Wiring questions

My house has a 30 amp dryer circuit but I want to use a spa panel with a 50 amp GFI in the circuit. What I'd like to do is run a 10-3 w/ground from the fuse box to a 4 prong dryer outlet near my brewery and mount the spa panel on the brewstand or in the control box. Power to the spa panel and then the control panel would be through a 4 prong dryer cord. Cool??
Next question...using a 4 prong plug will allow me to use one side of the circuit to power 110v parts of the rig, correct? I'm thinking I'd like to use a 110v element in the HERMS unit and a 220v element in the boil kettle, because I have the 110v element already, but I'm not out much if you guys think I should just make them both 220v. I bought the element I have for $2 at a flea market.
Third, I don't see a ground wire out of my fuse box....should I drive a ground rod in and add one?

Sometimes grounds can be attached to a water pipe that is going on to the ground. Adding another ground should not hurt.

Make sure you are replacing your breaker to match your GFI on your spa panel. you will need a 4 wire run because you have 2 hots usually red and black and a white neutral and a copper or green ground.

The only difference between a 3 and 4 prong plug in a 220 is the addition of a ground post.

I would run a separate line for the 110v making sure the amps match the breaker it is run from. Or just ditch the 110v and get two of the same elements.

kklowell said:

My house has a 30 amp dryer circuit but I want to use a spa panel with a 50 amp GFI in the circuit. What I'd like to do is run a 10-3 w/ground from the fuse box to a 4 prong dryer outlet near my brewery and mount the spa panel on the brewstand or in the control box. Power to the spa panel and then the control panel would be through a 4 prong dryer cord. Cool??

Click to expand...

Cool.

kklowell said:

Next question...using a 4 prong plug will allow me to use one side of the circuit to power 110v parts of the rig, correct? I'm thinking I'd like to use a 110v element in the HERMS unit and a 220v element in the boil kettle, because I have the 110v element already, but I'm not out much if you guys think I should just make them both 220v. I bought the element I have for $2 at a flea market.

Click to expand...

Yeah, run 4 wires to the control panel and you have hot 1, hot 2, neutral, and ground. Use hot 1, neutral, and ground for 120V service. Use hot 1, hot 2, and ground for 240V service. Most folks who make control panels here have 120V circuits in their setup. Mine, here will be running a 240V 5500 watt element in the BK, and a 120V 1125W element in my RIMS. Same idea as what you want to do, (just change the word "RIMS" to "HERMS").

kklowell said:

Third, I don't see a ground wire out of my fuse box....should I drive a ground rod in and add one?

Click to expand...

I am not a breaker box expert. As I understand it though, neutral and ground are combined in the breaker box, (your house is supplied with Hot 1, Hot 2, and Neutral....ground happens at your house, not at the power distribution post outside). Maybe take a picture of what you're talking about so the real experts can chime in?