Hesting Element questions

I did not see anywhere where this was answered. If it was please point me in the right direction.

I was looking into building a small BIAB setup with a heater element and PID/SSR to control the temperature. Small setup would be nice as I live in a small apartment.

In the apartment I live in I have no access to my circuit breakers, so I don't know how to judge the amperage of any of my sockets. So mny first question is, how can I tell/ is there a way?

My next question is, if i can't tell if I have 20a in my kitchen I should assume I don't have it, is it safe to assume I have 15a? If so will a 1500W heater work?(3.5 gallon final batch size.)

Thanks for any help you guys can give.

Most of your circuits should be at least 15 amps. As long as you use a 1500W element you should be safe, I just wouldn't use any other high amperage appliances (like a microwave) at the same time since you don't know your circuits.

Do you have an electric dryer in you apartment? If so there could be a 220 source. You would have to mess with plugging and unplugging the dryer when you brewed plus run an extension cord to the kitchen though.

Nope, no dryer. Maybe I can ask the landlord in some way where they dont ask what the heck I'm doing.

Electric stove???

Are you 100% sure you don't have access to your breaker pannel? Is this an apartment complex or an apartment off of a house or something? How do they expect you to reset your circuit if you happen to trip the breaker?

If you really don't have access to it I would just ask them to show you where it is so you "know in case" type of a thing. Then take a look and see what your kitchen breaker is, I would guess 20amp but you won't know until you look at it.

I'm in a large apartment complex. If power goes out they have a person on call for emergencies and such. And no, I have a gas stove.

Guess42 said:

I'm in a large apartment complex. If power goes out they have a person on call for emergencies and such. And no, I have a gas stove.

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Still sounds weird. I couldn't imagine having to call someone if I tripped a breaker.

Do you have a dedicated outlet for a microwave? Generally speaking, this "should be" on its own circuit, and "should be" a 20a circuit.