Hi Henry,

hbuchtel wrote:Does the thermostat physically contact the heating element base?

Yes, the part now encircled in the photo above is screwed into the rectangular opening of the metal rod...

The 90-97C range was measured in the water, right? What temperature range do you think that corresponds to at the thermostat? (microswitch)

Yes the temperature was measured in the water. My - hopefully educated - guess is that the entire rod (which is slightly bent in the middle) seems to act as thermostat, meaning that a temperature change leads to a slightly different angle at the lower part of the rod which activates the microswitch.

I wonder if or how I could measure the temperature range at the rod next to the microswitch (as that is what you want to know, right?). Though I am not sure that this would be a helpful information as I think that the different bending angle (at the axis) at different temperatures causes the rod to a) act as a thermostat and b) act as a lever for the microswitch....

Cheers

Walter