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WortMonger

"Whatcha doin' in my waters?"
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Hey guys, I have a dedicated electrician question for you who are in the trade. I am rigging up my brew stand with electrical outlets so I can plug in my various equipment and wondered a few things. Here's a drawing so I can understand your answers based on what I gave you. I'm not good with all the terminology and things so we can stick to A,B,C,D,E..... LOL, here she is.
Hot_Beer_Stand.JPG


Ok, the plans are (and here's where you come in to tell me what more is needed or if this will work) to power the stand by construction grade extension cord (do not know if I need more than one???). The cord/cords "E" will be wired to the switches controlling the receptacles so I can have on/off control over my various equipment.

The First switch to be wired goes to the stir-fan on the HLT "A". This will be a simple fan powerful enough to stir the water for even heat distribution and control of my HLT water. I am planning to wire an extension cord just hanging out of the top of the brew-stand so I can unplug the fan and easily remove the HLT lid when I need to. This will probably stay on almost the entire time I am heating or maintaining heated water in the tun.

Then comes "B", which is the switch/receptacle for the motorized mash mixer (Rival ice cream machine motor) for the MT. This will be a "as needed" thing for mixing during doughing-in, step infusion water additions, returning decoction fractions, and stirring after batch sparge additions.

Next, is the switch/receptacle for the Ranco ETC and Heating element controlling the HLT "C". This switch will be turned on once the HLT is full of water and then the Ranco will be set to desired temperature. I will switch it off before emptying, then I will refill my tun with water and switch it back on again. So while the switch is on, it should only draw power when the Ranco tells the element to power up for heat (I am thinking but dunno).

Last, we have "D". This is the switch and receptacle for my March pump. I'm using an in-line rocker switch right now :mad: and will love having the pump controlled by a normal light switch when all is said and done. I only put one switch/receptacle in my drawing at this location, even though I will have a second garden pond pump going during wort chilling. At wort chilling time, I figured I would have another receptacle open to plug the second ice water recirculating pond pump into.

I am looking for worst case/most thorough information, just in case I do have everything powered at the same time. Can you guys help me out with, "If it were me" type answers. I really want to keep this at regular 120V outlet powered type stuff so please no 240V talk :). The system is almost up and going I just thought instead of having a ton of different extension cords running to my brewery I would clean it up and make it this much more professional. Looking forward to some knowhow/knowledge on this subject from you guys in the trade.
 
You're gonna need to quote the current draw of the various motors too. The heating element is near 12 amps alone so a 15 amp circuit would be very tight even if you know it's not used by anything else. Do you have any spare breaker positions in your panel to add a dedicated 20amp circuit?

You could simplify the work by putting a 20 amp receptacle right near the panel and use 12/3 SJ cord to the stand but I'd also make sure you use a 20 amp plug/recep on the cords to keep from plugging the stand into a 15 amp receptacle.

Of course, against your request, I'll suggest that if you touch the panel, you ought to go 220v. It wouldn't be much different other than the fact that you'd be able to heat your strike right in the HLT. Let's say that's not your end goal at all. Another reason to consider 220v, even if you're fine with 2000 watts of heating, is that it would only take an 8 amp draw on your panel for 2000watts while your 120v/1375 watt setup now is 12 amps. Ok, forget I said it.

Disclaimer: I'm not an electrician by trade but I feel that I know enough to contribute. I worked as an apprentice in my teens, sales at an electrical supply house, EE degree, and work in telecom now. </resume'>
 
If it were me, I would run the HLT heater at 240v, and the rest at 120, assuming the Ranco controller can handle 240. It probably can, I don't know, I've never looked at one. But that's me. You say you don't want to mess with 240, so that's OK.

