Popin' breakers since my element over heated

[Sean Provencher]

Thanks in advance for some help fellow brewers!

The other day my HLT ran too low and the element got scorching hot. I noticed because I came in the room and everything was off because I tripped my GFCI.

I was able to wrap up my brew day and bought an electrical tester. I'm not too handy with these but when I tested the element and it's extension chord it had continuity so I thought everything was fine. The element it's self got hot when I flipped it on and off dry and I looked inside at the connections and everything looked normal. It doesn't unscrew from the hotpot element connector very easily because the teflon tape got cooked.

Plugged in today to start another brew day and same issue. Whether running the element on power for the HLT or swapping power to the boil kettle it immediately pops when turned on in with water over the element. This happens only when it is in the "on" position. Since the other element works on both circuits and this one pops on both circuits the issue is isolated to the extension or the element IMO.

Could I have cooked the element such that it now has a short dropping power into the water of the kettle (ground fault?) I have a spare and just don't want to swap it until I rule anything else out because this is my new shiny SS element.

Please help! it's BREW DAY!!!!!

Edit* I'm running a home made panel and spike 3 vessel herms if that matters. A friends master electrician father looked it all over before I used it and it's got ~50 brews on it. Also: God bless GFCI's

 

[doug293cz]

Sounds like the "cooked" element now has some leakage to ground. It needs to be replaced. You can test things at room temp, but if the "short" only happens when hot, you won't find it at room temp.

Brew on

 

[day_trippr]

I agree with Doug, the heat breached the electrical isolation for the loop hence there's now a stray path waiting to happen.
Almost surely would not have found it without the element immersed, but better now than when starting up a brew day.

Replace the element - and check the connector and wiring to it for signs of overheating...

Cheers!

 

[Vale71]

The element it's self got hot when I flipped it on and off dry and I looked inside at the connections and everything looked normal. It doesn't unscrew from the hotpot element connector very easily because the teflon tape got cooked.

Are you really trying to ruin your element??
Anyway it looks like you might have cracked the outer sheath and when water seeps in... God bless the GFCI indeed.

 

[Bobby_M]

With the element unplugged from the controller, test the ohms between the two hots (should be around 10 ohms) and then test between a hot and the ground. That should be infinity. If it's less than that, the internal resistive wire is making contact with the outside element tube. If that's the case, it's gone.