120/240vac Switchable elements

I have been brewing on a 30-amp control panel with 5500w elements for a few years now. It works great!

One thing that I would like to do is to shorten my brew day a bit. A bit part of the start is heating water. I usually brew 1/2bbl batches so that is quite a bit of water. Since I only have 30-amps of service I can only run one element at a time which essentially doubles my heating time.

My thought to help fix this is to modify my system so that I can switch the element power from 120 to 240vac depending on what I am doing. If I did the calculations right it would theoretically take around 4.5-5 hours to bring 23 gallons of water to strike with a 1400 watt element at 95% heat retention. I could set a timer at let the both vessels run at the same time over night so that when I go out to the garage at 0630 the water is ready to go.

Has anyone does something like this? I am using a BCS for my controls.

In regard to a literal switch between 120 and 240v on an element @Bobby_M uses that configuration in this video: [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AGUOCeM-WU[/ame]

In regard to BCS, sorry I'm no help. If you wanted to rig up an arduino to do it I might be able to help.

That should help me. Thanks. Just need a physical 120/240 switch. BCS will do the rest of the logic.

I'm not too worried about the BCS part. I figured I should mention how I control so we don't go down the time rabbit hole. That part is covered.

Here is a switch: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002E8HI56/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

And the first review is promising: " I used this to rewire my water heater to have the option of running at 120 or 240v with the flick of a switch."

Sweet. Hope to get this implemented in the next few months!

sandyeggoxj said:

That should help me. Thanks. Just need a physical 120/240 switch. BCS will do the rest of the logic.

I'm not too worried about the BCS part. I figured I should mention how I control so we don't go down the time rabbit hole. That part is covered.

Click to expand...

why not use a relay controlled by the BCS that way you can even add some level of automation to when it does it if needed right?

Here is how I solved this problem. Instead of running both elements at 120, I am time sharing them. What happens in practice is that one vessel will heat up first. Once it gets to temperature the PID only calls for minimal duty cycle to maintain the temperature. At this point the second element starts firing for the majority of the time.

I have since modified my original implementation so I have a switch to select which element has priority. This way I can start heating cleaning water in the HLT while the boil is going, and I won't affect the boil by switching it's element down to 120V. Instead of a switch you could use an extra output from the BCS to change priority if needed.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=479201

On my rig, I switch 120/240 for my RIMS element. I use 240 (5500W) for heating strike water, mashing out, and on-the-fly direct sparging. I use 120 for mash rests and steps.

It is (was) BCS controlled, so the automation switches the power as needed. Works great!

BrunDog said:

On my rig, I switch 120/240 for my RIMS element. I use 240 (5500W) for heating strike water, mashing out, and on-the-fly direct sparging. I use 120 for mash rests and steps.

It is (was) BCS controlled, so the automation switches the power as needed. Works great!

Click to expand...

Can you post an example schematic and relay used for that?

thekraken said:

Can you post an example schematic and relay used for that?

Click to expand...

Here's a design that uses a relay to switch between 120V & 240V output. Need to replace the switch that controls the R30A relay with a 5V coil relay controlled by the BCS. The R30A is rated for 30A@240V on the NO contacts and 20A on the NC contacts, so the second 240V hot line MUST connect to the NO contact.



Brew on

Thanks Doug!