Like Bobby said, I don't know what your motor current draw is, but I'm assuming it's minimal. I would run TWO 20 amp circuits, one just for the power for the heating element, and one for everything else. I would have dedicated circuits for this-with no other outlets anywhere. Make sure EVERYTHING is GFCI protected, either on the tower of your rig or on the wall or in the panel. Perhaps you could put GFCI breakers in your panel and use 20-amp twist-lock receptacles/plugs so that nothing else could be plugged into your brewing power. Just a thought. Any more Q's, fire away

Maybe you could mount cord reels on the bottom of your rig so you're not always winding up extension cords, if there's room for them.
 
I will have to get all the draws for the equipment. I am looking for something I could move anywhere and not have to worry about plugging anything into the wrong amp outlet. I checked my circuit breaker box and we have 20 amp everywhere and higher on other things. I just don't want to have to wire anything other than this stand. If it would take multiple extension cords (2) to make it work on regular 120V, I am willing to do that as well.

So, I figured up I am drawing 11.45 Amps from my heating element in the HLT. Is this right? 240V 5500W ran 120V 1375W? I'll get more draws in a bit, might take a while to collect all that data prior to posting.

Lets just assume (in the case it can't be done otherwise) two extension cords for powering the stand. As long as I keep the draw on whatever each extension cord is powering below 20 amp total, I should be ok right? I should just be able to plug in both extension cords powering the stand into normal wall outlets "anywhere" and power the brew stand?

Edit: Sorry Bernie, I started my post before you got yours up. Yeah, I am not doing 240V no matter what. I also was thinking about the cord winder :D.
 
Well, the idea is to keep the two cords on two different circuits, and that goes all the way back to two different breakers in the panel. If you plan on plugging both into the same duplex receptacle, then it defeats the purpose.

You are correct when you get 11 1/2 amps on the element. Your motor draws will probably not be more than 1 or 2 amps apiece. Let's assume 2 for now. You will probably never run more than two of the motors at any given time, since you will have your HLT and MLT motors off well before you need your chiller and March pump motors. So that's about 15 amps.

If all you were considering was the rig, you'd probably be OK. But you say you want to be able to plug this in anywhere, so there's other things that are plugged in elsewhere to consider. It would be much better if you could dedicate an outlet for your brewing. Don't you brew in the same spot every time??
 
I may be moving and want this where I can take it anywhere and just plug in. I just want a simplistic, easy to use for anyone type of plug in system. From the sounds of it, I may not exceed 20 amps on a single extension cord and should be able to plug directly into a duplex outlet and be fine. This is of course assuming nothing higher amps gets plugged into my brew stand during it being powered from the outlet, and nothing else gets plugged into the duplex outlet while my stand is powered up from it. Is this way of thinking right? I was hoping to find a pre-duplex outlet GFCI adapter to use on the end of my extension cord, where I can take it anywhere and be secure in a resettable breaker.
 
So far, pond pump = 120V 1.25A, March pump = 115V 1.4A, Element = 120V 11.45A. All I lack is the ice cream machine motor and the small fan (both of which I don't have right now or know about electronically). Total draw on the circuit so far = 14.1 amps. Think I will get lucky on the remaining 5.9 amps left on both of these last "to get" parts needed?
 
Well, sort of. Normal household circuits don't go to just one receptacle. If you have 15 amps plugged into one 20 amp receptacle(which is the MOST I would do) what if your SWMBO is running a vacuum cleaner or something on the same circuit in another room? And what if your kid is on a computer doing homework somewhere else? The breaker pops, and everyone in the house is p!ssed at Dad. That's why I would run a dedicated circuit to the outlet at the spot where you will be brewing. And if you move, do it again.

And yes, you could make a GFCI adapter, or you could just put GFCI receptacles on your post.
 
WortMonger said:
I will have to get all the draws for the equipment. I am looking for something I could move anywhere and not have to worry about plugging anything into the wrong amp outlet. I checked my circuit breaker box and we have 20 amp everywhere and higher on other things. I just don't want to have to wire anything other than this stand. If it would take multiple extension cords (2) to make it work on regular 120V, I am willing to do that as well.

