5500 watt element

OK, I can get a 5500 watt element for my electric heater project. That would mean I could heat 30 gallons in my HLT to 180 degrees in 1 hour and 41 minutes for less then 60 cents. The 4500 watt element I have will take 25 minutes longer. What do people think? Do I go for it?

Brewpastor said:

OK, I can get a 5500 watt element for my electric heater project. That would mean I could heat 30 gallons in my HLT to 180 degrees in 1 hour and 41 minutes for less then 60 cents. The 4500 watt element I have will take 25 minutes longer. What do people think? Do I go for it?

Click to expand...

We can rebuild him. We have the technology....Better. Stronger. Faster.

Do it!

That is all the encouragement I need!

Heres our thought on the 85g HLT were building. If you put the elements in the water bath, you will get lots of cold/hot spots. This makes temp. control difficult. You would then need to recir the water somehow and thermocouple or thermo placement would need to be placed after it gets conditioned by the elements. This in our thoughts is not a decent/effiecent design. So,
We are making a loop with SS tubing that can be broken down w/ TC connections. Water is pumped out of the HLT into a loop of 2 5500 watt 240v elements then returned back to the HLT. This will also be propane assisted. This is similiar to hot water on demand. What this does is make monitoring the water bath easier and w/o the cold/hot spots. I have a diagram of this at home (im at work now) but will post it tomorrow when i get home.

85 gallon HLT? Why so small?

My HLT is also Propane heated (check out my gallery if you haven't seen what I am talking about) and I had thought of utilizing recirculation as well. The element attaches to a tri-clover T and with a valve on the outlet of the T, perfect for connecting to the pump and recirculating back through the top of the HLT. I want a simple turn on and come back to hot water HLT.

If you have wiring tips, especially related to setting up the 240 GFCI breaker I would appreciate it.

I use a 240v 3kw heater in my HLT

And your thoughts on it? 240 is the standard in England, correct?

It's fine.
I just use it on 25L for mashing and sparging. Our 240 (standard) outlests are rated to around 15a amd the largest fuse fittable in the plug is 13amp

So if I got it right.

3000kw/240v = 12.5 amp.

I did have it fitted with a thermostat but it was inaccurate, so I just switch it off when it hits the required 77°C.

I guess if you fitted a second unit you could plug it into separate wall outlet.

In the US I guess it would be

5500/110 = 46 amps. Not sure how the outlets are rated in the US

heres the design for the HLT. We have not tested it yet. The tank is currently getting a bottom skirt and fittings welded into it. Then i still need to wire in the 240v stuff into my main panel. The pump can be used for solar heat, geothermals, hydrolic heat, or domestic hot water recirculating. It will be plumbed in place w/ TC fittings and is a 16gpm rated at 230*, 150 psi.....The panel shows a ranco, but thats most likely wont use it but rather a PID.



Pump..

That's the same kind of pump used on older UK domestic heating installations.

orfy said:

That's the same kind of pump used on older UK domestic heating installations.

Click to expand...

should work shouldnt it? Ive been speaking on and off w/ John Palmer about the bronze housing and he said go for it. The only reason he didnt write about bronze in his book is because bronze is a more expensive alloy. But would work great in the homebrew world!

Not sure how it's affected by acidity but I doubt the pump is food grade and it's never use in drinking water sysytem in the uk. Only closed heating systems.

I couldn't say one way or the other. I have used old ones but never for brewing. I'd allso question the adjustability of the pumps.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help.
Give it a go and see.

http://images.google.co.uk/images?q=central heating pump
http://www.plumbworld.co.uk/348-0000

Nice link Orfy, thanks....But i feel 100% confident about this pump after speaking w/ JP. We actually sent him the link to the exact pump and spoke in person about it at the KCBM comp. last month.....thanks again...

This is only for the HLT, correct? So it should not see the acidity like a wort pump and should not need variable flow control?

That two more good reasons for using it.

Sorry BP for the hijack........as we were!!

BP
How large are you planning your electrical brewing system, as in heater wattage and pump motor loads. Looks like most residential panel size GFCI breakers max out at 50 Amp loads, Pool and SPA sub panels go up to 60 Amp loads. Hope that your panel design includes fuses for both heater and other loads to prevent smoke and flame demonstration on smaller conductors hooked to high amperage source.

kladue said:

BP
How large are you planning your electrical brewing system, as in heater wattage and pump motor loads. Looks like most residential panel size GFCI breakers max out at 50 Amp loads, Pool and SPA sub panels go up to 60 Amp loads. Hope that your panel design includes fuses for both heater and other loads to prevent smoke and flame demonstration on smaller conductors hooked to high amperage source.

Click to expand...

I was thinking the same thing. 5500w/240v ~ 23a. Thats quite a bit right there, throw in the motor and you might have some breakers tripping on you.

I am replacing an unused 50 amp 240 breaker with a 30 amp gfci, so there shouldn't be a problem there. The pump and so forth are running off another, dedicated breaker and the draw there is not enough to cause any problems.