Spa Panel question

Heres my situation....... I currently brew in a temporary location of which I plan to be moving in the future. I have decided to begin brewing with a 50a electric brewery of which I have recently acquired. I will need to wire the 50a service to my brewing location which is just across the basement from breaker box. Unfortunately my breaker box here does not have any room left in it. How would you go about running this service? 50a gfci in an additional box? Spa panel with 50a gfci? Keep in mind I would like to have mobility with whatever I set up here because I will be relocating in the future.

I am very new to ebrewing so please dumb it down as best you can .

Thanks!!!!

JUST_BREW_IT said:

Heres my situation....... I currently brew in a temporary location of which I plan to be moving in the future. I have decided to begin brewing with a 50a electric brewery of which I have recently acquired. I will need to wire the 50a service to my brewing location which is just across the basement from breaker box. Unfortunately my breaker box here does not have any room left in it. How would you go about running this service? 50a gfci in an additional box? Spa panel with 50a gfci? Keep in mind I would like to have mobility with whatever I set up here because I will be relocating in the future.

I am very new to ebrewing so please dumb it down as best you can .

Thanks!!!!

Click to expand...

If you are that new to electric brewing, but mainly electric work like this in general, step 1 should be to consult an electrician to complete the work.

aside from that if you have no more room in the main box that is your first problem and project to tackle.[first check to see if possible there is an old circuit that inst really being used... an old stove or dryer outlet that is not used anymore, you can possibly re purpose that panel slot] If not, You will need to install a larger panel ( and depending on what your service amperage is this may or not be a good idea). This is something you will definitely need to have a professional come in and do if you have never worked on something like this before.... service power to the panel will need to be turned off ( by power company), new panel installed and everything patched over, and power turned back on. \

Once this is complete, and you have room in the panel, then a 50amp sub panel ( the spa panel ) can be installed.

again, I reinforce that if you have never done anything like this before, you should talk with an electrician first.

This is not a DIY project. You will, at minimum, have to install a sub panel which means removing some breakers from the main panel to the sub panel, wiring the sub panel to the main panel using a breaker in the slots from which you have removed breakers, installing the (GFCI) breaker for the brewing equipment circuit and wiring the circuit into which the brewing equipment will plug or connect. You will also need to check that adding a 11 kVa load does not exceed the capacity of your service or the capacity of the utility's transformer from which your service is derived. Even if you had the know-how to do all this it is probable that your jurisdiction will require a permit and inspections for work of this extent. While we all derive a certain satisfaction from thumbing our noses at the government it is wise to remember that you may also be thumbing your nose at your home insurance company. Call an electrician.

yes I definitely plan on having an electrician do this. I just wanted to ask opinions on my best options for being mobile (i.e. moving in the future).

My opinion for mobility is a spa panel. You can take that with you alongside the breaker from the main and move anywhere. You should count your main and see if the breakers add up to the total amps of the main. For example, I have a 200 amp main panel. With the breakers I had before, I could tandem 8 total. I only needed to tandem 4. I freed up enough for a 90a breaker in my main, it is ran through the box to a sub panel (I think spa panels cap out at 60a and I have other stuff going on off the sub) and then the sub panel itself has gfci breakers where needed. So you may have room, you have to check the breakers you have. Knowing if you have room will at least let you be aware if someone is trying to sell you on a sub panel THEN a spa panel as well. Don't try to draw more than your city is giving you, it won't go well from what I understand.

My insurance company also said unless I work with a permit and have a license, they generally will give me crap about a payout. It'll take longer and if there is a single hint of possible fault on my part, they won't pay. So I paid a qualified electrician.

For what its worth I EBIAB with a 30amp setup plugged into dryer outlet.I run a 10G 25 ft extention cord to my brew location.Then simply roll up the extention cord.Works like a charm.If you have a dryer in the basement and are willing to go 30 amp Id think that would be your easiest and cheapest route. Just my 2 cents