Ideal BK/HLT element placement

[thecebruery]

Planning on installing my 4500W/240V elements in my BK/HLT soon. It's a 50A/1.5bbl system, and both vessels are about 36" in diameter. Both vessels will have two elements (wired to fire simultaneously; that is, both BK elements or both HLT elements at the same time, never more than that).

My question is: will installing the elements on opposite sides of the vessel at the same height be sufficient to prevent scorching (assuming maybe 6" or so between the ends of the elements if inserted 180 degrees from one another)? Or, should they also be installed at different heights/tiered, such that there's even more distance between them?

 

[kal]

Positioning doesn't matter. As long as any element that is on is submerged, that's good enough. Leave room for anything else that is the kettle. Leaving some space around them can make cleaning easier.

Scorching has nothing to do with how close elements are placed together. Most ripple (folded over) elements have segments that are mere millimeters apart.

Kal

 

[thecebruery]

Thanks, Kal. Sounds like the more important considerations are ease of cleaning and making sure they're positioned such that the cords are long enough to reach your controller, heh. Cheers!

 

[kal]

Yup! When boiling the wort will be in constant motion so positioning in relation to heat transfer or similar really isn't important.

Kal