Product Overview
The Small Calibrated Part That Decides When a Motor Starter Trips
Condition
Condition is New, and the photographed piece is representative of our stock. The photos show a gold-tone metal plate with a bright serpentine element strung across it, a green molded block on one end embossed H5.75A, and the General Electric monogram embossed into the opposite face. The plate carries a mottled, uneven tone across both faces. The mounting holes and the terminal slots are clean, with no scorching and no installation marks visible in these photos. Both flat faces are shown, so anything carried on an edge is simply not visible here. Sold each.
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Product Overview
This is a General Electric thermal overload heater element, marked H5.75A on its green molded end block, of the type that drops into the heater pocket of a motor starter's overload relay. Inside the relay it is the calibrated part: line current passes through the bright serpentine element you can see spanning the plate, the element turns that current into heat in proportion to what the motor is pulling, and the relay's thermal mechanism uses that heat to decide when to open the control circuit and drop the starter out. The heater does not interrupt the motor current itself the way a fuse does; the relay's contacts do that job, which is why a correctly matched heater is a wear part only in the sense that it has to match the motor it protects. Against the engineer scale in the photos the body measures approximately 1-1/2 inches long, about 7/8 inch across, and roughly 1/3 inch thick, with two mounting holes through the plate and the GE monogram embossed on the reverse face. Heater elements are chosen from the manufacturer's heater table for one specific relay and one specific motor full-load current, so treat H5.75A as an exact catalog number to match rather than a trip current to infer. Not confirmed against a GE heater table here - verify the number against the table for your starter before use. Sold each, and the photographed unit is representative of our stock.
Key Features
- Marked H5.75A, embossed into the green molded end block and clearly legible in the photos
- General Electric monogram embossed into the flat plate on the reverse face
- Bright serpentine element mounted across a gold-tone metal plate, with two mounting holes through the plate
- Approximately 1-1/2 inches long, about 7/8 inch across, and roughly 1/3 inch thick against the engineer scale in the photos
- Condition New, sold each, with the photographed piece representative of our stock
- Trip current and relay compatibility: not confirmed - verify the H5.75A number against the GE heater selection table for your starter before use
Applications
- A maintenance electrician rebuilding a GE motor starter after a motor swap, matching the heater number the panel schedule calls out instead of guessing at a substitute.
- A plant that keeps a small crib of heater elements on the shelf so a tripped starter can be back in service the same shift rather than waiting on a distributor.
- A machine tool restorer returning an original GE control panel to its correct configuration instead of ripping the starter out for a modern solid-state overload.
- A panel builder finishing a legacy retrofit who needs one specific heater number to complete a relay, not a mixed bag of forty.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the H5.75A marking mean?
It is the heater's catalog designation, embossed into the green molded end block and readable in the photos. Do not read it as a trip current. Overload heaters are selected from the manufacturer's heater table using the relay model and the motor's full-load amps, and the designation is how you find the right row in that table. We have not confirmed this piece against a GE heater table, so check it against the table for your starter before use.
Will this heater fit my overload relay?
Heater elements are relay-specific, so the answer comes from GE's heater data for your starter rather than from us. What we can give you is the physical evidence: the number embossed on the end block, the GE monogram on the plate, two mounting holes through the plate, and an overall body of approximately 1-1/2 inches by about 7/8 inch by roughly 1/3 inch against the scale. Compare that to the heater pocket you are filling.
Does the heater open the circuit when the motor overloads?
Not by itself. The heater converts motor current into heat; the relay's thermal mechanism responds to that heat and opens the control circuit, which drops the contactor and stops the motor. The heater is the sensing element, not the switch, which is why replacing it is about matching the number rather than replacing something that burned out.
How many do I get, and is the one in the photos the one I get?
You get one heater element per unit ordered. Stock here is more than one, so the photographed piece is representative of what we have rather than a promise about which individual unit ships. The markings and dimensions described above are what the camera confirmed on the piece in front of it.
Why buy this one heater instead of chasing a surplus lot of assorted heaters?
Because a heater element is only useful when it is the exact number your relay and motor call for, and an assorted lot is thirty-nine wrong numbers and one maybe. Here the number is embossed on the part, photographed, and readable before you spend anything, with the GE monogram on the back to say who made it. You are buying an identified piece instead of buying a sorting job. Shipping is $8 flat rate, free once your order passes $28, and orders leave our Idaho warehouse the same or next business day.
A heater element is the one part in a motor starter that is supposed to get warm on purpose, sized so the motor's worst day never becomes its last. If your GE relay calls for H5.75A, this is the small piece that puts the protection back exactly where the nameplate wanted it.
