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flanneltrees804 · 09-21-2012, 05:34 PM

Currently in the final stages of a Kal clone and wondering about the main power cord. The breaker box is the house and the brew rig is 45' away in a detached garage. What I want to do is hook the spa panel up inside the house with a dryer plug built in and build a 55' power cord with the dryer plug on one end and the nema on the other. Is this going to be too much resistance? Am I going to have big power loss over the 55'?

grandequeso · 09-21-2012, 07:31 PM

You're plenty fine. vd at 55' and 25 amps on #10awg is 3.4volts or 1.4%. (3% is max vd)

Francus · 10-01-2012, 03:33 PM

4 wire power cords are expensive over 10' in length everywhere I looked. I needed 20' and my solution was to buy 25' of 10awg wire, put the plug Kal recommends on on end and I got a 4 prong plug from eBay for the other. Even though the 4 prong was pricey, by the time you add the wire, prong, and Kal's plug it was still cheaper than getting a custom cord made. And so far it has worked fine. It's a bit stiff, though, as you might imagine, but no biggie. It works.

flanneltrees804 · 10-01-2012, 04:18 PM

I have a hookup at mcmaster and get the cable for less than $2 foot which is still pricey when u need 60' but it's a lot better than most places.

**DustBow** · 10-01-2012, 05:25 PM

be sure to check ebay, I just bought 50' 10-awg for about $55 shipped

rack04 · 10-01-2012, 10:09 PM

I think 10/4 sjoow power cable is only rated at 25 amps. You should really be looking at 8/4 soow power cable.

flanneltrees804 · 10-01-2012, 10:27 PM

I've seen 14/4 rated at 300v and 30amp per lead...

**Ravenshead** · 10-01-2012, 11:13 PM

I'm using 50' of 10 gage in a similar situation. Works great for one heating element at a time. I suspect it will work fine for two but haven't tried it yet.

flanneltrees804 · 10-01-2012, 11:35 PM

I'm only running one element at a time and I think it was 12/4, not 14/4 that I was thinking of.

Francus · 10-02-2012, 01:52 PM

I'm just running one element and 2 pumps max at a time. So far it's worked for me. I have a BCS and it is set up to kill the other element before starting a new element just to be on the safe side.