Help troubleshooting

[armychix]

Hey everyone, new here and need some help...

My mother has an old 1200 series model incubator that has run well for decades. Recently it stopped heating and while I was on leave from active duty military service she asked me to take a look at it to see if I could get it running again.

All the electrical components are sound, or they were… a mouse found a home beside the blower unit and chewed through the wire leading to the lower heater element contact. I replaced that wire and using a multimeter I am able to measure both continuity and appropriate voltage but its still not heating. When I disconnect the heating element and ran the unit, the pilot light on the right side of the cabinet turns on, however when the heating element is installed, the pilot light will not come on. do you have any suggestions as to what be causing the unit to not heat? The only thing I can think of is it needs a new heater coil... but I'm getting 0 resistance on it, so I'm not sure why it won't heat up with the coil on. It when it's removed, the units pilot light comes on like it's trying to heat up.

The attenuator on the thermostat is working accurately when I measure it also

 

[armychix]

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[armychix]

 

[armychix]

 

[Tabasco Jack]

I don't have a GQF cabinet but I'll try to help you out here. If you go to http://www.gqfmfg.com/cabinet-instructions you can find a little information that might help you. In particular, there is a wiring diagram for the 1202 incubator. It's a hand drawn schematic that doesn't show polarity.

Anyway, in this photo, where does the black wire from the light go? If it is connected to the positive incoming wires, that could be your problem.

In my antique cabinet, the power comes in, goes through a master on-off switch, goes to the 2 thermostats that are in series, then splits as it goes to the heating element and the pilot light.

Hope this helps. Shoot me a PM if you got more questions.