Electric Heater Element in HLT

I have been experimenting with using a water heater element. I want to put it in my water cooler so that when I mash all I have to do is select the next temperature and not have to fire up the gas burner. Saves gas and I don't have to keep checking temps and over shooting and etc. Plus I like gadgets.

So I bought a $10 water heater element, and a $2 bucket. drilled a hole. Mounted it in my test bucket and wired it up using a junk extension cord I had laying around. Works surprisingly well. Heats 5 gal of water 2 deg a minute.
I used a 120v 2000 Watt version. I do have it on a GFCI. I have 4 kids that need their daddy.

What I did notice is the first batch all of the "chrome" plating began to flake off. Metal particles all in the water and some kind of film floating on the top.
I rinsed the bucket good. took the element out and used scotch bright and took the rest of the coating off of the element. Boiled another 5 gals. Not as bad but still a film floating on top of the water.
My question is do any of you get a metallic taste in your beer having the element come in contact with the water? Any off flavors?
I do not plan on it coming in contact with the wort. Only the Mashing supply water.
Thanks for any input.

Haven't had that issue and I have two elements mounted in my keggle. Is that bucket food safe and able to handle the temperatures?

Dgonza9 said:

Haven't had that issue and I have two elements mounted in my keggle. Is that bucket food safe and able to handle the temperatures?

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Thanks for the reply. This bucket it just for testing before I drill on my cooler.
I wanted to see how hot it would get. And if it was even worth trying to make it work.
Taking it to 180 deg was not an issue and the bucket is fine so far. I have no intentions of heating water above 180 with this thing.
I am still pretty concerned about the stuff coming off of the element.
You didn't have any issues burning in your elements and coatings or flakes in your water?

It should work fine. I use the same element in a heat stick to boil 7.5 gallons of wort. As for the coating coming off, I haven't noticed that. Mine is still on there. I'd be worried if flakes were coming off. It may be a defect. Did the element get turned on at all without being submerged in water? That will ruin it very quickly.

material flaking off a heating element is very weird. I use heat sticks also, and I haven't seen that.

I mean, think about it, those things go in your hot water heater, and that hot water can go directly into your food, drinks, whatever. It can't just be flaking off unsafe material like that.

i'd return the element and get a different brand.

I am going to try another brand. I have never ran it out of water. It must be defective. Kind of scary if I would have put that in my water heater. I wouldn't be able to see what it was doing and would be consuming these flakes.
Thanks for your input.

Can't really tell from the photo, but is that a pvc coupling threaded on the element inside the bucket...copper or stainless would be my choice. Also, you want to ground the element w/ the green wire.

Yes that is PVC. That is the only thing the hardware store had that would work for testing the element. I am trying to find a stainless coupling or half coupling but they are hard to find. Do you know of any sources? I am trying to stay away from using copper on my rig.
The GFCI will still work if the ground is not connected. It measures the difference between the hot and neutral. If I had a metal test bucket I would for sure have it connected. But in this set up I have nothing to connect it to.
Thanks for the input.

Any small amounts of copper in the wort will be consumed by the yeast. Breweries with all copper equipment have shown that no copper makes it to the beer. It actually helps remove sulfides from the wort.

seabass07 said:

Any small amounts of copper in the wort will be consumed by the yeast. Breweries with all copper equipment have shown that no copper makes it to the beer. It actually helps remove sulfides from the wort.

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Well I found a copper water heater element. 120v 2000 watts.
Heats the water 2.5 deg a minute. I feel much better with the copper one than the chrome plated one.
The brand was Richmond. RP10874GH.
I will probably run two if these on a temp controller.
I did not know this about the brewery.
Thanks for the info.

For 10 bucks there's no reason not to use the copper one, I guess. I too have been using heating elements for over a year in heat sticks, RIMS tube, and now that I've retired the heat sticks, mounted in my keggle. No flakes. Maybe they came from the pvc coupling. It's not meant for higher temps like cpvc is.

