It's an old subject for this "TGID" Newsletter, but it certainly is critical to life of the heater. A cartridge heater transfers heat to a heat sink as discussed last week. It is accomplished in two ways ... radiantly or through conduction (intimate contact with the bore). And the Watt-Flex® cartridge heater has a tremendous advantage over conventional, solid tube heaters.

The critical issue in achieving the far more efficient conduction heating is "fit". Fit is the difference between the O.D. of the heater and the I.D. of the bore. A good, tight fit will insure effective heat transfer ... unfortunately it will almost insure bore seizure with a conventional solid tube cartridge. If the fit is loosened up a bit to assist with eventual removal, greater radiant heating will decrease heat transfer effectiveness.

The Watt-Flex® cartridge heater (above on the right) is inserted into the bore and expands to affect greater surface conduction, double that of a conventional heater. Better conduction of the heat allows the heater to run cooler to maintain the set point temperature: Longer Life !!!

Friday Funnies

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests coffee, the old professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee. When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones."

"While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups ... and then you began eyeing each other's cups."

"Now consider this: Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of life we live. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us."

"God brews the coffee, not the cups...... Enjoy your coffee! The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything. Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly."