HLT 220 or 110?

[Mdsutton]

OK, new to the whole electric brew idea. I have purchased several things to get me started. I have not ordered my elements yet. I was planning on have two 110V elements, one for the Rims and one for HLT, and a 220v boil. My thoughts are that the 110V for the HLT should be enough to get my water to temp. This should work correct?
I knew I would forget some details, so here goes, I usually brew 6 gallon batches, 5 for kegging 1 to bottle and give out to friends.
OK It seems from the first three posts I should go ahead and use 220 for HLT.

Thank you all,
Martin

 

[NervousDad]

I say 220. I just purchased a Kal setup and the HLT will need to hold a lot of water to keep the HERMS coil in the water. For a 5 gallon batch you may need 15+ gallons of water. I just switched my tanks from 15 to 20 to compensate for this. You're using a HERMS and a RIMS??

 

[Gameface]

If you're already going to have 220v service I'd heat the HLT with 220v. 1/2 the voltage results in 1/4 the wattage.

You haven't mentioned what volumes you'll be dealing with, but I know I like to wait on water coming up to temp as much as I like watching paint dry.

 

[Yooper]

It will work- but I had a 1500w element on 110, and it took 90 minutes to get up to strike temp (175ish). That's not terrible if you have the time, but if you are trying to heat sparge water or to mash out, it would be an issue. And this was when I did 5 gallon batches. Now I do 10, and so it wouldn't be at all possible.

 

[RufusBrewer]

If you have a choice, why wouldn't you go 220 volts?

Maybe there is an initial investment of getting 220 volts to where you want it. Once you get that done, I think the cost differences are pretty minimal.

Considering the boost in power and the reduction get to boil times.... If you can, you should.

 

[Ravenshead]

Once you have the 220V service available the initial investment difference is about zero. There's no reason to use a mixed system.