Interested in eBIAB, have questions.

Hey everyone..

So as it says, im interested in going AG with an eBIAB to accomodate my small apartment. I checked my breaker box and i have 1 breaker at 20A for the kitchen. Does this mean i cant use 2, 2000w elements on seperate plugs? Or is the fact that the kitchen is on one 20A breaker kill this for me..

Im not an electrician, so any help here would be great before i go buy things. I really want to do the 2 element route on separate plugs in my kitchen, but if nothing else works i can use my 240v for the electric range i have, but i dont want to do this if i dont have to.

Insight please?

You need to have the elements plugged into receptacles which are down line from two different 20 amp breakers. Do NOT plug two elements into two different boxes on the same circuit.

Yes, only one 2000W element if it is only one breaker. Have you thought about using your stove plus a 2000W element?

I've thought about it, but i was given a keg i'm going to convert to a keggle and do BIAB in that. I think i'll be fine using my 1, 2000w element in the kitchen and run a rated extension cord to a different 15A circuit to a 1500w element.

What i planned on doing is getting a project box and putting 2 light switches in it with a GFCI outlet. If i have the outlet in the box, do i need to have both GFCI outlets that the control box is plugged into from my apartment? Or can they be whatever because i've got the GFCI outlet that the elements themselves will go to in the project box.

Also, can i get away with 1, 20A GFCI outlet on my project box? Or would i need 1, 20A and 1, 15A?

I'm not a qualified electrician, but you want to keep each circuit separate in this case, I think. Each line would need its own GFI. Unless you can run two circuits to a 20 amp GFCI outlet, you know, wire the top plug for the 20 amp line and the bottom for 15 amp, and pray to god you never confuse the two! Bottom line, be careful. This stuff is serious.

What if you have a ground fault in the box upstream of the GFCI outlet?

Just my $.02...

...I wouldn't mount the GFCI's in the project box. I'd rather have a GFCI trip as far downstream as possible to keep the electricity as far away from the issue that caused it to trip. You can easily make a small extension cord with a GFCI Plug/Outlet on the end of it to keep it out of the project box.

You will need 2 separate GFCI's, one for each circuit. You already have one in the kitchen so you have a second one that you'll need for that 2nd circuit.

2X 1500W Elements have ample power to boil 7.5 gallons at full throttle, if you're going to run 2X elements than go with the 1500W elements unless you plan on moving to 10 gallon finished batches.

I would suggest this. Plug the 2000W into the GFCI in the kitchen and plug the 1500W into the GFCI in the bathroom. should be on 2 different circuits and both GFCI protected. Make sure they are in different circuits by plugging in your vacuum cleaner and flipping the breaker

ekjohns said:

I would suggest this. Plug the 2000W into the GFCI in the kitchen and plug the 1500W into the GFCI in the bathroom. should be on 2 different circuits and both GFCI protected. Make sure they are in different circuits by plugging in your vacuum cleaner and flipping the breaker

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Had already thought of this, and the outlet in my bathroom is NOT GFCI protected. Im not sure why, but it isnt. Stupid planning on whoever built it i guess?

Anyway, i already did the build. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f170/my-nickel-dime-ebiab-build-367874/ It turned out great. Should work fine, IMO.

Schlomo said:

Had already thought of this, and the outlet in my bathroom is NOT GFCI protected. Im not sure why, but it isnt. Stupid planning on whoever built it i guess?

Anyway, i already did the build. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f170/my-nickel-dime-ebiab-build-367874/ It turned out great. Should work fine, IMO.

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I bought a GFCI single outlet converter thingy from Home Depot for $12. It just plugs into any outlet

even though you do not need it you should talk to your apartment manager cause a GFCI in the bathroom is now code and I believe by law they must replace it with one

ekjohns said:

even though you do not need it you should talk to your apartment manager cause a GFCI in the bathroom is now code and I believe by law they must replace it with one

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Yeah i probably should, but they have a crazy policy on dogs i usually dont ask them questions because i dont want to drop a the crazy $250 dog fee per dog to register my new pup with them. Thats alot of beer i could brew, and if they come in my apartment to do the fix they would probably notice i have 2 dogs instead of one haha.

The plug in the bathroom is about 6 feet away from the sink on the opposite side of the counter. I'm not too worried about it ATM but yeah it really should be fixed, maybe i'll give them the tip when i move out.

dallasdb said:

I bought a GFCI single outlet converter thingy from Home Depot for $12. It just plugs into any outlet

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I remember looking at these and planning on buying one.. not sure why i didnt