run an 18/4 wire from the weep mizer to the junction box and using wire nuts "bug" them together. The sensors will be separated at the Weep Mizer.

The idea would be to have the jct box in a more accessible location so that if either sensor has to be replaced it would be easy to get to.

The 18/4 wire would never have to be replaced to the weep mizer, only from the sensor to the jct box.

I have always run the wire from the sensor to the weep mizer with no breaks in the wire, but it's in an area that is very hard to get to.

I called dixmor and they recommended not doing it like that because of the possibility of a short.

 

[Jeff_L]

My wife says I bug her, didn't know she knew about electrical wiring.

 

[pitzerwm]

Sounds like that should work.

 

[Twodose]

I know it will work... Called Dixmor again, talked to Nick...His reasons not to "bug, splice or junction" the sensor wires were, possibility of a false reading caused by a short.

I guess a short could happen in any junction box, anytime with low or high voltage, in commercial or residential wiring.

 

[Ghetto Wash]

I am assuming the temperature probe on the weep mizer is a thermocouple. Thermocouples are very susceptable to resistance changes in the lead wires. Any small deviation in the resistance will cause a false reading. Of the thermocouples that I've been around in industry, common practice is to not splice the wires to avoid false readings.

 

[Randy]

What you want to do is not recommended. The Weep mizer temperature probe is indeed a thermocouple that measures resistance. Any time you cut and splice the sensor cable or ?bug? (never heard that before) you increase the resistance of the cable and you will get a false reading. Dixmor recommends that a temperature probe wire not be longer than 100?, longer than that and the resistance gets to high and you run the risk of getting false readings.

My crawl space in the attic of my wash is pretty small so when ever I need to get back in there I get one of my little nephews to belly crawl back in there, they love it.

 

[Twodose]

So if I used two sensors, one is 4' in length, the other is 90' in length. The longer run would have more resistance thus giving it an incorrect or different reading from the sensor with the shorter run.

So if the sensor was calibrated with a 50' cable and you shorten the cable the resistance should change giving a different or incorrect reading from the way it was calibrated.

If you use one sensor it wouldn't make a difference because there would be nothing to compare it to and you would rely on the original calibration, if two sensors are used unless you keep the runs the same length, one is going to give an incorrect reading.

So it would make sense that if you use two sensors 50 ft. long, don?t cut either because this is probably the length they were calibrated at.

But if you splice a cable, and it changes the resistance, does the change in resistance vary, or stay the same, I think it would stay the same. Or are you saying the splice will create consistent variations in resistance?

I have to try this. Changing the resistance may give an incorrect reading, but if you recalibrate with the resistance change it should give an accurate reading.

THE BEST WAY TO CHECK THE SENSOR IS TO PACK IT IN SNOW OR CRUSHED
ICE FOR 15 MINUTES. AFTER THIS TIME YOU SHOULD GET A READING OF 32 OR 33
DEGREES. IF IT IS NO MORE THAN 5 DEGREES OFF YOU CAN CALIBRATE THE SENSOR
BY TURNINGTHE TINY SCREW EMBEDDED IN THE SILICONE ON BACK OF SENSOR.

TURNING THE SCREW CLOCKWISE 1 COMPLETE TURN SHOULD LOWER THE READING
APPROXIMATELY 2 DEGREES, AND OF COURSE COUNTERCLOCKWISE SHOULD RAISE
THE READING.

THE SENSOR AND THE CONTROL BOX ARE BOTH CALIBRATED
ELECTRONICALLY WHEN THEY ARE BUILT BUT SOMETIMES AN ELECTRONIC
COMPONENT CAN CHANGE CHARACTERISTICS AFTER BEING IN USE FOR A SHORT
PERIOD OF TIME. IF ADJUSTING THE SENSOR DOES NOT CURE THE PROBLEM YOU
WILL HAVE TO RETURN THE COMPLETE UNIT TO HAVE IT RECALIBRATED.

 

[Twodose]

What you want to do is not recommended. The Weep mizer temperature probe is indeed a thermocouple that measures resistance. .

According to Nick at Dixmore the sensor is not a thermocouple.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

I don't know much about resistance or the like. What I do know is that Nick @ Dixmor knows their products inside and out.

My .02

 

[Rudy]

FWIW, I've had sensor leads break over the years. The best repair involves soldering them after a good and complete mechanical "twisting". Put heat shrink tubing over each individual wire, and also over the complete repair area (total of 3 pieces). Never had a problem. The only problem I had was trying to use wire nuts.

 

[Twodose]

Thanks for the replies guys!

Talked to Nick again today he said that when using 2 sensors it doesn't matter if one is longer than the other.

Interesting.