So, I figured up I am drawing 11.45 Amps from my heating element in the HLT. Is this right? 240V 5500W ran 120V 1375W? I'll get more draws in a bit, might take a while to collect all that data prior to posting.

Lets just assume (in the case it can't be done otherwise) two extension cords for powering the stand. As long as I keep the draw on whatever each extension cord is powering below 20 amp total, I should be ok right? I should just be able to plug in both extension cords powering the stand into normal wall outlets "anywhere" and power the brew stand?

Edit: Sorry Bernie, I started my post before you got yours up. Yeah, I am not doing 240V no matter what. I also was thinking about the cord winder :D.

Here is my Two cents. Your actual draw from the element will be around 11.5 amps, the draw from a March pump is about 2.5 amps, and the Ice Cream mixer, well that is a good one. I have looked at a couple of those and they run anywhere from 1.5 all the way up to 11 amps. 12 amps is 80% of a 15 amp breakers rating. This is important because this could be on for more than 3 hours. This is considered a continuous load and is the maximum amperage at continuous loading. It is something to consider. If all of this equipment is not running through out the process, then you could run a demand factor load calc. to see where you would end up. This is performed often for automation because everything does not need to be on at once.
 
f all you were considering was the rig, you'd probably be OK. But you say you want to be able to plug this in anywhere, so there's other things that are plugged in elsewhere to consider.

What Bernie is saying here is that the circuit you are plugging into may have other draws on it while you are brewing. For example, most new houses have 1 or 2 rooms on each breaker, so you may have a microwave, garage door, etc plugged into the same circuit even though they are in a different part of your house.

If you live in an old house, like me, you may find that the ridiculous people who lived there before you wired the entire damn house into 2 15 amp breakers:eek:

Honestly, from the other projects you have done, I think you are capable of putting in a new circuit. If it is in the garage or at least has easy access to the panel, it would only take ~$40 and a couple hours to wire up a dedicated circuit.

Disclaimer: I like Bobby am not an electrician by trade, but do have an engineering degree and quite a bit of experience with electrical wiring and circuit design, both for houses and control systems.

:EDIT: Sorry you guys beat me to the punch.
 
A suggestion I have, which is a pain to execute, but well worth it, is to map out the devices connected to each breaker. This is assuming most general use circuits are not labelled already with enough detail. Turn on all the lights around the house. Now flip breaker #1 off and go around figuring out what's dead. Just draw a simple floor plan drawing, scale being unimportant. Carry a little boom box radio around and plug it in to outlets to see if they're on or not. Repeat for all breakers. Now you can do some figuring on what kind of typical loads are already on the receptacle in your garage that you will usually plug in to. If this circuit is already powering a major appliance, you're stuck throwing another breaking into the box.

Even if you get it all figured out at your current home, you'll have to do the same thing when you move or go to a brewout somewhere.

I personally think they went 20 amp circuits to further extend each branch to more receptacles and light fixtures, not necessarily to give you more leeway per circuit.

If you find that that circuit is basically just feeding a bunch of lamps and other lights, you're probably fine. You'd be pushing the recommended continuous load to the edge but probably not unsafe in a practical situation. You might have to instruct others in the house not to blow dry hair or use a curling iron/clothes iron, etc. while you're brewing. The worst case is a breaker trip.
 
slnies said:
Here is my Two cents. Your actual draw from the element will be around 11.5 amps, the draw from a March pump is about 2.5 amps, and the Ice Cream mixer, well that is a good one. I have looked at a couple of those and they run anywhere from 1.5 all the way up to 11 amps. 12 amps is 80% of a 15 amp breakers rating. This is important because this could be on for more than 3 hours. This is considered a continuous load and is the maximum amperage at continuous loading. It is something to consider. If all of this equipment is not running through out the process, then you could run a demand factor load calc. to see where you would end up. This is performed often for automation because everything does not need to be on at once.

