Heating Element Enclosures

Guys, I am been slowly working on an electric system and I am in need of an element enclosure for the system. I have had a 1" bulkhead fitting welded into my 20 gallon pot for the heating element to screw into, not I would like to purchase an enclosure that is decent looking. Since most heating elements do not have threads on both side of the "nut" I am kind of lost. I would like the enclosure to be serviceable, in case the element dies.
Any ideas or thoughts? Thx.

Is the 1" bulkhead compatible with the threads on a water heater element? If so, I'd put on a brew hardware enclosure ($20 without the locknut):
https://www.brewhardware.com/category_s/1895.htm

There's a thread about them somewhere here. I've had two in my kettle for years and they've held up well. I made one modification to add a tiny sheet metal screw which holds the enclosures closed. I found it would unscrew too easily otherwise.

Jawbox0 said:

Is the 1" bulkhead compatible with the threads on a water heater element? If so, I'd put on a brew hardware enclosure ($20 without the locknut):
https://www.brewhardware.com/category_s/1895.htm

There's a thread about them somewhere here. I've had two in my kettle for years and they've held up well. I made one modification to add a tiny sheet metal screw which holds the enclosures closed. I found it would unscrew too easily otherwise.

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In my HLT I silver soldered in a 1" half coupling and use the brewhardware.com hot pod linked above. I originally used an electrical junction box like kal does. The junction box is nice because it is shallower and the cord comes out from the side so it has a smaller profile. Other than that the hot pod works great.

View attachment 1468595877855.jpg

Crane, would you mind taking a few pictures of the element not installed on the pot? I question how the element is secured into the housing. Thx

rlager said:

Crane, would you mind taking a few pictures of the element not installed on the pot? I question how the element is secured into the housing. Thx

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No can do buddy. I would have to remove my herms coil to unscrew the heating element and that is too much of a PITA for a few pictures.

The base of the element enclosure slips over the end of the element. I then slide an o-ring onto the element base. I use a washer with an ID that is the same as the OD of the o-ring. This prevents the o-ring from squeezing out if it's tightened down too much. Finally I screw this into the half coupling that is soldered into the kettle.

If you look at Karl's sight I am doing almost the same thing but with the hot pod instead of a junction box.

If you are worried about this being 100% water proof then the hot pod is not for you. I will deflect drops and some water, but there is no gasket between the cover and the base.

rlager said:

Guys, I am been slowly working on an electric system and I am in need of an element enclosure for the system. I have had a 1" bulkhead fitting welded into my 20 gallon pot for the heating element to screw into, not I would like to purchase an enclosure that is decent looking. Since most heating elements do not have threads on both side of the "nut" I am kind of lost. I would like the enclosure to be serviceable, in case the element dies.
Any ideas or thoughts? Thx.

Click to expand...

A friend welded a 2" ferrule on my kegs and I used an element enclosure from Still Dragon (got the ferrule from them too). I could probably replace my element in 10 minutes, mostly wiring time.

Nice job showing that element enclosure passedpawn! I can second this also! I have two of those Still Dragon enclosures (got the idea from passedpawn when I was building my rig and he showed me his keggles and setup). They are built like a tank too!

John

heres a weld-less set up just the same as above

https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/tc15wlf.htm

https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/etc3.htm

https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/element5500_ripple.htm

I have a Stilldragon housing as well. They are built to last and they have a safety feature most element housings do not have, they have a "weep" hole on the back of them. If you look at passedpawns first picture (with the wire) you'll see a slit in the plate the wire goes into, this points down like he has it and it's there in the event the seal that is between the threaded element body to the housing fails and fluid starts leaking in. Rather than the housing filling up and shorting everything out, the fluid will leak out the weep hole.

dmcman73 said:

I have a Stilldragon housing as well. They are built to last and they have a safety feature most element housings do not have, they have a "weep" hole on the back of them. If you look at passedpawns first picture (with the wire) you'll see a slit in the plate the wire goes into, this points down like he has it and it's there in the event the seal that is between the threaded element body to the housing fails and fluid starts leaking in. Rather than the housing filling up and shorting everything out, the fluid will leak out the weep hole.

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While this is a nice feature its also easily replicated with a drill and 3 seconds using any other enclosure like the HotPod.

FuzzeWuzze said:

While this is a nice feature its also easily replicated with a drill and 3 seconds using any other enclosure like the HotPod.

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Never said it couldn't be replicated, just that the manufacturer thought of safety when designing /building it.

Here's my handy box housing. Plenty of weep holes. The original 2009 version is still working great.