kal said:HappyLoon: How are you powering your control panel? I couldn't help but notice that the voltmeter reads between 208-211V which is *really* low for a 240V 1-phase outlet.
Kal
Hey Kal,
Currently we only have a 220v outlet there, but I think it's a 30amp connection. Is it as simple as swapping it out for a 240v if the amperage is high enough?
To be honest none of us are that knowledgeable about the wiring, we had someone else do it. We did notice everything takes a bit longer to work though, especially the pumps. Would that be the reason?
I also noticed the amazon link on your site is to a 250v outlet. I'm guessing 250v is Ok?
foos-n-brew said:Hey HappyLoon - nice Foos table! From the looks of the rubber bands on the men it looks like you even practice.
Are you in MN by any chance?
Nice brewery too. That's what I hope to end up with.
Stephonovich said:The outlet rating is only that, what it's rated to handle as a maximum. Your household voltage is dependent on many things, mostly due to the load on your local substation. What you get is what you get.
foos-n-brew said:HappyLoon - do you ever go to Mort's or high Five (used to be Primetime) and play Foos? Check out minnesotafoosball.com sometime. A few of us are home brewers too. I'm gatekeeper on that site.
Happy brewing!
220V is odd. It's not usually available in the US. Are you running this in some sort of commercial environment where 208V 3-phase was available and they wired up one phase? That would make sense and explain why your pictures show 208-211V on the
When connected to two phases of a 208V 3-phase system, the heating element (designed for single phase 240V) will only produce 75% of its rated heating effect. So your 5500W elements are in effect behaving like 4125W elements. Everything will work fine, it'll just take longer to heat.
I'm not sure why you mean by the pumps taking longer. If you actually have 208V 3-phase power there and the outlet was wired correctly, he/she should have have wired it such as to provide 120V between one of the phases and neutral. This'll power the pump outlets on the control panel. So the pumps should be getting 120V. You can have them verify this with a multimeter placed on the pump receptacle.
I's typically ok to use an outlet (or any electronic device) that is rated to carry higher voltage or current than what you intend to use. The outlets rated to 250V can be used to carry voltages up to 250V. It doesn't have to be 250V.
Kal
Likely not. While voltage can fluctuate slightly (for example it dips a bit in the summer during the day when everyone runs their A/C units), normally it's only slight. A dip from 240 down to 208 is enormous, into the danger zone for many devices, and would not be wanted or allowed under normal circumstances by any power company. That would be 104V on a 120V line and could damage equipment.I guess I'm not sure why the voltage is low, could it be we just don't have enough power to the building?
What sort of building is it? Is this s private home or a commercial/industrial location? Homes never have 3-phase 208V power. Commercial/industrial locations sometimes have 3-phase 208V power available to them.
Kal
kal said:Wiring up 3-phase is not an option. The control panel needs 1-phase power.
Kal
kal said:Most definitely. I would start with the electrician however. You likely have 1-phase power too.
Kal
Nope. I scoop grain with a bowl. Kettle gets turned 90 degrees and dumped into the sink. Most of the hop gunk I put in my spent grain bucket and it gets put in city food composting bin (our city recycles organic matter).Do you use the shop vac to suck out grains or hop sludge? Some people on here say it works well, others say it's a mess inside the shop vac.
The problem with doing something like that is that you're not just filtering out hops. You also have hot break to contend with, and if you chill in the boil kettle, cold break as well. Both will likely clog up the false bottom excessively causing flow to stop.Does anyone use the blichmann false bottom in their boil kettle to screen whole hops?
kal said:220V is odd. It's not usually available in the US. Are you running this in some sort of commercial environment where 208V 3-phase was available and they wired up one phase?
120/208 is generally more desirerable. when you have 120/240v 3 phase you cannot use the B phase for 120 volt loads. So unless you have lots of 3 phase equipt you end up with lots of wasted panel space. I only ever see 120/240v 3 phase in older buildings.
the simplest/ cheapest/easiest thing would be to just get larger wattage elements. google search "6000 watt water heater element". camco makes a lwd element at 6000watts (its 6000w at 240v) so at 208v the wattage will be closer to what other folks are getting at 240v. with their 4500 or 5500 watt elements
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