I didn't realize that the ice cream mixer would draw that much, but when I think about it, it makes sense considering what it'd take to stir up ice cream. And yes, it would be a continuous load, so He would definitely want to go to 20 am circuits. Two circuits would be better. We definitely need to find out the motor loads. Wortmonger, do yo have the motors already? If so, look at the nameplates on the motors for the info.
 
Note to others. This is why electric brewing is potentially a royal PITA.

If you have a spare breaker position, slapping a 20amp breaker in and wiring it directly to a receptacle a foot away is way easy. The main breaker removes a lot of the threat of getting a hand in there. Well, I have to mention that it's not for everyone, but I get the impression you can do it.

Don't let the fact that there's 240 volts in there deter you, it's not any worse than 120v from a ouch I'm dead perspective.
 
Bobby_M said:
Note to others. This is why electric brewing is potentially a royal PITA.

If you have a spare breaker position, slapping a 20amp breaker in and wiring it directly to a receptacle a foot away is way easy. The main breaker removes a lot of the threat of getting a hand in there. Well, I have to mention that it's not for everyone, but I get the impression you can do it.

Don't let the fact that there's 240 volts in there deter you, it's not any worse than 120v from a ouch I'm dead perspective.
Relax, respect it, but do not be afraid. I have been an electrician for quit a few years and not killed myself. As long as you play by the rules, you get to win the game. If you do do some wiring in the panel, shut the main off. A dead panel never killed anyone. This is just a friendly word of caution. S.
 
Sorry Bobby M, My comment was not centered at you. You just brought up a good point. I wanted to use your quote to bring up the safety point. So, thank you. s.

As I was rereading my comment it came across like I was berating you. That was not my intention. Like I said you brought up a good point.
 
One more small thing to consider, it shouldn't make a big difference since these are small motor loads but when calculating motor load you must take 125% full load current of the largest motor then add the full load current of the rest of the motors.
 
Ok just a disclamer I have been an Industrial Electrician for ove 10 years and did commercial and residential for 6+ years prior to that. BUT I am no genius
First I will tell you that your 5500 watt element ran at 120 is not going to be enough heat to heat your strike water BUT that aside and as I would always recomend 240VAC as I know you dont want to go that way???? not really sure why but ok I would recomend coming into your system with 2 15 amp circuts 1 20 amp dedicated MIGHT do it but the 11+ amps your going to draw on your element alone and even if all others were going to keep you @ 70 to 80% load rating you have to take into concideration what is called "IN RUSH" and you WILL have 150 to 200% current draw on all you appliances in your system when they start. So if your heater and your mixer happen to come on at the same time your going to be over your instenanious trip rating on you 20 amp breaker and it WILL trip you can eliminate the tripping of your house hold breaker by puting a breaker on your system and it will trip first (maybe) its a race... or just install a 15 amp on the system and make sure your on a dedicated 20 amp as others have said. just a guess I dont think your going to be able to run it all at the same time just in case you NEED to I would be prepaired for it. and if your @ the breaking point of 20+ amps your not going to run this "ANYWHERE" as you want to anyway you mignt as well just go 240 then you can run your 5500 watt element and actually heat some water.
so my suggestion is run 2 plugs on your system 1 dedicated just for the rancho controler and fan and 1 for all others and just run extention cords so if by chance you cant find 2 outlets on seperate circuts you can heat your strike H2O unplug and then just plug in the others
Good luck the system you have designed looks killer.
JJ
 
Well, first off my HLT only needs to hold temperature, as I can pre-heat any needed water in my kettle. I like pre-heating in the kettle due to speed and really designed my system to control my never-constant liquor temperatures. Also, I am limited by (T/Y Jaybird) my new "killer system" by fabricating my HLT with a 120V plug wired to the Ranco and heating element. I could go 240V if I hadn't done this, correct?

So limitations of my system taken into consideration and set aside, I am thinking about a separate dedicated brew stand circuit ran to one duplex plug. Still need to find out the other motors (small fan and the ice cream machine motor) amp draws before I can do/figure out anything.
 
