chocotaco
Well-Known Member
I have a 50-amp (presumably 240-volt but I will check when I get home) breaker in my box that was previously used for an above-ground hot tub. We had the hot tub removed when we bought the place because it was kind of a maintenance nightmare. When they removed the tub they left the electrical wires just kind of hanging out of the exterior wall wrapped in electrical tape (obviously they turned off the breaker as well).
I was thinking it would be cool to repurpose that run for outside electric brewing. Is that something that could be done? Which one of these would be easier:
1) Installing one (or two?) 220V outlets in a weatherproof gang box. Preferably I would use NEMA 6-20P outlet which is what the induction burner that I'm looking at using. I say "two?" because based on my rudimentary understanding of household electrical, it seems like I should be able to have two 20-amp outlets on a 50-amp breaker and as long as I'm at it I don't want to short-change myself.
2) Installing a box with four standard 120V GFI outlets (not sure how you would do that from a 240V circuit, but I'm up for it if it's DIY-able) for using a few smaller 120V heating elements - I would actually kind of prefer this as the elements would be cheaper than the induction burner (although less versatile)
3) I also have a natural gas pipe that goes outside. It's capped and I would have to remove the cap and install whatever valve I would need and buy a natural gas burner to work with it (I would probably go with the Blichmann burner with natural gas kit in this case). But the burner would probably be the same price as the induction burner I was looking at... safety and efficiency being the differentiators.
My question is this: are any of these things that I could do myself? Hiring someone to either install outlets or install a valve on the gas outlet would be expensive. If the electrical is as simple as wiring something up with wire nuts and screwing it into the wall then I could do that; to work with the gas outlet would probably take a visit from the gas company which I'm betting wouldn't be cheap (I don't have direct access to my gas meter as it's on my neighbor's property.)
Any thoughts would be appreciated; if I can safely work with the existing electrical than I would think that's the better option.
Thanks!
I was thinking it would be cool to repurpose that run for outside electric brewing. Is that something that could be done? Which one of these would be easier:
1) Installing one (or two?) 220V outlets in a weatherproof gang box. Preferably I would use NEMA 6-20P outlet which is what the induction burner that I'm looking at using. I say "two?" because based on my rudimentary understanding of household electrical, it seems like I should be able to have two 20-amp outlets on a 50-amp breaker and as long as I'm at it I don't want to short-change myself.
2) Installing a box with four standard 120V GFI outlets (not sure how you would do that from a 240V circuit, but I'm up for it if it's DIY-able) for using a few smaller 120V heating elements - I would actually kind of prefer this as the elements would be cheaper than the induction burner (although less versatile)
3) I also have a natural gas pipe that goes outside. It's capped and I would have to remove the cap and install whatever valve I would need and buy a natural gas burner to work with it (I would probably go with the Blichmann burner with natural gas kit in this case). But the burner would probably be the same price as the induction burner I was looking at... safety and efficiency being the differentiators.
My question is this: are any of these things that I could do myself? Hiring someone to either install outlets or install a valve on the gas outlet would be expensive. If the electrical is as simple as wiring something up with wire nuts and screwing it into the wall then I could do that; to work with the gas outlet would probably take a visit from the gas company which I'm betting wouldn't be cheap (I don't have direct access to my gas meter as it's on my neighbor's property.)
Any thoughts would be appreciated; if I can safely work with the existing electrical than I would think that's the better option.
Thanks!