At 05:50 PM 7/27/2013, neil n wrote:
>or put more clearly...
>
>if the wire gauges in question matched (or the substitute part used
>larger gauge wires) .....

Pat was talking about a heater blower which first of all is a lower
power device, though still substantial; but more important is not
going to let your beast overheat if you get the values wrong.

So there's nothing at all wrong with measuring the ohm and
operating-current values of the existing setup and from them figuring
out the necessary values and power rating of a replacement.  But you
have to do it intelligently.

As to wire size...you can make a wire almost infinitely small if you
also make it almost infinitely short.  And you can decide that you
are willing to run a wire hot, or make it from stainless steel and so
on.  Anything dissipating high power that you want to adapt for
another purpose has to be considered on its own original terms before
you can judge how it will fit into your design.  It's designed to get
hot...how far away from the terminals is it designed to get hot, and
how much heatsinking does it expect to get from its wires?

Yours,
David