WortMonger said:
I am limited by (T/Y Jaybird) my new "killer system" by fabricating my HLT with a 120V plug wired to the Ranco and heating element. I could go 240V if I hadn't done this, correct?
.
no you can still go 240 you just need to ( do what I did) wire to a relay VERY SIMPLE and I would suggest a float switch to protect your elment also VERY simple to install. also if you did go 240 vac you wouldnt have to heat in your other kettle I mean what if you want to do a back to back batch like I do and your other kettle is being used. I LOVE my HLT I have a 5500 watt and a 1500 watt and it RIPS the temp up FAST.

just some sugestions cause I dont know of a garage that dosent have a 240 plug in it or a panel that dosent have a way to get a 240 plug wired EASY.
JJ
 
Wire to a relay? Can you expand for a doof on electricity:D I only use big electrical words like receptacle to sound remotely intelligent, lol. The fuse box here is very spacious as there are two. They are just on the other side of the garage wall and on the adjacent wall a bit. Probably would be too hard to get too, but I have heard GFCI for 240V is rather expensive and I would definitely want someone to wire it up professionally. I do know there are two separate circuits in the garage here though. One is for the receptacles and the other is for the freezer, both 20A. I also wasn't sure about the 18 gauge wire I wired up the element to. Would that support 240V if hooked to a relay like you are hopefully going to fill me in about :D?
 
WortMonger said:
Wire to a relay? Can you expand for a doof on electricity:D I only use big electrical words like receptacle to sound remotely intelligent, lol. The fuse box here is very spacious as there are two. They are just on the other side of the garage wall and on the adjacent wall a bit. Probably would be too hard to get too, but I have heard GFCI for 240V is rather expensive and I would definitely want someone to wire it up professionally. I do know there are two separate circuits in the garage here though. One is for the receptacles and the other is for the freezer, both 20A. I also wasn't sure about the 18 gauge wire I wired up the element to. Would that support 240V if hooked to a relay like you are hopefully going to fill me in about :D?

Your wire to the element should be at least #10 AGW if you are running it 240VAC. 5500 Watts is a 22.9 amp load. You will need a thirty amp two pole breaker. Even in its current state I would have it wired up in # 12 AGW SO or SOJ cord. Bird does have point though, the inrush could effect the breaker. I only say could because breakers are now built to allow a certain amount of inrush before doing there job. It is just one more consideration. I would not be discouraged. If I may make a suggestion though, Get all of your loads and then figure out the best posable solution. It sounds like you are already in the process. I just don't want you to be discouraged by information overload. The system will do what you want it to do, you just have to plan out what has to happen to get it there. As for whether you HLT will heat water at 120VAC, the answer is yes, it is just not as fast as at 240VAC. Remember you are only heating 10 to 15 gallons of water at most with a keggle type system anyway. Not 50 or 100 gallons. I think we tend to loose perspective when we delve so deep, we get caught up in the small details and forget about the big picture. Well, enough of my rant, on with the project, and good luck.
 
I am really liking the idea of two extension cords ran and splitting the load between them from outlets on different circuits for now. Then, no matter what, a longer extension cord would be all I would probably need to be up and running anywhere I brewed.

I used an power cord from a battery back-up computer power strip to wire up my element and Ranco and it had the three #18 wires in it. I hope I am ok with those. They said 15A maximum on the cord and the Ranco only pulls 11.5 for the element????
 
Yeah, it will be OK for the 120v at 11.5 amps. If you decided to step up to 220v, you'd be pulling near 22amps on that 5500 watt element. It wouldn't be too tough to change. We keep talking in terms of 120/240v but I know my voltage is like 111v. I made up a simple spreadsheet to help calculate the actual current/power of elements run on various actual voltages.

http://www.suebob.com/brew/elementcalc.xls

I understand that you only want it to HOLD temps but I think it's counterintuitive to heat the water in the kettle and then transfer to the HLT that has it's own heat source. I mean, you have a stirring mechanism built in which will really help it heat fast and evenly. You'll just have to anticipate when you want to brew and turn it on earlier. I know this has nothing to do with your questions in this thread but I think people have the tendency to get tunnel vision on their projects.

