1" NPT spud: water protection/ground

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makubex

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I have a 42 qt stainless kettle with a 1" NPT stainless spud welded through the side for use with a 2000W heating element.

I was originally planning on using Kai's weldless method with a gang box however, being the moron that I am, I purchased a conduit punch which gave me a hole in my kettle that was a half inch too large. The beauty of that method being that the ground terminal is built right into the box.

Thankfully, I was able to find a local brewer who did an excellent welding job on my kettle, and now I've got a spud which the element threads right into with no leaks. My issue is that now I'm not sure how to protect the outside of the element from water, or where to ground to.

I don't have the ability to solder to stainless (in an apartment without an area to operate a torch) so any suggestions which don't require having to weld/solder anything additional to the kettle would be preferred.

Thank you in advance!
 
After reading a bit about soldering to stainless, I've run into several places online where they say specifically not to use silver solder for electrical connections; so I guess that option is completely out of the question.

Has anyone had any luck with drilling a small hole and attaching their ground eyelet to a screw/gasket/nut in their kettle?
 
nevermind, I looked it up.

If it's thick enough, you could tap/drill a shallow hole in the side of it and attach the ground wire to it. Or, if there is enough there to grab, maybe just put a big worm clamp around it and pinch the ground wire between the clamp and the spud?
 
You can use silver bearing solder for electrical connections. But there is no need, you can use a ground clamp to attach to some part of the rim.
 
I'll take a look when I get home, but I get the feeling that I'd have to use a really tiny screw if I were to drill/tap into the spud, this might be worth looking in to though. The worm clamp is another good idea, but I don't know there there's enough surface area around the outside of the spud to really clamp on to.

Something that I just though of, I have a small hole drilled in my kettle above the water line for an eyebolt which holds my sight glass in place. I could attach the eyelet to that and just have a long, ugly, ground wire running from the bottom of my kettle up there. Are there any concerns about having a ground wire that is approx 2' longer than your power cord?
 
Thinking a bit more on this, I do plan on wrapping the kettle in insulation, so I guess I don't have to worry about running a ground wire up the side of the kettle, since the insulation will hide it. The ground clip isn't a bad idea either.

I guess my last question would be: since I'll be attaching the ground eyelet to an eyebolt which protrudes into the kettle, is it okay that the eyebolt could potentially make contact with water?
 
So complicated...

Just go to HD/Lowes/Grainger/ACE and buy a groung lug terminal.

bb_1_g_lseries_0_ph.jpg


Silver solder it in place to the outside of the kettle and then use the screw terminal to secure the ground wire.

Problem solved.
 
I can't think of good reasons why you couldn't use silver solder to put a lug in place for your ground. Silver is used in a lot of lead free solders for electrical connections. The really high percentage ones may be less ideal because of the higher temps needed (closer to brazing than soldering) but if you use P-J's suggestion above, that won't be an issue.

Also keep in mind that a ground doesn't normally conduct electricity. It's purpose is to provide a path for current to return that is lower impedance than you would be if an electrical fault occurs. So you'll want a connection that's durable because odd's are you won't know if it's bad until something else fails.
 
I can't think of good reasons why you couldn't use silver solder to put a lug in place for your ground. Silver is used in a lot of lead free solders for electrical connections. The really high percentage ones may be less ideal because of the higher temps needed (closer to brazing than soldering) but if you use P-J's suggestion above, that won't be an issue.

Also keep in mind that a ground doesn't normally conduct electricity. It's purpose is to provide a path for current to return that is lower impedance than you would be if an electrical fault occurs. So you'll want a connection that's durable because odd's are you won't know if it's bad until something else fails.
Very well said. Also - the solder joint using silver solder and flux is not part of the electrical connection to the wire. It is the connection to the kettle. The wire is connected with a terminal screw. Done deal & no problem!
 
I saw this explanation in several places that were discussing soldering stainless: "Do not silver solder electrical connections to stainless steel, as they will deteriorate over time from the acid flux needed to make the connection."

Additionally, the only soldering I've done was with an iron between wires, so I don't really trust myself to not mess this up, nor do I have a torch available. That's why I'm trying to find alternative methods which don't involve soldering or welding.

edit: just re-read the portion about the ground not typically conducting electricity.
That makes sense; considering there won't be any electricity flowing through here, optimally, I need not worry much about the solder joint detonating. I guess I need to man up, buy a torch, and practice a couple solders.
 
I saw this explanation in several places that were discussing soldering stainless: "Do not silver solder electrical connections to stainless steel, as they will deteriorate over time from the acid flux needed to make the connection."

