Side note: anyone think a dedicated "electrical" subforum makes sense in this equipment forum? Just thinkin.
So, I know this is going to opening a can of worms but that's fine. Let's go there.
Premise: The basic tenants of electrical safety say that the circuit breaker that feeds a circuit should trip before the wiring between that breaker and the load has a chance to overheat. Example, 26amp (planned) load on some 10/3 copper romex, should be fed off a 30amp breaker. If the actually load increases for some reason and it exceeds 30amps, the breaker trips so the romex doesn't burn up in the wall causing a fire. No argument there. It's even common sense. Branch circuits in a home wiring situation are typically dozens of feet long, if not even 100 feet and buried in the walls.
In practice: It seems like many electrical builds that involve a big control panel include a high amperage, large cable, main power connection. A lot of them are fed off a 4-wire, 50amp spa breaker panel. Of course none of the devices fed from the control panel represent a full 50 amp load so it involves branching. 30amp to each of potentially two 4500watt elements at a time and a little extra, couple amps, for pumps or whatever.
I see that a lot of builds include a rail and associated rail mount breakers for these branch circuits but it also adds over $100 to the build. Is everyone really that paranoid about overloading a 3 foot run of exposed cable that is used intermittently while its being supervised? Electrical codes are based on worst case scenario so let's talk about what that would be if two runs of 10/3 SJ are hard tapped off the 50amp main and run 3' to your vessel elements. I THINK in order for something bad to happen, the load on one of the branches would have to increase somehow to like 50 amps and hold there while the other branch was off. Even so, how long would that condition have to exist before the SJ cord self destructed? What exactly would cause a resistive load of typically 26 amps climb to only 40 or 50 amps and NOT a dead short? Of course, a short condition would trip the 50amp spa breaker before any of the branch wire was fried.
Am I talking out of my bung or are you following me? These aren't production breweries right, just a couple hours on the weekends.
Of course, this isn't advice so don't take it as advice. I'm just talking here.
So, I know this is going to opening a can of worms but that's fine. Let's go there.
Premise: The basic tenants of electrical safety say that the circuit breaker that feeds a circuit should trip before the wiring between that breaker and the load has a chance to overheat. Example, 26amp (planned) load on some 10/3 copper romex, should be fed off a 30amp breaker. If the actually load increases for some reason and it exceeds 30amps, the breaker trips so the romex doesn't burn up in the wall causing a fire. No argument there. It's even common sense. Branch circuits in a home wiring situation are typically dozens of feet long, if not even 100 feet and buried in the walls.
In practice: It seems like many electrical builds that involve a big control panel include a high amperage, large cable, main power connection. A lot of them are fed off a 4-wire, 50amp spa breaker panel. Of course none of the devices fed from the control panel represent a full 50 amp load so it involves branching. 30amp to each of potentially two 4500watt elements at a time and a little extra, couple amps, for pumps or whatever.
I see that a lot of builds include a rail and associated rail mount breakers for these branch circuits but it also adds over $100 to the build. Is everyone really that paranoid about overloading a 3 foot run of exposed cable that is used intermittently while its being supervised? Electrical codes are based on worst case scenario so let's talk about what that would be if two runs of 10/3 SJ are hard tapped off the 50amp main and run 3' to your vessel elements. I THINK in order for something bad to happen, the load on one of the branches would have to increase somehow to like 50 amps and hold there while the other branch was off. Even so, how long would that condition have to exist before the SJ cord self destructed? What exactly would cause a resistive load of typically 26 amps climb to only 40 or 50 amps and NOT a dead short? Of course, a short condition would trip the 50amp spa breaker before any of the branch wire was fried.
Am I talking out of my bung or are you following me? These aren't production breweries right, just a couple hours on the weekends.
Of course, this isn't advice so don't take it as advice. I'm just talking here.