Two 14/3 extension cords will do and make sure you plug the heater one in to a circuit with the lowest current load.
 
Bobby_M said:
Yeah, it will be OK for the 120v at 11.5 amps. If you decided to step up to 220v, you'd be pulling near 22amps on that 5500 watt element. It wouldn't be too tough to change. We keep talking in terms of 120/240v but I know my voltage is like 111v. I made up a simple spreadsheet to help calculate the actual current/power of elements run on various actual voltages.


All voltages will vary somewhat. Actual voltage is always nominal+/- 5% For all practical purposes you only need to use the nominal voltage amount.





Bobby_M said:
Two 14/3 extension cords will do and make sure you plug the heater one in to a circuit with the lowest current load.

Please don't do that. 14 gauge wire is only acceptable up to 15 amps. If you are using it on a 20 amp breaker, go with 12-3.
 
WortMonger said:
Wire to a relay? Can you expand for a doof on electricity:D I only use big electrical words like receptacle to sound remotely intelligent, lol. The fuse box here is very spacious as there are two. They are just on the other side of the garage wall and on the adjacent wall a bit. Probably would be too hard to get too, but I have heard GFCI for 240V is rather expensive and I would definitely want someone to wire it up professionally. I do know there are two separate circuits in the garage here though. One is for the receptacles and the other is for the freezer, both 20A. I also wasn't sure about the 18 gauge wire I wired up the element to. Would that support 240V if hooked to a relay like you are hopefully going to fill me in about :D?
the relay is just an electricaly operated switch so you can use your control power (120 vac) to switch your load power (240) basicly any electrical supply outlet can teach you with a pen and paper how to wire it up in less than 5 minutes so what your doing in turn is you would have your rancho instead of turning on and off your element you have it turn on and off your relay, that in turn turns on and off your element. see your rancho is just a temp controled RELAY and nothing more. as for your wire size I wouldnt use 18 ga for that load even @ 11+ amps my refrence manual dosent cover 18 ga but it would seem light to me. can you use it? sure but if your element shorts out (god for bid) your wire becomes your fuseable link because your on a 20 amp circuit. As far as 240 GFCI you wont need it to be GFCI on the 240 VAC end because your control power is going to be protected. If you really want to protect it there are ways to do that and and electrical supply house can sell you the equipment to do it it will all come in a box with a gfci outlet and relay they market them for HOT TUBS.
Cheers
JJ
 
Bernie Brewer said:
All voltages will vary somewhat. Actual voltage is always nominal+/- 5% For all practical purposes you only need to use the nominal voltage amount.







Please don't do that. 14 gauge wire is only acceptable up to 15 amps. If you are using it on a 20 amp breaker, go with 12-3.

We're still talking about the load being handled by the cord though. If he's pulling 12 amps on the heater and 1-10amps on the aux stuff, 2 x 14/3 for all practical purposes should be fine unless he's using 50-100 footers. The assumption is that each of those 20 amp breakers are already serving something else. I'd bet that the receptacle he's plugging into is a 15 amp, not 20.

If he's going to run a dedicated 20 amp circuit just for this purpose, he might as well get a single 12/3 SJ with a 20amp plug (assuming the motor loads don't exceed 6 amps or so).
 