Additionally, the only soldering I've done was with an iron between wires, so I don't really trust myself to not mess this up, nor do I have a torch available. That's why I'm trying to find alternative methods which don't involve soldering or welding.

In this case you wouldn't be soldering the wire to it, so you'd be ok. (the acid flux could wick up the wire under the insulation and cause corrosion)

But, if you can't hit it with a torch, then you'll need to find a mechanical solution. Make sure it's something that won't work loose.
 
Here is the best solder to use (From Home Depot) to place the lug on the Stainless Steel kettle.
Stay-Brite Kit with Flux

You can get a really cheap propane torch from them as well for about $15.
Propane Torch

Hope this helps.

Oh BTW: The electrical connection is not being soldered.. The lug is being soldered. Whole different deal. No Problem.
 
makubex said:
I saw this explanation in several places that were discussing soldering stainless: "Do not silver solder electrical connections to stainless steel, as they will deteriorate over time from the acid flux needed to make the connection."

Additionally, the only soldering I've done was with an iron between wires, so I don't really trust myself to not mess this up, nor do I have a torch available. That's why I'm trying to find alternative methods which don't involve soldering or welding.

edit: just re-read the portion about the ground not typically conducting electricity.
That makes sense; considering there won't be any electricity flowing through here, optimally, I need not worry much about the solder joint detonating. I guess I need to man up, buy a torch, and practice a couple solders.

I wish I would have known earlier. We could have welded a stainless steel ground tab on the kettle or you element for probably less than you paid for a torch and supplies. If you still need help with this, let me know. It would take us 15minutes to weld a tab.
 
I wish I would have thought of that earlier also, haha. My original plan was to use Kal's method, so I had all of the necessary parts purchased, but bought the wrong kind of punch and made too large of a hole.

I almost called you guys to have a ground tab welded on, but I didn't feel like driving all that way just to have you guys do a quick 15 minute task. Thankfully, I realized I could still use Kal's method with the spud you welded on. I'm still waiting for one washer to arrive in the mail, but I've verified that I'll have metal to metal contact with the spud/kettle, so everything will be grounded through the grounding screw in the gang box.

Once I decide to make my inevitable upgrade to a keggle, I'll probably want to go with all welded fittings and give you guys another call. Thanks for the offer!
 
makubex said:
I wish I would have thought of that earlier also, haha. My original plan was to use Kal's method, so I had all of the necessary parts purchased, but bought the wrong kind of punch and made too large of a hole.

I almost called you guys to have a ground tab welded on, but I didn't feel like driving all that way just to have you guys do a quick 15 minute task. Thankfully, I realized I could still use Kal's method with the spud you welded on. I'm still waiting for one washer to arrive in the mail, but I've verified that I'll have metal to metal contact with the spud/kettle, so everything will be grounded through the grounding screw in the gang box.

Once I decide to make my inevitable upgrade to a keggle, I'll probably want to go with all welded fittings and give you guys another call. Thanks for the offer!

You can still use Kal's junction box method to protect the element wiring and provide a ground connection with your spud. I did something similar with a half coupling soldered in my keggle. I measured 0 ohms from the ground tab on my plug to the keggle rim so I know I have a proper electrical connection.



image-2211254963.jpg
 
You can still use Kal's junction box method to protect the element wiring and provide a ground connection with your spud. I did something similar with a half coupling soldered in my keggle. I measured 0 ohms from the ground tab on my plug to the keggle rim so I know I have a proper electrical connection.



View attachment 104981

This is exactly my plan. I'm just waiting on a properly sized washer to arrive and then I can put everything together. It was supposed to arrive yesterday, but my friendly FedEx guy decided to leave a "unable to deliver" notice without even knocking.
 
makubex said:
I wish I would have thought of that earlier also, haha. My original plan was to use Kal's method, so I had all of the necessary parts purchased, but bought the wrong kind of punch and made too large of a hole.

I almost called you guys to have a ground tab welded on, but I didn't feel like driving all that way just to have you guys do a quick 15 minute task. Thankfully, I realized I could still use Kal's method with the spud you welded on. I'm still waiting for one washer to arrive in the mail, but I've verified that I'll have metal to metal contact with the spud/kettle, so everything will be grounded through the grounding screw in the gang box.

Once I decide to make my inevitable upgrade to a keggle, I'll probably want to go with all welded fittings and give you guys another call. Thanks for the offer!

Just let us know when. You got our number!
 

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