Grounding\Wiring questions on HERMS setup

I am in the process of setting up The Pol's HERM system and I have a few questions regarding the grounding and wiring of everything. Not real knowledgeable in the electrical dept, so I was hoping someone could help me out. Both the Element and stir motor only have two wires\terminals and I know it is best to ground them.

How am I supposed to do this when there is no ground terminal?
Do I just screw the ground in with the common? If so, I was going to just wire the ground into a triple gang box and back to the pug and panel. This would be better than grounding to a metal plate, correct? ( I have a wood stand)

For those of you that have copied his system, how did you mount your stir motor on the top of the cooler? I know there and threaded holes on the bottom, but I do not want to put holes all the way through the lid for this. What type of wire did you use to wire the stir motor up to your switches or plugs?

Thanks, Scott...

For the elements, just ground to the kettles, if your using a keggle, just bolt the ground to the skirt at the bottom.

In terms of the stir motor..... not sure.

There is no ground terminal on the element or stir motor. Do I just combine the ground in with the common?

Here's what I plan on doing with the element.
http://www.wortomatic.com/articles/The-Electric-HLT-(or-how-I-built-a-water-heater-in-a-cooler)

Not sure about the motor.

NO you do not want to combine ground with common.

You need to ground your kettle. Your element casing will be making contact to your kettle so you will be covered for ground.

The motor probably does not need a ground. Again if it is touching your kettle in anyway it will get grounded to the kettle. If not, it is not a big deal. Just make sure your power source is protected with a GFI.

This is the HLT I am speaking of, not the BK. I am doing natural gas burner for the BK. I guess I may have to do the copper thing. I don't really see another option. I can't see why a ground terminal is not built into these elements. Especially when they are heating water. I guess normally they are grounded by the water tank somehow.

Are you using a plastic cooler? Is that why you need the copper ring?

If so you can do it another way. I posted in another thread about using a reducing washer and drilling a hole in the outer edge. Then use a screw and locknut to attach your ground to it. I think that should work with a plastic cooler. I am not completley sure I now how the element connects in a cooler situation.

Here is a link to the other thread.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/element-grounding-164233/

smuth10 said:

This is the HLT I am speaking of, not the BK. I am doing natural gas burner for the BK. I guess I may have to do the copper thing. I don't really see another option. I can't see why a ground terminal is not built into these elements. Especially when they are heating water. I guess normally they are grounded by the water tank somehow.

Click to expand...

On my Pol style HERMS HLT in the cooler, I put an alligator clip on the ground with enough length that I could clip it on to a metal part of the ball valve handle. Seemed like the best place to safely and easily ground it.

I had also considered running the ground to the thermocouple in the bulkhead, but went the easier route.

smuth10 said:

There is no ground terminal on the element or stir motor. Do I just combine the ground in with the common?

Click to expand...

As Brewmoor said, don't bond the two. It will also trip your gfci in an instant.

On the motor, attach the ground to the chassis with a loop terminal and bolt. If you are mounting it to a surface, the screw/bolt you are using to do that would be good enough. Check for continuity between ground and a random point on the chassis. If there is none, you may have to clean up the contact point to get a good connection.

Brewmoor, thank you for that thread link. I think I may just drill a small hole in the bottom of the element and solder a grounding wire into that. Any problem with me just continuing the ground back to the plug and panel?

Code rage, I wasn't going to ground the stir motor, but I like that idea. Thanks fellas!

Scott...