Heat Stick Question

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Cpt_Kirks

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Will a 2kw heat stick raise the temp of 60* water to 170*?

If so, how long will it take?

I know two sticks will boil water, and one will hold it at a boil, but am wondering about lower (strike) temps.
 
I know this doesn't answer your question, but I recently raised 10 gallons of water in a keg from 40F to 130F in 2 hours using a 1000w bucket heater....the garage was 35F. On a warm day I bet I could get it to strike temps, especially if I covered it.

For now, I just get myself in the neighborhood and finish it off in a few minutes with the burner.
 
I know this doesn't answer your question, but I recently raised 10 gallons of water in a keg from 40F to 130F in 2 hours using a 1000w bucket heater....the garage was 35F. On a warm day I bet I could get it to strike temps, especially if I covered it.

For now, I just get myself in the neighborhood and finish it off in a few minutes with the burner.

I'm thinking of going the opposite way, kind of. Using the burner, along with the stick, to get up to temp real quick. Then, use the stick to maintain it.

Though, if I can use just the stick to heat strike water (for mash and sparge) in a reasonable amount of time, that would simplify my top level design.
 
Will a 2kw heat stick raise the temp of 60* water to 170*?

If so, how long will it take?

I know two sticks will boil water, and one will hold it at a boil, but am wondering about lower (strike) temps.

Assuming 5 gal and heat loss equivalent to my aluminum kettle, 45 minutes.
 
To roughly(best case scenario) calculate you'd need to know how much water you are trying to increase the temp of.

You can do a real back of the envelope calculation, not taking into account heat loss, which would depend on your level of insulation. There is also no account for the efficiency in your heater.

If we know 1BTU is required to raise 1lb of water 1 degree F, and we know 1 watt = 3.4 BTU/hr

If say you had 5 gallons of water, you wanted to raise from 60-170F, that would be 5 gallons * 8.3lb/gallon raising 110F so thats 110F*41.5lb = 4565 BTUs.

If your 2000watt element is 2000watts * 3.4 BTUs/watt, that would be 6800 BTU/hr.

So knowing you need 4565BTUs and you can provide 6800BTU/hr, dividing the two, you'd get 4565 BTU/6800 BTU/hr = .67hrs or about 40min.

Again this is not taking into account heat lost, but it should give you a ball park.
 
Just guessing here from my own experience, a 2 kw stick will raise 5 gal fro 60 to 170 in about 45 -60 minutes depending on the vessel and ambient conditions. 2000 watts will do alot, just cant be watching and tapping your toes...plan ahead and get the wter on early and you will do fine IMO.
 

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