best way to ground?

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tkone

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so i finally got the holes drilled and the element wired and capped off and sealed and i know i need to ground it to the pot, but what's the best way to do this?

ideally i'd like to be able to still remove the element easily but am up for anything. was thinking just to jb weld it to the side, but i thought that might look a little ugly.

should i just drill another hole and use some stainless steel machine screws and very small o-rings?

here's a pic if you want something visual. i still need to sand down the excess jb weld. maybe. or i just want to start a-brewin'

element_ground.jpg


oh, and awesomely? no leaks. not a single flippin' drip out of any of the ports. and the copper dip tube just arrived...

i might even be able to break this bad boy in this weekend.
 
Yea, I guess you have no choice but to use a small machine screw and an O-rig. A couple washers.

Looks like you have a pot and not a keg, right?
 
Kind of. I asked where to ground, now I want to know the best way to actually attach it.

I've been searching the forum for pictures but I cant' see a decent shot. I could JB Weld it (which would be the easiest) but I'd like something a little more elegant.

Hence the forum. Where you're all a bunch of classy m'fers.
 
Kind of. I asked where to ground, now I want to know the best way to actually attach it.

I've been searching the forum for pictures but I cant' see a decent shot. I could JB Weld it (which would be the easiest) but I'd like something a little more elegant.

Hence the forum. Where you're all a bunch of classy m'fers.

Longer ground wire and to the handle.
 
Kind of. I asked where to ground, now I want to know the best way to actually attach it.

I've been searching the forum for pictures but I cant' see a decent shot. I could JB Weld it (which would be the easiest) but I'd like something a little more elegant.

Hence the forum. Where you're all a bunch of classy m'fers.


JB weld is not conductive right?
 
If its is feasible, how about welding a nut to it so you can put a screw to that connector instead of just welding that wire permanently!
 
direct from jb welds site.

Q: Will J-B Weld conduct electricity?
A: No. J-B Weld is not considered to be a conductor. It is an insulator.


http://www.jbweld.net/faq.php#faq009


If you use jb weld to secure either the wire or a screw/bolt you will not get a ground connection.
 
Personally, I wouldn't be comforable using JB Weld to glue the ground to the kettle.

I am using an outdoor electrical box instead of the epoxy method so I will have a ground stud.

I saw someone on HBT took a sheet of copper and put a hole in it and then sandwiched it between the kettle and the element like a washer. They left a "tab" of copper and soldered their ground it.

Good luck.
 
I have no experience with grounding a kettle but I do have some experience with grounding electrical devices...

Wouldnt grounding the element to the kettle do nothing if the kettle was not also grounded? I would ground them both (element and kettle) to a ground bus that is tied in with your ground for your power source...
 
I have no experience with grounding a kettle but I do have some experience with grounding electrical devices...

Wouldnt grounding the element to the kettle do nothing if the kettle was not also grounded? I would ground them both (element and kettle) to a ground bus that is tied in with your ground for your power source...

If the insulator on the element itself some how cracks or exposes the conductor in the element to the wort, the pot will be exposed to voltage. With out it being grounded it will float until something or some one touches it. If the kettle was grounded it would pop a breaker or gfci because the current has an alternate path.

A couple of options. You could drill and tap the base of the element on the outside to insert a ground screw. It would have to be pretty shallow and probably not the best way to do it, better than JB weld though.

You could do the copper tab as suggested earlier.

Drill a hole toward the upper lip of the pot and run a stainless bolt through there with an O-ring. I wouldn't put it right above the element though. If you do it at the bottom you have to get a seal good enough to resist the head pressure of the liquid in the pot.

Best option would be to weld or braze a flat head screw face down onto the pot, giving you a mounting point.
 
thanks for all the awesome advice i think the copper thing will be the easiest as of now.

So if I have that copper ring sandwiched between the element and the kettle and attach the ground to that copper tab that should do it?

can i put an oring between the element and the sheet of copper so its:

ELEMENT:ORING:COPPER:pOT:ORING:LOCKNUT
 
thanks for all the awesome advice i think the copper thing will be the easiest as of now.

So if I have that copper ring sandwiched between the element and the kettle and attach the ground to that copper tab that should do it?

can i put an oring between the element and the sheet of copper so its:

ELEMENT:ORING:COPPER:pOT:ORING:LOCKNUT

An o-ring on both sides of the copper, pretty much insulates it and prevents it from doing what it is intended to do.

I would look at the possibility of using one o-ring... you really need the copper in contact with the metal element base AND the kettle... if you have to pick one, I'd make sure you have good contact with the kettle.

You may fight with leaks between the copper and the kettle, but I would try it.

Another sort of obstacle you are facing is that the teflon tape you put on the element threads will, to some extent, also act as an insulator. When you tighten the nut, it may cut the teflon and "bond" the metal base to the kettle, but you should try to confirm that.

Sorry, I don't have a good answer for you which is why I'm not really a fan of mounting an element like this. But then hey, a lot of people have done it this way and as far as I know, no one has died... yet.;)

Ed

Just occured to me... You might also try just using an o-ring on the inside of the kettle. Test for leaks before you plug it in.
 
An o-ring on both sides of the copper, pretty much insulates it and prevents it from doing what it is intended to do.

I would look at the possibility of using one o-ring... you really need the copper in contact with the metal element base AND the kettle... if you have to pick one, I'd make sure you have good contact with the kettle.

Got it. I'm pretty sure BOTH orings are overkill.



Another sort of obstacle you are facing is that the teflon tape you put on the element threads will, to some extent, also act as an insulator. When you tighten the nut, it may cut the teflon and "bond" the metal base to the kettle, but you should try to confirm that.

No teflon near the element. Only on the thermometer and the ball valve. The element hole was made better so it seals better with the orings.


Just occured to me... You might also try just using an o-ring on the inside of the kettle. Test for leaks before you plug it in.

That's exactly what I was thinking. I had two orings, but one may suffice.

To test for ground with a multimeter what would I want to see?

Thanks for all the help everyone!
 
If you put the copper o-ring on the kettle and then the element it will most likely leak; it did for me. I JB-welded the copper o-ring to the top side of the element ring and then soldered the ground wire to the copper o-ring. Certainly not to code, but it works for me and I have a bunch of GFCI plugs and switches in the middle of it all before it gets to a plug.
 
In my response I thought you had both o-ring on the outside of the kettle... after re-reading your post I see you are planning one on the inside already... so that's cool.

There should be no resistance between the ground / element base / kettle. And I would make sure it is a physically solid connection too.

Have you water tested without taping the threads? I think water will often "chase" the threads and leak, but maybe the straight cut threads takes care of that?

Ed
 
yeah i water tested without teflon -- the thermo and ball valve leaked, but the element didn't. so wrapped the other two.

i'll have to test the single o-ring tonight, but we may have a winner. and then i can brew on this new thing this weekend!
 
I did the copper washer also but left enough of a tab tom use a connector instead of soldering it so that it could be removed if needed.
HLT7.jpg
 
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