New House & 240V

We are buying a new house and it looks like we may be going with new construction. If, down the road, I decide (which I already want to) to build an E-HERMS system, should I have the electricians wire 240V to the basement AND garage? It's 150A service, this should be enough no?

I really don't know much about electric except rewiring switches and lights.

What I did was run a sub panel to my garage so I can wire 220V and 110 from there for other projects. I went with a 100 amp sub panel because I have a larger air compressor and plan on buying a 220v mig or tig welder in the future. My main service is 200 amp

yes, do it. If I were building a house right now I would have at least one 240v outlet in the garage just to get a better air compressor with a 240v motor.

illin8 said:

We are buying a new house and it looks like we may be going with new construction. If, down the road, I decide (which I already want to) to build an E-HERMS system, should I have the electricians wire 240V to the basement AND garage? It's 150A service, this should be enough no?

I really don't know much about electric except rewiring switches and lights.

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You didn't mention if you'll be brewing in the garage, but do it anyway. Especially if it's new construction, now is the best time to do it.

Yes, having a couple extra 240v outlets won't hurt anything and it will allow you more flexibility in the future. 150A will be plenty. A HERMS system does not require very much current, just the higher voltage.

If the utility allows for 200 amp, I personally would have the bigger panel put in. Not any real difference in the cost and allows for more room for dedicated circuits.

I say go with the 200 amp service, cheaper to go bigger in a new build then to upgrade later. The price of copper wire wont be going down soon. plus a good selling point later down the road.

+1 200A This should cost $50 - 100 more at most.
The Subpanel is a good idea

Consider placing a 220V outlet near the door.

Other tips - place a few outlets at 49" off the floor. I do some woodworking, and that makes life nice.

if building a new home. wire it like no tomarrow. cost is minimal to the build compared to adding in the future.

subpanels in both the basement and garage are a must have. two phase to the subpanels that way you can wire 110v or 220.

id also run 4 coax 4 cat5 to each room as well. oh if i can just build me a new home that thing would have so much wiring i wouldnt have to worry about expansion for ever.

Oh yeah. Consider stubbing out some water out there for a utility sink.

And make them run every one of the Coax cables as a home run-- more flexibility for later. Every room needs at least one, including the garage.

And don't run dedicated phone jacks--- just have the low voltage guy rig it so you can use any of the CAT 5 jacks as a phone jack.

One thing a lot of people I know have done lately is have the builder put in a 2 inch PVC pipe that runs from the utility area in the basement to the attic. What for? To use as a low voltage wire run in case you ever want to run new wiring of some sort. Fastest way to get to any room is to be able to get a wire from the top to the bottom of the house.

If you aren't going to use gas for your stove and dryer, have them stub out a gas line for it anyway. For that matter, pick a good place in the back yard for a gas grill and have them put in a gas connector for an outdoor gas grill, too. Handy as hell to not ever need a propane tank for your grill.

And have them do a Coax run from the attic to the basement with the rest of the coax. You can install an HD antenna in the attic for over the air HD TV.

If you have a lamppost out front, you'll never regret having an electrical outlet on the post.

And a outdoor faucet in the garage is handy as hell sometimes.

Might be worthwhile to ask what the added cost is to pour a couple extra cement slabs--- along side the garage for a woodpile, in a likely location that you might one day want a shed.

You'll also never regret having them put long ledgers (16 foot at least) anywhere you might one day even consider putting on a deck.

Have the window installer flash over every exterior window frame. The less exposed wood you have to care for the better.

Thanks for the input, a lot of great ideas! I'm not sure yet if I'll brew in the basement or the garage...it may or may not be a walk-out basement and steam will need to be considered so maybe garage.

For those with electrical/E-HERMS experience (in your opinion) how should I set up the system? I have two keggles with two (2) 1/2" couplings welded in and one 1/4" with Bobby_M's sight gauge (HLT & BK) and a 70 qt coleman xtreme (MLT). I'll probably be doing 50/50 5-gal and 10-gal batches. What would work well with this set-up? One 5500 watt or two 4500? Different design for HLT vs BK?

This whole electric thing is new territory, I'm very handy but just haven't gotten any further than replacing light switches and outlets when it comes to electric. As I understand it, the thermocouple tells the PID to run on or off (based on PID settings)...the PID then sends power to the SSR at an amount determined by the user, what does the SSR do?

Sorry for the NOOB-like questions...I've been following and re-reading several threads on this and am confused, some talk about a 4 leg switch running a PID and 3 SSRs did me in...to quote Eugene Levy "Ya' got me all caught up in the game boo!"

Thanks again for all the responses, it's gonna be challenging sneaking in these electrical changes to the contractor and not tipping off the SWMBO as to what my plan is...but I think I can manage!

I have not seen it mentioned, but any 240V circuit you may brew with should have a GFCI circuit breaker.

You will want a 30a circuit, preferably GFCI.
For the Keggle, a 5500w RIPP element.
For the HLT, 4500w element. A 3500 will also work.

I'd recommend reading the articles in this thread

I will have a very similar build with pics up this weekend. I have one control panel, one pid. My only limitation is that I can't boil and start a second batch at the same time (thats a lot of current going on).

I'd definitely go to a 200 amp main, the extra cost will be minimal. Install 50 amp circuits to both locations, stub out hot/cold water and sewer lines.

If you're the least bit green, make that a 70 amp 240 in the garage for your Tesla Roadster.

illin8 said:

For those with electrical/E-HERMS experience (in your opinion) how should I set up the system? I have two keggles with two (2) 1/2" couplings welded in and one 1/4" with Bobby_M's sight gauge (HLT & BK) and a 70 qt coleman xtreme (MLT). I'll probably be doing 50/50 5-gal and 10-gal batches. What would work well with this set-up? One 5500 watt or two 4500? Different design for HLT vs BK?

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Go with 200 amp service if you can. I do run an electric rig on 100 amp service but I'd rather have the power available in case I needed it.

You can brew in a basement that isn't a walk-out, I do. I did install a ventilation hood (like over the stove) and pipe that outside, I leave it on whenever I'm brewing

I have a similar setup to you, 2 kegs and 1 cooler, I do mostly 5 gal but sometimes 10 gal batches. What I did was put a 5500W ultra low watt density element in each one. I know I don't need it that high in the HLT, but it heats up a lot quicker. I have my system set up so I can only run one element at a time. If you have 200 amp service you could run two circuits over(Or possibly a 50-60 amp circuit) and run both elements at once.

As I understand it, the thermocouple tells the PID to run on or off (based on PID settings)...the PID then sends power to the SSR at an amount determined by the user, what does the SSR do?

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The PID sends a tiny bit of power to the SSR, the SSR will then allow the larger amperage to run through it to the element, the PID is in no way set up to switch out an element pulling 20-25 amps. SSR means Solid State Relay, it is better than the mechanical relays since it can switch faster and have a longer life cycle. You've got the rest of the concept right.

Sorry for the NOOB-like questions...I've been following and re-reading several threads on this and am confused, some talk about a 4 leg switch running a PID and 3 SSRs did me in...to quote Eugene Levy "Ya' got me all caught up in the game boo!"

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I'm going to get pictures of my brew setup tonight while I brew. I have one PID and one SSR. I have the SSR wired to an outlet in my control box so I can switch out which kettle is running. Full thread on this tomorrow or the next day.

Thanks guys. I just made a new post (before reading these responses) on this hoping to see some examples/processes of PID/SSRs and how the work, maybe we can continue this discussion on there.