electric element question

I know this is probably obvious, but I'd rather not find out the hard way.

For the brewers with their electric heating elements mounted inside your kettles....is there any concern with using a metal spoon to stir? I am guessing no, but having been zapped 17 times on other projects where I let my assumptions dictate my actions, I've finally learned my lesson...

 

Well, that's one of the reasons you use a ground fault circuit interrupter, ideally at 5mA trip (not 15mA) in these applications. Granted you will still get a full current zap until it trips it's better than not having it.

 

In the event that an element would leak current into the liquid, the whole kettle itself would also be live.. and your bound to touch it eventually causing the same issue as using the metal spoon... so if you ask me, the idea is to ensure that the kettle and liquid doesn't get charged in the first place...

GFCI as porcupine73 stated is the best way to prevent that...

I also have the whole kettle grounded, so if the liquid or kettle gets charged, the current should flow to the ground with high enough amperage to trip the breaker immediately..