William R. Walsh wrote:

Hi!

Then don't worry about it, if it's only getting warm, rather
than hot.

That's the thing. The outer surface of the coil does get hot after
it's been on for a while. It's too hot to stand touching it for more
than a few seconds. (It isn't so hot that you immediately pull
back--there is more than enough time to think "gee, this is somewhat
hot".)

On the other hand, it has been running trouble free for some time now,
and I can't find any evidence from the original unit it was in, that
the power was in any way limited to the relay, such as by a resistor.

William

Its quite possibly normal for the coil to get quite hot ! AC contactors
have a shorting loop on them to stop the armature chattering due to the
alternating flux. If it bothers you that much reduce the voltage
across the coil a little. Just make sure that it pulls in solidly if
you do.

--
Best Regards:
Baron.