On Fri, 29 May 2009 23:19:09 GMT, "William R. Walsh"
m wrote:

(posting from a "real" news server this time, in hopes of attracting
more eyes!)

Not being able to find my noncontact thermometer, I can only guess.

After the coil has been running, and with the power *off*, I noticed
heat emanating from it. So I touched the coil body and found it was
nearly hot enough to make continued contact undesirable.

William

My suspicion is that they contactor has a short in the coil perhaps.
If it is too hot to maintain continued contact, then the rule of thumb
(sorry, bad pun...) is that it is too hot.