Controlling four 5500w heating elements on one PID

So obviously I am looking at something a bit large. I have a big brew kettle that will take four 5500w heating elements. The beer making aspect, I am not too worried about. What I know very little about is the electrical controlling of said elements.

For simplicity, let's just focus on the kettle and ignore the mash tun, etc. I know that I will need a 40 amp SSR/heat sink per element. I also plan on just using a simple PID.

What else do I need to hook it all up as simply as possible? Can they all just be hooked up in a series? Obviously I am not going to be doing the actual hooking up because I am an electrical newbie, but I want to buy everything I need.

Thanks for your help!

The auber syl-2352 can control 5 ssr's in parallel. From the ssr's you can control a contactor or a dpdt relay with a 120v coil.

notbrewmaster said:

I know that I will need a 40 amp SSR/heat sink per element. I also plan on just using a simple PID.

What else do I need to hook it all up as simply as possible? Can they all just be hooked up in a series? Obviously I am not going to be doing the actual hooking up because I am an electrical newbie, but I want to buy everything I need.

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1) 5500W / 240V = 22.9amps per element - 40amp SSR is a good idea.

2) You'll need at least four contactors like these to shut off the both hot leads of the 240V. Two of these would also work.

3) No - Cant hook them up in series and expect to get 5.5KW out of each of them. They have to be parallel to the line.

4) You'll need some sort of switch like this to turn the contactors on and off.

So you'll need 1) PID, 4) 40amp SSR's, 2-4 Contactors, a switch, and some wire at a minimum. Dont know if you could find a GFI that's rated at over 90 amps - but they're probably out there and not a bad idea to install also.

You may need a fifth SSR to actually use to power the trigger for the other SSRs for each element as the single SSR output may not ha e enough ampherage to power all the SSRs off the one lead.. unless you use the one mentioned above

atoughram said:

1) 5500W / 240V = 22.9amps per element - 40amp SSR is a good idea.

2) You'll need at least four contactors like these to shut off the both hot leads of the 240V. Two of these would also work.

3) No - Cant hook them up in series and expect to get 5.5KW out of each of them. They have to be parallel to the line.

4) You'll need some sort of switch like this to turn the contactors on and off.

So you'll need 1) PID, 4) 40amp SSR's, 2-4 Contactors, a switch, and some wire at a minimum. Dont know if you could find a GFI that's rated at over 90 amps - but they're probably out there and not a bad idea to install also.

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There's also the question of whether you'll be running four 30amp circuits out of a main panel on expensive GFCI breakers. You can do this on a pair of 50 amp circuits run through spa panel GFCIs.

Bobby_M said:

There's also the question of whether you'll be running four 30amp circuits out of a main panel on expensive GFCI breakers. You can do this on a pair of 50 amp circuits run through spa panel GFCIs.

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Yes - a pair of spa panels would work - and then put two elements on each panel.

One SSR consume something around 5-10mA on control circuit. So there is no problem to have 4 SSR to be connected to one PID. But four 5500Watt elements being run simultaneously will require arond 92 Amp circuitry. Do you have it available?

Brumateur said:

One SSR consume something around 5-10mA on control circuit. So there is no problem to have 4 SSR to be connected to one PID. But four 5500Watt elements being run simultaneously will require arond 92 Amp circuitry. Do you have it available?

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Ok, I remember some youtube videos of the cheap pids not being able to reliably drive an ssr and made a bad assumption here. perhaps those were actually intended to be set up as relay driven pids

If this is residential have an electrician install a 100amp sub pannel and upgrade your main panel.
A lot of houses have main panel designed for 100-150amps max.

I'd be pretty suspect that this was residential. Who's brewing 2BBL batches at home?

augiedoggy said:

Ok, I remember some youtube videos of the cheap pids not being able to reliably drive an ssr and made a bad assumption here. perhaps those were actually intended to be set up as relay driven pids

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You are right. There are lots of different PIDs and SSRs on a market. So there is no guarantee that any PID will work with any 4 SSRs.
One solution is to use extra 12V power supply and board like this - http://www.ebay.ca/itm/ULN2003AN-UL...Module-for-Arduino-AVR-AR-M-SMD-/181013746136

This way you can drive 10+ SSRs from any PID with SSR output.

Thanks guys for the valuable info. To answer one of the questions, this is going into some small little building out in the middle of nowhere that is zoned industrial to give me the opportunity to expand at later date to possibly sell my beer.

I havev a couple 110 gallon conicals to play with as well. I just need to figure out how to get it all hooked up. Brewing at 1/2 barrel batches at home is easy. This is a realm that I am somewhat confused about because even the simplest electrical setup is confusing to me.

Once I figure out to hook it up, I am sure that I can make beer with it. I just have to get to that point...

Ah, industrial building. Can't say without knowing the feed available to you and each element's voltage.

It is most likely one of those: 208/120 1ph, 208/120 3ph, 240/120 1ph, 240/120 3ph delta or 480 3ph.

Relays have almost zero loss, but they can't be used with all control algorithm.

Bobby_M said:

I'd be pretty suspect that this was residential. Who's brewing 2BBL batches at home?

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People who only want to brew once a year?

A word of advice to the OP...

Save yourself a lot of heating time and money...insulate the vessels!

subscribed. I had this very same question.