This is why I brew alone

I had some people over watching my brew day and I wasn't paying attention to my HLT level. I heard a POP! from the breaker and immediately knew I ran it dry. I need to somehow have an auto shut off when the water gets low so this doesn't happen again, the elements are only about $12 but it's a pain to replace.

Bummer.

For the pain and suffering of replacing the element and hampering a brewday, have you thought about going with the Camco ULD?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000BPG4LI/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

$23 at Amazon right now. No more popping...

Thanks!! it I ever do it again I'll replace it with one of those.

Manoaction:
I hate to burst your bubble but I dry fired two of the camco ripple elements for several minutes and had the same result as Monster Mash with one of the elements. They are resistant to dry firing but not very...

Don't know how your element is wired in but if you use a ssr you could put one of these in.

Chrisl77 said:

Don't know how your element is wired in but if you use a ssr you could put one of these in.

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Yes. I just did this. BTW, Auber Instruments sell these now too for about $11, or you can get one from China on ebay for about $8. I found that the wires are pretty fragil on these where they come out of the tube. When I get the gumption I'll post up how I set mine up. I used a switch to take it out of the loop when using the boil kettle.

jsguitar said:

Yes. I just did this. BTW, Auber Instruments sell these now too for about $11, or you can get one from China on ebay for about $8. I found that the wires are pretty fragil on these where they come out of the tube. When I get the gumption I'll post up how I set mine up. I used a switch to take it out of the loop when using the boil kettle.

Click to expand...

The Aubers site says their switch is only rated to 130 degrees. I'm curious how accurate that really is.

cheez said:

The Aubers site says their switch is only rated to 130 degrees. I'm curious how accurate that really is.

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Yeah, I noticed that too. I'm 99% sure that's Celsius as that would match with the specs I've seen for what appears to be the same switch elsewhere. I just sent them an email about it.

Auber updated their description for the float switch here. It's rated for -10C-130C or 14F-266F.

stevehaun said:

Manoaction:
I hate to burst your bubble but I dry fired two of the camco ripple elements for several minutes and had the same result as Monster Mash with one of the elements. They are resistant to dry firing but not very...

Click to expand...

*sad music plays* And here I thought I was immune.

jsguitar said:

Auber updated their description for the float switch here. It's rated for -10C-130C or 14F-266F.

Click to expand...

Wow! I'm always really paranoid about my HLT heating element, and even still I've heard it sizzle several times as the water level ran low. If I hadn't been in the room at just the right time, I'd have lost my heating element.

So I'll definitely be installing one of these floating switches. (Here's the link to the Auber float, for anyone else interested.) For anyone who's installed it: how do you wire it in? Do the two wires interrupt one of the SSR wires?

You attach it to the dc side of your ssr that tells the ssr when to turn on and off.

Chrisl77 said:

You attach it to the dc side of your ssr that tells the ssr when to turn on and off.

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It's been a while since I wired my control panel, so I'm a little fuzzy - I'll have to dig around in there to refresh my memory. But as I recall, I have my PID wired to turn the SSR on/off. So I'm curious how to wire both the PID and the float to trigger the SSR. I guess you somehow wire them in series?

0verdrive said:

It's been a while since I wired my control panel, so I'm a little fuzzy - I'll have to dig around in there to refresh my memory. But as I recall, I have my PID wired to turn the SSR on/off. So I'm curious how to wire both the PID and the float to trigger the SSR. I guess you somehow wire them in series?

Click to expand...

I just posted how I did mine here if it helps.

I had a friend over in the dim past who thought it would be cool to get ****faced while we brewed beer. He didn't really get it about playing with a pump, scalding water, and getting blitzed. He didn't get invited back...

0verdrive said:

It's been a while since I wired my control panel, so I'm a little fuzzy - I'll have to dig around in there to refresh my memory. But as I recall, I have my PID wired to turn the SSR on/off. So I'm curious how to wire both the PID and the float to trigger the SSR. I guess you somehow wire them in series?

Click to expand...

Put in line between the pid and the ssr on the positive dc line. When the water level is high enough it will complete the circuit. If the water level gets to low it will open up and kill the control power to the ssr.

Just a point, depending on which is the on position of this float, You should be able to be inverted to turn on or off at that level. You might want to verify the wiring of the switch before drilling any holes.

I agree with brewing alone. Last time i was teaching someone to brew on stovetop and i left my temp probe wire too close to my flame and it melted the wires.

After about 40 flawless batches on my electric rig, I burnt up my first element a few weeks back. It was also in the HLT, and happened during the sparge, but I can't blame it on anyone but me since I was brewing alone and I got distracted by something else I was doing. I've replaced the element and bought a float switch online, but haven't had a chance to install the switch yet.

As your friendly plumber, dry firing sucks Something I'd recommend, seeing you have to replace the element anyways, is going to your local plumbing supply house and getting an Incoloy type element. They're only a few bucks more, but they'll tolerate dry firing for the most part.