Hot pan test

[Julian]

Just so we're not double working, I made a start on the hot pan test page.  It's in draft and I'll try and get something posted in the next couple of days.

I've got Keith's videos but if anyone has other pic it would be helpful.

[Julian]

Page is complete if someone could spare some time to check it, that would be great.

[K.H]

Had a read and looks good to me 

[Tony]

Looks excellent, a lot of things I didn't know there (never done a HPT myself).

Deserves to be listed on the front page, if only we had a mechanism to automatically do that 

[Julian]

What a great idea ... we should work on a method to automate the main page!

[hifly]

hi guys just been looking at the wiki and its looking good,

The reason i had a look was the number of posts talking about pouring oil into a hot pan to do the hot pan test.

This was not the way it was done in the old days as its difficalt to monitor the temp of an empty pan and all that that wiping it with a oily cloth/tissue tells you is that its hotter then the smoke point not that its lower then the flash point.

The same result without the risks of hot oil spitting over somone or catching fire will be achived by pouring cold oil into a pan and warming to 100 Deg C, no smoking needed and no risk of spitting or fire. Most if not all of us will have a way of measuring the temp to keep it at safe levels. However this will be much less dramatic for those that like a risky life. The poping can start as low as 60 Deg C if the oil is very wet.

I think this is a clasic case of chinese wispers and a criptic name for the test and over time the original test has been changed.

I hope i've not trod on anyones toes

[Julian]

Hi Vince,

Great to have you on the wiki.

I don't do hot pan tests myself (although after today's fiasco batch, I think I need to in future!) so I spent much time researching many sites to see what the most common process was.  Heating the pan first seemed to be the most common and was consistent with Keith's videos.  That said, there's much sense in what you say from a safety point of view, although in mitigation the oil will have a considerable cooling effect on the pan as soon as it hits.

Perhaps the page should detail both methods, emphasising that the one you suggest is the safer of the two, especially for beginners.

There's no question of treading on toes, that's the whole idea of the wiki, it should be a communal effort and it's great to get some feed back.  Do you fancy making the changes to the page along those lines ... you have full editing rights?

Also, now you've jumped on board, I was thinking of having a bash at the PID page.  If I do would you mind vetting my efforts from an electrical safety point of view?