Troubleshooting help

At least you know what the issue is and have an idea of what it might take to resolve it.

That in itself is a major hurdle.

On wiring:

If the wiring from the control to the element is a three wire power cord, the colors will be black, white & green. Black is one hot leg, white is the other hot leg and green is the safety ground that is attached to the outside of the pot. There is no neutral connection on the 240V heating element.

If the wiring from the wall outlet to the control box is three wires the wires are still black, white & green. Black is one hot leg, white is the other hot leg and green is both the safety ground and neutral. This is way older stove & dryer outlets are wired.

If the wiring from the wall outlet to the control box is four wires the wires are black, red, white & green (or bare). Black is one hot leg, red is the other hot leg, white is neutral and green is the safety ground. This is way newer stove & dryer & GFI outlets are wired.

mine is all 3 wire. All the way to the breaker. How is it that I'm getting 240v to the other outlets (like the dryer) on a similar 2 pole breaker? Could it be the breaker is different?

tunaboatbeer said:

mine is all 3 wire. All the way to the breaker. How is it that I'm getting 240v to the other outlets (like the dryer) on a similar 2 pole breaker? Could it be the breaker is different?

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You may be lucky here. Might be a bad breaker. Try reading two different breakers that are set side by side and see what your voltage is. The dryer is fed out of this same panel correct?

correct, there are 3 other large 2 pole breakers in the same box as the brewery breaker. Are there different types of 2 pole breakers (single phase and multiple phase)?

The appliances in the kitchen are all new, but the dryer is still old and could possibly be the same 3 wire plug. I'll try unplugging the dryer tonight and checking the voltage across the 2 hot wires on it.

A picture of your breaker panel would be quite helpful. Make sure the main feed wires are visible too.

can do. I'll take a pic tonight

Did you use a tandem breaker that splits it into 2 branches, but both on the same phase? You need double pole breaker that hooks onto both phases and takes up 2 spots.

BrotherGrim said:

Wait.... A three prong wall socket? Is this a 3 prong 240V AC dryer socket, or a standard 115V wall socket? 240V is two 115 (110, 120, what ever) that are from opposite legs in the distribution panel. I never checked the phasing of household wiring with the O-Scope so I don't know if they are 180 deg or 120 deg out of phase, but that is not really required information. What is required is a picture of the socket you are feeding from, and if you installed it, how is it wired up?

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No scope is required. The fact that it is 120/240v means it is 180 out of phase. 120/208v would be 120 out. US household is center tapped on a single phase transformer for "split phase".

here is the panel. Sorry it's a little blurry. The brewery breaker is the bottom left. It is a true 2 pole, not a tandem. It's "double wide" like the other large breakers

Well, I can see it's a 240v panel with a main. Probably your service disconnect.

It looks like a GE with a lot of mini breakers. Can you zoom in on your brewery feed breaker? I can't see exactly what that is.

Sorry. The image covers a huge section of the wall and what needs to be seen is a much closer image of the breakers. I'm not able to see the breaker or the wiring of it.

This is the only other picture I have on my phone.

If you remove the breaker above your feed breaker, move the two pole feed up one space and reinstall the one you removed on the bottom, I think you'll have it.

lschiavo said:

If you remove the breaker above your feed breaker, move the two pole feed up one space and reinstall the one you removed on the bottom, I think you'll have it.

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That would be awesome if that's all it is. I'll try it today. I would think at this point that it would have to be breaker related at least.....

It's those GE minies. The two poles have to span both stabs. When you pull them out, you'll see the issue.

lschiavo said:

If you remove the breaker above your feed breaker, move the two pole feed up one space and reinstall the one you removed on the bottom, I think you'll have it.

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I believe you have the answer - these boxes are setup as (with + being one 120V side & - being the other 120V side).

+
+
-
-
+
+
-
-
+
+
-
-
+
+
-
-
+
+
-
-

So, the breaker is plugged into -- and needs to move up one to be plugged into +-.

very interesting. That makes sense and I had no clue about that. I'll switch them and report back with good news hopefully.

It works! Now I just need to figure out why the temp probe isn't reading correctly

Make sure your PID is set for the right probe type.

tunaboatbeer said:

It works! Now I just need to figure out why the temp probe isn't reading correctly

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Awesome! I just got a chance to check back in. I actually enjoy electrical troubleshooting but it's a bit frustrating and more time consuming long distance via a forum...anyway, glad you're in business.

As suggested, it sounds like just PID parameters to set now. Good luck.