If you're looking for hardware, go to www.bargainfittings.com. They have locknuts and stainless steel gaskets you can use for mounting the element.

If you used soft water for your test, it may be build-up that is flaking off the element. When I built/tested my eHLT, I forgot to bypass the water softener and within a few minutes had white build up covering the entire element. 15 batches later it is still chipping away, but it has a nice chrome finish underneath.

Anybody know how many amps this element is rated for? I have one and I think it may have damaged my relay on my controller. Was working fine until it got up to the 93 celcius range and then shut of power to the outputs.

Any help is appreciated. If you know who makes the STC-1000....let me know so I can contact them.

STC-1000 relay is rated at 10 amps. A 2000w element on 120v is running almost 17 amps.

Watts/volts=amps .Whatever your using to protect it should be 80% of the load if it draws 17 amps it must be protected by a device rated for 25 or 30 amps .

Where do you plan on locating the element? Below the false bottom?
I foresee scorched wort because you really won't be able to continually stir the wort.
Locating above the false bottom won't work well either... you will be constantly crashing into the element while stirring.
There is a reason why people use a RIMS tube and a pump, but maybe you've thought this through already.
BTW, you absolutely need to ground the element base... it's called a GFIC for a reason.
You should also cover the element connections, even if it is just an experiment. Wrap it with electrical tape at least. Remember... your kids need a daddy.

2x 2000watt elements under the false bottom. Not pumps, no stirring, no problem. They are Home Depot elements at like $10 a piece. Maybe somebody has had a problem, I have not. Also keep in mind I do BIAB with thin mashes and cut power to stir if I had LME so this may have helped my experience.

OP said it was going in HLT so there shouldn't be a false bottom in there.

So did i destroy they output relay? There is no power for both the heat or cooling side!

owentp said:

So did i destroy they output relay? There is no power for both the heat or cooling side!

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Unfortunately, I would think yes...that is a lot of amps to run through a controller. I am surprised it didn't pop sooner, regrets.

Thanks. So mo replacing it other than a new controller? How best can i protect it in the future when i get a new one? Is there simething to hook up to the controller ot between the power in cord & outlet?

Without hijacking this thread much more than it already has been, look up PIDs and how others have incorporated them into their electric setups. Your STC will not work. Just wont. People use them for kegerators, ferm chambers and keezers where they only pull 3-5 amps.

I'm not experienced with the electrical side of things, so I may be blowing smoke here, but I don't see any reason it couldn't work if he connected it to, say, a 120V relay of sufficient amperage. You shouldn't even need an SSR, as a simple temperature controller isn't going to cycle it on and off rapidly like a PID would, so a mechanical relay ought to do the trick and make for a simpler setup that's still safe. The relay would draw very little current itself to operate its internal switch, while the relay would carry the much larger load itself for the heating element.

Or am I off-base with my reasoning?

latium said:

I'm not experienced with the electrical side of things, so I may be blowing smoke here, but I don't see any reason it couldn't work if he connected it to, say, a 120V relay of sufficient amperage. You shouldn't even need an SSR, as a simple temperature controller isn't going to cycle it on and off rapidly like a PID would, so a mechanical relay ought to do the trick and make for a simpler setup that's still safe. The relay would draw very little current itself to operate its internal switch, while the relay would carry the much larger load itself for the heating element.

Or am I off-base with my reasoning?

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You are right. However, given the lost cost of SSR's with heat sinks off fleabay, I would not take a chance and go for them. In fact, a mechanical relay might end up costing more money than the SSR.

Cheers !

nate456789 said:

when I mash all I have to do is select the next temperature and not have to fire up the gas burner.

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kluge9 said:

OP said it was going in HLT so there shouldn't be a false bottom in there.

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Read better.

+1 on the PID/SSR/heat sink
Get the set that comes with the PT100 sensor... much more accurate, and if you want to cut down the leads, it compensates.