Brewery Wiring Diagram, I need your thoughts!

HarvInSTL · 03-27-2009, 05:57 PM

Ok, here is what I had a chance to sketch up this morning. I want to preface this by saying that I am not an electrician and I plan on having an electrician review my work before anything is turned on/plugged in or used.

The Neutral Bus, 3 pole distribution block, SPST's, DPST's and SSR's will all be housed in a junction box. The pumps and kettles will plug into the control box via L6-30 (elements) and L5-15 (pumps) twist lock receptacles and plugs. These are not in the diagram, but will be soon.

The control box will plug into the 14-50 receptacle via a 14-50 plug. And the 14-50 receptacle will be wired to the 50A GFCI breaker. I opted against separate breakers for the elements and 110 stuff because this will be connected less than 10 feet from my load center and the added cost didn't seem needed to save walking an extra 4 feet to kill power if needed. If anyone can provide a compelling argument against this I will more than consider it.

So far everything has been purchased except the junction box and the GFCI breaker. Still holding out to find a decent deal on those.

Thoughts?

**Gussymo** · 03-27-2009, 07:26 PM

Are youe using the Auber PID's?

**Gussymo** · 03-27-2009, 07:31 PM

The reason I asked if it was Auber is because I have mine powered with
120v. They may work on 220v. I'd have to look at the specs. If you use 120v to power the PID, you will need one hot and the neutral to the PID.

HarvInSTL · 03-27-2009, 07:37 PM

No, I am using the BCS-460. It arrived a few weeks ago, I've just been slacking on getting this ebrewery built. Since I sold my brutus rig, the heat is on to get this ebrewery up and running.

**Gussymo** · 03-27-2009, 07:55 PM

I see. That looks pretty slick. Good luck with that.

HarvInSTL · 03-29-2009, 06:50 PM

Any other thoughts?

tipicreeper · 03-29-2009, 08:56 PM

First off. Good luck with your build.
Next, you should add some down stream fusing to protect the wire gauge size and also the down stream componants.
For instance; appropiate sized fuses for each of your pumps and sized fuses for your heating elements. Essentially to protect against a catastophic failure. (a heating element was to burn out and fuse to ground or a pump winding was to fail) This will also allow you to drop wire gauge sizes in each of the branch circuits.
According to your diagram there is no branch fusing until the 50A breaker so the wire gauge size through out would be required to handle 50A before the jacket melts. That's some heavy gauge wire.
Also, I'm not seeing any controllers to control the SSR's. I would also fuse those with fast blow fuses.
Just my opinion,
If I can help in any way, please let me know.
Cheers
-David

**AiredAle** · 03-29-2009, 09:20 PM

Why are you controlling the pumps with SSRs? Why not simple on/off switches like you have ahead of the SSRs? Also, I don't see any component like a PID controller that will control the SSRs for the elements. Finally, the BK will need a controller that throttles the power down so you can control the rate of boil, but the HLT needs a controller that runs to a temperature. I'm guessing you know this already, but had to be the smarty pants and ask.

HarvInSTL · 03-29-2009, 10:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tipicreeper

First off. Good luck with your build.
Next, you should add some down stream fusing to protect the wire gauge size and also the down stream componants.
For instance; appropiate sized fuses for each of your pumps and sized fuses for your heating elements. Essentially to protect against a catastophic failure. (a heating element was to burn out and fuse to ground or a pump winding was to fail) This will also allow you to drop wire gauge sizes in each of the branch circuits.
According to your diagram there is no branch fusing until the 50A breaker so the wire gauge size through out would be required to handle 50A before the jacket melts. That's some heavy gauge wire.
Also, I'm not seeing any controllers to control the SSR's. I would also fuse those with fast blow fuses.
Just my opinion,
If I can help in any way, please let me know.
Cheers
-David

Good point, I forget about fusing after the 50A breaker. I'll rework this diagram this evening and repost.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AiredAle

Why are you controlling the pumps with SSRs? Why not simple on/off switches like you have ahead of the SSRs? Also, I don't see any component like a PID controller that will control the SSRs for the elements. Finally, the BK will need a controller that throttles the power down so you can control the rate of boil, but the HLT needs a controller that runs to a temperature. I'm guessing you know this already, but had to be the smarty pants and ask.

I won't be controlling the pumps. The BCS will be controlling the pumps via the SSR. I haven't added those to the diagram becuase I wanted to focus on the power aspect first.

I honestly don't need the SPST for the pumps. The DPST are so that I can break both legs to the elements. Compared to the SSR only breaking a single leg to the element. I want the ability to shut off all power to elements at any point, but truly those DPST switches will only be used twice a brew day.

The BCS will control the BK as well.

IrishBeerBaron · 03-30-2009, 01:58 AM

Just this morning, I drew up pretty much this exact same diagram for my system ( including the BCS ).

I too had not fused downstream, but now plan to do so. Are you planning on using a bunch of fuse blocks or do inline fuse holders exist for the 30A lines? If so, anyone have an online source handy?