Panel power supply

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SmokingDog

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This may be a no-brainer but, if I have a 220, 50a welder outlet, is that breaker going to be too big for brewing?

Im guessing my setup would burn down before the breaker ever tripped.

Thoughts?
 
That will be fine for your use in brewing. The secret is the design of your brew rig. First thing in the setup is that you MUST protect it with A GFCI circuit protector. The next task in your design is to properly protect the circuits within your control panel with circuit breakers or fuses.

There are lots of ways to accomplish what you want to do. You just need to decide on your mission in brewing.

P-J
 
So it shouldnt be a problem for me to run a 50amp power supply to my control box. Given that a gfci is in proper place.
 
So as long as I use a 50 SSR, I will be safe.

P-J, would you mind if I sent you a quick sketch?
 
There is NO problem with having a supply that is much greater ampacity than you need, but you should protect the individual sub-circuits within your panel with properly sized fuses or breakers. I've got 30a slow-blow fuses on my heater circuits and the panel is fed from a 50a GFCI breaker. As mentioned above, having the GFCI is critical since it only takes a few milliamps to kill you.
 
Lets see, I realize I'm a tight-wad, but this just might be smarter/easier/better to wire ($10 for 6ga) a 50a breaker ($8), receptical ($6) for the welder separately.

mabrungard, what are a couple 30a fuses going to cost and room for them in the control box?
 
Ok, after thinking about this a little more, and actually stopping at HD to see the spa-panel box, what about this idea?

Spa-panel is hardwired from the main box (100a) in the shed. Wire the 50a receptical directly to the spa-panel with the receptical in the side of the panel (welder plugs in here). Add the 30a breaker to the spa-panel, wired to a 30a receptical in the side of the panel as well (brewery control panel plugs in here).

Am I missing a 50a breaker in the main box?
Is there any reason I can't have the recepticals coming directly out of the spa-panel side (space permitting)?

I'm trying to avoid a tree effect of panels and outlet boxes coming off the main.
 
Are you trying to achieve 30a or 50a service to your control panel? I know you have a 50a welding outlet, but what is the breaker size in your main box?
 
Are you trying to achieve 30a or 50a service to your control panel? I know you have a 50a welding outlet, but what is the breaker size in your main box?

I don't actually have anything in the "main" panel yet. Trying to decide the best way to go without buying extra. I have a 100a main in the shed. I think I'm just going to wire two separate lines; 50a for the welder, 30a for the brewery.

Does anyone actually build their control box using the spa-panel itself?
 
I picked up twin fuse holders from ebay for about $6 each. I needed 1 holder for each of my 3 element circuits. The fuses are cheap too, like $5 per pair at a home improvement store. Circuit breakers might be comparable in price, but I don't know how you would incorporate them into a panel that didn't have the blade mounts that exist in a typical breaker panel.
 
I am just putting the finishing touches on a single vessel eBIAB setup. I used a 8" x 10" x 6" enclosure and it was getting tight in there for me, you'll never fit it all in the Home Depot GE spa panel IMHO. I would go with a 10" x 12" or 12" x 12" for most minimalistic e-breweries, and a 12" x 18" for a full-on three vessel setup. All boxes should be at least 6" deep IME.
 
Does anyone actually build their control box using the spa-panel itself?

I haven't heard of anyone using the spa panel to as their control panel. There really isn't enough room in them for the breakers, PID's, contactors, switches, etc.

Some folks have put the GFCI breaker in their control panel, which is not the best design - in my opinion. If the panel gets wet, the main lines would still be hot even though the GFCI breaker trips.

There's a good discussion of this and a video of a guy who accidentally pumped water or wort directly on his control panel. The breaker trips and all is saved. There is no power going to the panel. since it is plugged in 8 feet away. If the GFCI breaker were in the panel, a shock hazard continues to exist.h
 
pvtschultz said:
I am just putting the finishing touches on a single vessel eBIAB setup. I used a 8" x 10" x 6" enclosure and it was getting tight in there for me, you'll never fit it all in the Home Depot GE spa panel IMHO. I would go with a 10" x 12" or 12" x 12" for most minimalistic e-breweries, and a 12" x 18" for a full-on three vessel setup. All boxes should be at least 6" deep IME.

Absolutely on the 6" deep. I got a 12x12x4 from HomeDepot today and it was definitely too small with the 4" depth.
 
HA! Found a 30a gfci Sq-D QO breaker on ebay for $75 shipped! I was already at $64 with the spa-panel and std 30a breaker (still needed other misc hardware).

And $2/ft for 10-4 cord in a 20 foot remnant at HD. Time to trade the spa-panel back in for a project box.
 
I hope that it is a two pole GFI breaker otherwise you'll need to run a separate power source for the 120V appliances.
 
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