That's what I was thinking Bobby_M. The 14/3 is 14 gauge 3 wire extension cord I take it? I am learning new stuff daily on trips to the hardware store and here from my house flipping and brewery projects. I hear you about tunnel vision, I was just trying to be nice and move on from the, "I won't be able to heat my liquor to sparge temperature" crowd. I haven't even ran tests yet to see how fast the newly insulated HLT will heat. Honestly, the only worry I have about heated water, is if I were doing a protein rest then having to refill and ramp up the temperature in 20 minutes for a sacch rest. All the other times it should have plenty of time to come up to temperature with enough speed. 7 gallons left in my HLT is my stopping point for the element to be turned off manually and refilled before the element is turned back on (leaving me with a little heat to help the incoming water so the element is helped out a little). I know a float switch would be groovy, but I am hands on the whole way through and float valves give a false sense of security as they can corrode/mineral-up and fail (especially after you have put them out of your mind as not-to-think-about because it is automatic). I am just not going to worry about heated water until I have to. Sure it will be a pain to have two extension cords running from my brewery, but it is not the end of the world and still sticks with my plan of a neat brewery after brew day. I will just get a GFCI to use on my element extension cord and be happy with rolling them up after every brew-day. I have to with one already for my drill/mill. Also, the golf cart charger is on one of the outlets I plan to use as well as a water softener. If it hasn't thrown the breaker before now I think I am safe unplugging and using it's place for the element supply. I appreciate the electrical schooling about loads and circuits guys, makes more sense to me now. I will definitely pre-wire a house for this specific purpose before I move the brewery there in the future. I just know I will be happy with the 120V setup on everything when everything is said and done, but yes I would always like to have more power. If I ever go bigger than I brew now, my next brewery will all be 240V everything. I honestly don't ever see doing that though as I would probably just start a brewery at that point :D.
 
just wondering is your element going to be vertical of horizonal vertical means you need to refill when you still have what 5-8 gallons of water left in the HLT I put mine in the side of the HLT and I can run the heater untill I have 3" of water left. Just wondering.
I am sure youll be happy with the set up I was just trying to make it more user friendly and give you some ideas.
Good luck with the build. this $#!^ is fun isent it????
JJ
 
Bobby_M said:
We're still talking about the load being handled by the cord though. If he's pulling 12 amps on the heater and 1-10amps on the aux stuff, 2 x 14/3 for all practical purposes should be fine unless he's using 50-100 footers. The assumption is that each of those 20 amp breakers are already serving something else. I'd bet that the receptacle he's plugging into is a 15 amp, not 20.

If he's going to run a dedicated 20 amp circuit just for this purpose, he might as well get a single 12/3 SJ with a 20amp plug (assuming the motor loads don't exceed 6 amps or so).

Smallest breaker in my panels is 20 amp. If I know there is only one duplex outlet hooked to that circuit, I am dedicated for brewery element am I not? The other cord will be plugged into another outlet and shouldn't pull more than the normal stuff I run on them (drills, chest freezer, etc.). I am mainly worried about my element & (whatever I choose to be on the same cord) not being over my draw maximum. I think I have this handled by knowing the one receptical is 20 amp and is tied to nothing but the brewery if only one cord is plugged into it.

So, if we are talking worse case scenario? What is the type of extension cords I need to buy?
 
WortMonger said:
So, if we are talking worse case scenario? What is the type of extension cords I need to buy?
on a 20 amp a 12 ga would be the best for that application a 14 ga could handle the load since SO cord has a higher load rating than romex because its ran FREE AIR and has the ability to expell heat beter.
JJ
 
12 gauge, easy enough to remember because it is my favorite piece of gunnery :D. So, in a store to look like an Electric EAC I would ask for 12/3 extension cord??? I want to look smart;) . And, just to be sure......

If I use the outlet in my garage that I know is 20 amp and has nothing hooked to it but the 12 ga. cord, I should be ok powering my Ranco/element and something low draw like a stirrer fan????

If....

As long as my second 12 ga. cord is hooked to another 20 amp duplex outlet to power my pumps (under 3 amps total for both pumps) and Mash Mixer(can't find amperage since I don't have the motor but am sure it combined with the pumps would be under recommended draw from the circuit [will check prior though]).

