Heating Element Guidance

The following calculations give a guide to selecting an electrical resistance wire for your application

All information is given for guidance purposes only. For specific heating element or resistor design please consult a qualified electrical design engineer.

• Overview – heating element guidance and calculation
  An introduction to electrical resistance of flat and round wire, a calculation of element resistance and a temperature-resistance table for 80/20 NiCr.
  Also includes downloadable spreadsheet for guidelines
• Surface area loading
  Heating element for a variety of applications and a guide to the appliance, element type and suggested surface loading range
• Round wire heating elements
  A guide to calculations necessary for calculating element resistance for a variety of applications
• Coiled or spiral elements
  A table and diagrams allowing the user to locate the most suited round wire and diameter to form a close wound coil
• Flat wire heating elements
  Calculations and examples for flat wire elements
• Conversion factors
  Conversions between imperial and metric
• Ohms law
  An overview, diagram and calculation reminders