Tri Clover Heater Element - Size?

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homebrewdude76

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I believe some people have had problems getting a 5500W ripple element through the 1.5" adapter.
 
If you use a straight element, 1.5" is fine. If you use ripple I'd recommend 2".

If you can fit a straight ULWD element in your pot, I would do that. Its easier to handle/remove/insert then the ripple.
 
My experience with soldering SS was it cracks easily. I had a 1/2" fitting in my keggle and it kept cracking any time i wasn't super careful with it. I went and welded on my fittings with MIG and now i wish i just drilled a 1 1/8" hole and stabbed the heater in with the stock o ring and a SS locknut on the inside.
 
I believe some people have had problems getting a 5500W ripple element through the 1.5" adapter.

Let me make one suggestion here:

I will agree with this statement.

I purchased the Brewers Hardware 2" Element Adapter for use in my boil kettle. I also got a 5500W ULWD Ripple element. I was very bummed to find out that I was unable to fit the ripple element into the adapter. So I ended up having to guy a straight style element. I still love the adapter. Just a small tradeoff. I would be willing to bet it would fit into the adapter without the enclosure however. So I would recommend that, from my experience, the enclosed adapter is definitely worth the money in that everything is enclosed and there's even a grounding screw provided Right from the get go! The 2" provides lots of space to install the element, but if you do go with the enclosed adapter, a straight element is required.
 
if you buy the element guard kit from still dragon, you can fit a 5500W ULWD ripple into it. it's a tight fit, but not too bad. they're also cheaper than the brewers hardware element adapter

I have both, and they're both nice, just different setups
 
I have a mig welder. Thought I needed a TIG for this type of work.

You can weld SS with MIG. You would need to make sure you use SS wire. My shop has a nice fancy new Lincoln welder that has a pulse mode which is very helpful in keeping the temperature of the weld in check.

Others on the forum would be better versed in the reasons for using TIG over MIG though.
 
You would need SS wire and tri mix gas helium/argon/co2. Tig is much more controlled. If you are going to use mig only do 1/4 of the weld at a time allowing it to cool between welds. Otherwise you may warp the fitting. You also may want to back purge the tank. When your done you need to treat the welds with acid bath to make the corrosion resistance work again.
 
I soldered 2" TriClamp into my keggle, I used a custom machined dimple tool though (so that probably doesn't help you. Ill try to get some pics.

My experience with soldering SS was it cracks easily. I had a 1/2" fitting in my keggle and it kept cracking any time i wasn't super careful with it. I went and welded on my fittings with MIG and now i wish i just drilled a 1 1/8" hole and stabbed the heater in with the stock o ring and a SS locknut on the inside.

I've seen this reported occasionally on the soldering thread, to be honest I'm not sure what happens to these people. Reading reports like this had me spooked so I did some test solders and beat them with a hammer. I was very impressed with how strong they were (they can be broken free with pretty good direct blows, but I'm not at all worried about them in service). YMMV though.

If you can get a nice clean weld done, its defiantly better. For me the soldering was good enough for now.
 
If you have the kettle in a stand where it wont be moved you should be ok. I don't have a stand so it gets dragged in and out of storage and into my yard or garage.
 
I am guessing I can just measure what people use for a 1" and scale it up?

I can easily have something custom machined.


I soldered 2" TriClamp into my keggle, I used a custom machined dimple tool though (so that probably doesn't help you. Ill try to get some pics.
 
2" TC ferrule is 2" O.D. I made the mistake of having the tool machined to 2" OD. I also had to use a punch which a greater difference then I used for the 1" ferrules (1.734"), as that's all I had (the next size up was too close to 2"). Have to pull through more material and the exact 2" diameter tool left me with too small a hole. As I wanted to dimple out, I couldn't pull the fitting through, which meant lots of time with a die grinder/hammer to get them to fit in.

EDIT: the 1" OD tool for the 1" ferrules worked quite well (took a little grinding but allowed a tight fit), i suspect it was using the smaller punch that caused the issues.

I'd recommend making your tool slightly larger, IMHO its not hard to use a hammer (a cold chisel can seal any gaps) to bang the hole slightly smaller. If I did it all over again I would make it slightly larger then 2" have a gap and then get progressively bigger so you have options.

View attachment 2in Backing.PDF

View attachment 2in Swage.PDF

2in Tool.jpg
 
Don't bother with MIG, Unless you are an absolute pro welding stainless It won't turn out very nice....I've all but ruined a keggle with MIG using stainless wire and trigas..Just a friendly word of warning. Been there done that. FAIL....
I now have to remove a couple 1/2 couplings from a Keggle. I'm hoping I can replace one of them with another 1/2 but one of them is going to have to be 1" because of bad weld.
 
For a two inch hole, I used a half inch Greenlee conduit punch to make a hole big enough for the 1 1/2" conduit punch. The resulting hole needed to be enlarged just slightly to get the ferrule through. Then it got fixtured and TIG'd in place.

I will admit that I am lucky to have that punch set available to me. It's also got the hydraulic puller which makes life so much easier!
 
if you buy the element guard kit from still dragon, you can fit a 5500W ULWD ripple into it. it's a tight fit, but not too bad. they're also cheaper than the brewers hardware element adapter

I have both, and they're both nice, just different setups

Yup, I have the still dragon and it works great! I use the 5500w ULWD ripple and it works, you just have to finagle the element into it a bit.
 
great threat so far.

Does anyone have pictures of their 2" setup on install.

I got all of the parts just need to pull the trigger and build it.
 
Not sure if this helps at all, only pic I could find currently. I can probably post some pics of my element enclosures tomorrow (work in progress)

DSC01664.jpg
 
It's a "medium" ~7/8" long, and its dimpled and soldered. 1/2" (short) is likely to be too tight, unless you align the clamp in the perfect way.
 
Here's my 1.5" setup from Brewer's Hardware. One mistake I made - had the ferrule welded on too low (done before the enclosure arrived because I was like a kid on Christmas Eve and couldn't wait!). Was trying to get the element as low in the kettle as possible since I BIAB 5 gal batches in an 11 gal kettle and wanted as much clearance as possible for my false bottom.

Anyway - the cap on the 1.5" is considerably larger than the diameter of the enclosure itself. Just be aware of that and place the ferrule appropriately. My fault for jumping the gun, but I've accounted for it in the design for my new stand.







 
*** Note ***

StillDragon are currently advising that as a safety precaution you should use a high pressure triclamp (which seals using 2 nuts rather than a single wing nut) with the element housing, so that the electrical connections cannot be accessed by accident.
 
I missed your post on the tool to make the dimple.
I printed it out, and see to add a bit towards the diameter.
I am going to wait for my 2" ferrules to arrive in the mail before I have the tool made.
 
Where did you get the 2" fitting to solder in. Brewhardware has the weld spuds for soldering but they NPT. I wounder if there is a SPUD for TC fittings we could use to make it easier and not have to "dimple".
 
I got it locally, its a regular short ferrule. I did the dimpling method, I have never seen a spud and given what would likely be the cost for any obscure TC part, its probably not feasible.
 
I am holding off on my dimple and solder of the 2"
I still have no response from Stilldragon on my order for housings...Going on three weeks now. Not sure if this is typical operation for them.
 
Get back in touch and ask for an update. I think this is a one off - the Stilldragon agent in the USA had a few days off recently for personal reasons.
 
Stilldragon are not the fastest outfit around, but it is a nice product.
 
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