Hi Scot,
You wrote:
Hey Jay..
The unit is rated for 22.5 amps current capacity, in other words it
will handle a current of 22.5 amps max thru it to the load it is
supplying. If you were to put a load on the variac that can draw more
than 23 amps, the Variac will overheat and smoke and eventually
die... most of the times, variac failure occurs where the wiper (
brush) is in contact with the windings, either the brush arcs out or
the windings melt and break.
In principle, this is definitely true. However, in reality, since
variacs are
typically rated very conservatively at a 100% duty cycle, I would ima-
gine that it would take a really looong time to cause a 22.5 amp "rated"
variac to fail by running 23 amps continuously through it. :^) It
certainly
should not fail running this current level through the relatively
short runs
of coil firing.