Soldered 1" coupling for heater element

so i had read through the several hundred pages of the solder stainless thread, and done a couple of vessels with 1/2" couplings for ball valves, thermometers, etc. now i wanted a heating element in my HLT to control my HERMS temps, so i dove in and made this happen!

for a primer on soldering stainless you may want to read this thread (or at least these few posts on how it all works). Big thanks to everyone who has done this before me, for giving me the courage to drill a 1.5" hole in a perfectly good HLT

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/keg-tool-152003/index3.html#post1917974

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/soldering-stainless-steel-155782/index7.html#post2264694

i performed the same process except using a 1.5" hole saw, a 1" half coupler and a larger conical reducer.

coupling for electrical element: http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/SHARON-PIPING-Half-Coupling-2UA77

reducer coupling to make dimple: http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/SHARON-PIPING-Concentric-Reducer-1RTW7







Drilled the hole in a keg lid to test


Assembled the Tool


Pulled the Conical Reducer through, checking every couple of turns for size


Got a great dimple, ready for the coupling


Pulled the coupling through till flush with inside


View from front

Then went to town on the HLT for real. no pics of soldering or pulling it through the keg, but that's all the same as any other size coupling. here's the finished pic with the heating element installed after soldering the coupling in place.



I need to build an enclosure for the electrical connectors on the heating element and wire it to the PID, but it's ready to rock! it heated 8 gallons of water at about 1 degree F a minute. that should be plenty to keep my HERMS happy, i'll most probably be using the burner to heat the HLT to the approximate temp then switching to electric for fine control.

That is awesome! I might have to do the same thing when I get around to building mine!

I know this is an old thread but I have been reading all of the silver soldering threads and now I'm confused. Why did you drill a 1.5" hole for a 1" coupling?

1" pipe is not 1" OD, but closer to the ID. Given that 1" pipe has an OD of about 1.3", the coupling that it screws into is about 1.5" OD. Aside from how old the thread is, if anyone is newly reading this, I think a pipe coupling is about the worst solution for a heating element. Some of the better alternate solutions are triclover, welding spuds, and even just face soldering a 1" NPT locknut in a pinch. All of these will allow for gasket contact to the face of the fitting rather than relying on an NPS to NPT seal which requires a LOT of teflon tape to seal.

Thanks for the reply. Makes since.

I'm gathering up the info I need to silver solder 1" TC fittings and it has gotten a little bit aggregating.