Capillary and Bi-Metal Style Thermostats
Control vs. Limit Switches
Some may say that Capillary and Bimetal Snap Disc style thermostats are old technologies. Many of today’s machines use a digital control and sensor to control the heating or cooling device, such as a chiller or heating element. We manufacture a digital switch too. When a machine needs higher reliability to operate, or cannot survive a digital control failure or power interruption, engineers will use something a more reliable such as a capillary or snap disc style thermostat switch. Give us a call for for more information or visit our online store to purchase.
Highly Reliable Thermostat Switches
These devices are based on physics and not an electrical scheme or chip set. In more critical heating and cooling applications multiple switches are involved, one being a control and the other being a limit switch. The control switch turns something on and off when a given temperature is reached. Simple examples being a fan when a desired temperature is reached on a wood stove moving the warm air until the temperature has cooled or a compressor to a chiller when your refrigerator gets too warm.
Highly Critical Limit Thermostat Switch
To prevent a critical scenario a second limit switch is also used. The limit is designed to interrupt the critical event so the machine can survive the critical scenario. A classic example is a hot water heater. One control switch will turn the heating elements, on and off, at a set temperature to maintain that temperature. A second limit thermostat switch also be used to prevent the heating element from going into a runaway condition overheating the systems and causing a critical event.
Capillary & Bi-Metal Style Always Operate
The capillary switches and bi-metal snap disc switches are based on physics, no matter what happens to the power being supplied the switch will operate because of the physical characteristics of the switch. The capillary switch is designed around a medium such as a fluid expanding or contracting as temperature changes and does not require any power to operate. The bi-metal snap disc uses the physics of expansion and contraction of metals to operate again without any power required. The bottom line is yes, they are older technology, but they are used in the design of modern products because they work.
To learn more about our thermostat switches, visit our website.
For more information about our thermostat switches take a look at our catalog, or contact our direct support at 715-831-6353.