These questions answered only for clarity sake. :D
 
WortMonger said:
Also Jaybird, what is SO cord? I know what Romex is but wondered about SO.
SO is a rating on cord sold across the industry there are lots of ratings SOW, SJOW, SOOW and so on and so on SO or any that I have listed are standerd at any electrical house you can also buy it at places like home depot and lowes its the cord yo would use to make your own extention cords. if you see W in any cord its OK to use in WET locations. It looks like you wont need any though because your going to purchas your extention cords pre made and use 2 of them
JJ
 
WortMonger said:
If I use the outlet in my garage that I know is 20 amp and has nothing hooked to it but the 12 ga. cord, I should be ok powering my Ranco/element and something low draw like a stirrer fan????

If....

As long as my second 12 ga. cord is hooked to another 20 amp duplex outlet to power my pumps (under 3 amps total for both pumps) and Mash Mixer(can't find amperage since I don't have the motor but am sure it combined with the pumps would be under recommended draw from the circuit [will check prior though]).

These questions answered only for clarity sake. :D
yes yes and yes
JJ
 
LOL, now I don't feel as naked as a jaybird.... so to speak. :D Bobby_M and Jaybird thank you for school.

Maybe the cord on the power strip I used was larger than 18 ga. I actually can't remember things like that very well. One would think a power strip with 6 plug-ins on it would be larger gauge supply wire, so it probably is.

I was always taught that electricity and water in pipes was very similar. Both take the path of least resistance, and the smaller the pipe/wire the higher the pressure or voltage. Larger pipe/wire can carry more. Only the big difference is you can only fit so much water into a pipe before it backs up, to much power will melt the "pipe"/wire. Also, water is controlled by the end of what you are plumbing (valve), electricity can be drawn until it reaches maximum of what is supplying it (circuit breaker).

Funny how the two are similar, but you don't want the two together, LOL.
 
I am doing something very similar to what you are doing but to help reduce some complexity, I am not planning to use the elements in the HLT and MLT at the same time. Running only one at a time works for me. I pre-tested everything by just plugging in extension cords for the various senarios.

I fill my coolers with 125 degree water. I plug the mash tun in. I'm using a 1500 watt element and 120v. On a 10 gallon batch I get a temp rise of about 1 degree per minute. Once at strike temp, I unplug the mash tun and plug in the HLT. The HLT is free to heat for the duration of the mash unless I need to switch on the Mash heater to raise the temp of the mash.

I am going to automate it some in the near future and I may upgrade to 2 20 amp circuits in my garage and have to power systems. 1 for mash and one for HLT.

So far I really like brewing with electric.

Linc
 
Jaybird said:
are you watching me?????
JJ

Maybe, LOL. Someone needs to call pest control, lol. Looks like you have a mild infestation of the very rare Arian Grain Weevil.
4595-000_0552.jpg


They will eat all your stuff man!! This one has even learned to use a spoon and looks like he has already made a dent in your spent grains. :D Little grain monster ;)
 
WortMonger said:
Maybe, LOL. Someone needs to call pest control, lol. Looks like you have a mild infestation of the very rare Arian Grain Weevil.
4595-000_0552.jpg


They will eat all your stuff man!! This one has even learned to use a spoon and looks like he has already made a dent in your spent grains. :D Little grain monster ;)
LMAO
Man you just made my day

JJ
 
Jaybird said:
on a 20 amp a 12 ga would be the best for that application a 14 ga could handle the load since SO cord has a higher load rating than romex because its ran FREE AIR and has the ability to expell heat beter.
JJ


That would be a violation.....flexible cords are NOT considered free air.

You have to refer to the table for flexible cords and cable ampacity
A 14AWG SO cord with 2 conductors is 18A, 3 conductors is 15A any more and you have to refer to the adjustment factor just like multiple conductors in a raceway.

JFYI 14/2 NM is actually rated at 20A do to it having a 60' rating but you are limited to a 15A OCPD because of 240.4(D) small conductors.
 
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