Are Peltiers indestructible??????

[Budzman]

What would happen if you left a 156 watt peltier on with no water cooling for a couple hours?????????
Just a thought, has anyone ever tried this.

[zoopa_man]

My favorite word to use when talking hot computers..........molten lava......I think that's what you will get when you leave a pelter on all by it's self. The hot side will get so hot that the cold side will be overtaken and also get hot. thus....molten lava

[Colin]

When it overheats the solder on the leads will melt.

[Clemson Physics Geek]

I work in a thermoelectric materials lab, and yes, if you let a thermoelectric module run "heat killed" for awhile they'll permanently die....don't know exactly why, I would imagine is is the result of leads shorting due to melting, but I can't promise that. I do know that they will occassionally die on their own accord. They're also not very strong mechanically.

[cjtune]

Clemson Physics Geek (Jul 08, 2001 10:52 p.m.):
I work in a thermoelectric materials lab, and yes, if you let a thermoelectric module run "heat killed" for awhile they'll permanently die....don't know exactly why, I would imagine is is the result of leads shorting due to melting, but I can't promise that. I do know that they will occassionally die on their own accord. They're also not very strong mechanically.

Yeah, the temp. gradient will get so large till the hot side reaches that of the solder melting point and the internal connections will get shorted out. They are also rather fragile and I've been to some of the TEC manufacturers' FAQs and they recommend NOT clamping too tightly or you'll crush the semiconductor material inside...

[dozier768]

i read that 150 lbs is about where you want the clamping force to be and also you can destroy a peltier in about 5 seconds with out somewhere for the heat to go