Grounding Kettles Properly

I am building a small electric brewery, using a stainless table, and stainless kettles. I am planning on running a ground wire to the element, and I want to enclose the wires in waterproof rubber shrink wrap. I am using a double O-Ring setup to mount the element to my kettle.

My question is, if I ground the stainless table that the kettles are sitting on, will that be sufficient to ground the kettles as well? I am pretty sure the large surface area of the two stainless surfaces touching would work, anybody else doing this? If I can avoid drilling another hole in my kettles for a ground wire I would like that. One less place for a leak. Thanks.

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Use this on the handle and tie it to ground.
No hole needed. My opinion- ground everything! Why heat shrink bare copper? Buy THHN.

I meant I was going to use heavy duty heat shrink on the end of the element to make a waterproof seal on the wired end.

I considered grounding the kettle handles, but how is that any better than grounding the stainless table the kettles are sitting on? It would be less stuff, less wires.

Do what you want. On my electric system all metallic components are mechanically bonded to earth. But what do I know!

Solid bonding to ground would be far better than your "plan".

Another issue: Plan on and make sure that your entire rig is GFCI protected.

Brewing is not the moment in time where you want to play "You bet your life."

IMHO...

Grounding / Bonding cannot be overdone. Be safe.

If you have power going to your kettle, why not ground it? You already have a cable connected to the kettle, I can't imagine why it is inconvenient to ground the kettle.

You can drill the hole for the ground at the top, above the wort line, if is more appealing.

I think grounding the cart is a bad idea. I know it's metal, and your kettle is metal, but when the kettle falls off the cart all your assumptions fall apart.


BTW, the guys above refer to "bonding". This refers to a ground that can handle a lot of amperage. Something that is "grounded" might not be able to carry the current necessary to trip the breaker (i.e., 10 or 15 amps). A true ground bondi test will drive a lot of amps through the system. Your pot sitting on a cart might not always pass that test; i.e., with enough crud, a short to the pot might not trip the breaker.

If I came off as argumentative, it wasn't intentional. I am not interested in compromising the safety of my build, that is why I was asking the question, and not just assuming. I am using GFCI's, so I am not relying on the breaker to cut the power. I figured since it only took a few mili-amps to trip the GFCI, the metal to metal connection between the pot and table would be sufficient.

Either way, I will ground the pot with it's own wired ground. You guys brought up some good points, especially the pot falling off the table. Thanks for taking the time to reply.

Technically, bonding itself isn't grounding, and isn't really related to high current. It is simply electrically connecting metal parts that are conductively separate from each other, usually for the purpose of ultimately grounding the bonded components. So, if you want a common ground for separate metal parts you can bond them together. For example, if you want a common ground for all of your equipment, you might bond one kettle to the other at some point. Gounding and bonding should be thought through to achieve your goals. It is great to think safely, but simply "going nuts" with grounding and bonding may not meet your goals, and could possibly create potential paths for current that would be undesirable.

Another question regarding setting kettles on top of a SS surface. I am concerned that the table becomes a large heat sink, sucking heat out of the kettles. To that end, I set my kettles on large cork trevettes (sp?). Not sure if this is really a concern. Anyone else have thoughts on this?

The solution I did was to drill a small 1/8" hole in the element. The hole went right through The back all the way to the front where the rubber ring is. I then threaded the hole, crimped a ring terminal to the ground wire and screwed a brass machine screw through the terminal into the hole. Then cut off the part of the screw that protruded to where the o ring is. I then did the PVC cap and potted it.

Some have silver-soldered a lug or bolt onto their vessels to attach a ground lead which seems to work ok.

JRems said:

The solution I did was to drill a small 1/8" hole in the element. The hole went right through The back all the way to the front where the rubber ring is. I then threaded the hole, crimped a ring terminal to the ground wire and screwed a brass machine screw through the terminal into the hole. Then cut off the part of the screw that protruded to where the o ring is. I then did the PVC cap and potted it.

Click to expand...

Sounds interesting Pics?

could you just solder the ground wire to the element base? would that be sufficient?

Is there any reason it would be bad to use a stainless steel screw to attach the ground wire to the kettle? I am using a turkey fryer so I don't have a skirt like on a keggle.

Im personally planming on hitting the skirt of the keg to ground the keg itself. But if u grohnd the box housing ur element and use a proper lock ring on the element it is to be considered bonded as long as it is made up tight. Thats y the ring as basically claws on it. To grip into the metal amd also bond itself. Having said that. The extra 5 min to assure a ground is never a bad idea. Just dont make it a hazard while ur brewing. And a bare ground wire is great. Everytime it contacts its raceway etc. It is making them the same potential. Which when connected to earth thats what it makes. Dont skimp. But dont say "its all to code" either. The nec is a min standard. Set urself higher.

Junkster said:

Some have silver-soldered a lug or bolt onto their vessels to attach a ground lead which seems to work ok.

Click to expand...

Good idea!