Alternative electric solution.

[The Pol]

I just saw a few of these elements at our local Habitat Reuse Store. When I saw them I wondered if I could use them for something. Can I immerse these?


How many do you need. I bet I can get them cheap. There are more there then I would need.

Depends on what "these" are

 

[Brewmoor]

Depends on what "these" are

Well the original post is asking about electic stove elements. Sooooooo I suppose one might think that "these" would be said elements. Not the round ones seen in a standard stove but the ones used in High end stoves that use griddles and other mix and match stove accesories. The stuff at this store comes out of high end million dollar home remodels.


He was asking for some cheap stove elements to show up and I am telling him I have seen them. I could send him some for pretty cheap to experiment with. Instead of wasting time theorizing with people on the forum.

 

[The Pol]

How is he wasting time? He proved the concept today.

 

[Huizer]

If it helps, I just did a test run on our stove with my 5 gallon pot.
I filled it with about 4 Gal of roomish temp water and did not get to a boil in 1 1/2 hours. I left the lid on.
So, I pulled it off the stove, drained it, wrapped it in foil bubble wrap insulation and tried again.
Success! time to boil was 1 hour 15min.

The insulation was still warm to the touch, so I think another layer would help shorten the time to boil.

Dan

 

[BargainFittings]

I've gone forward with this.

I got my hands on a Jenn Aire Stove top

I tried intertwining the big elements but it was a pain. I found after the fact that with three elements I can fit the kettle over them fine.

Yes the welding is rough looking Thin metal is a beast to weld with a cracker box and the wrong size rods.

 

[The Pol]

I think that looks awesome!

 

[BargainFittings]

I've got to order some soow 10/4 cable to make my extension cord. I figure the following wattage: 5900 watts

1500 watt small
2 x 2200 watt big

I rewound the elements. I'm going to watch for some cheap replacements for the large elements.

I figure I can lay down some aluminum foil to reflect the heat up. That way I can replace it if I spill.

Here is the control. I'll just take the controls off and mount them on a custom box on my rig when I get it ready.

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

This is really cool. To make it a bit more robust, you could put an aluminum plate on top of the elements and bond them with some thermal paste. It would dissipate the heat a bit but you could build it into a box and it could be slick looking.

Very cool idea!!!

 

[Zen_Brew]

Looking good. You may have to change that old saying "Now we're cooking with gas" to "Now we're cooking with electric"

 

[BargainFittings]

Well I bought and received my power cord. Now I need a 50 amp gfci breaker and a power connection box.

Any suggestions on wiring between the control junction box and the actual burner? I'm thinking 10 gauge wire should work ok if I put it in conduit over to the burner stand.

I guess I could use plugs to make the stand removable.

 

[MacBruver]

Try this out: http://www.csgnetwork.com/wiresizecalc.html

You'll need to put in how long of a cord you want. Where it says "one half the circuit length", just put in the full length of the extension cord.

 

[OhioBrewingTechnologies]

Well I bought and received my power cord. Now I need a 50 amp gfci breaker and a power connection box.

Any suggestions on wiring between the control junction box and the actual burner? I'm thinking 10 gauge wire should work ok if I put it in conduit over to the burner stand.

I guess I could use plugs to make the stand removable.

I bet you could get away with smaller gauge wire than that. Each burner pulls maybe 10 amps max. No stove has wire that large to the individual burners. Getting the right kind of insulation to handle the heat at the connector is more important.

I assume based on the picture of the control box you are running separate lines to each burner, right?

 

[OhioBrewingTechnologies]

Try this out: http://www.csgnetwork.com/wiresizecalc.html

You'll need to put in how long of a cord you want. Where it says "one half the circuit length", just put in the full length of the extension cord.

Help me out, what am I doing wrong here. For a 15-foot run of 240 volts at 50 amps it wants me to use 14 AWG? And for 100 amps it wants 12 AWG? I'm not an electrician but I would stand pretty far back from a 12-AWG wire in a 100-amp circuit. Maybe this isn't AWG but something else?

 

[The Pol]

Help me out, what am I doing wrong here. For a 15-foot run of 240 volts at 50 amps it wants me to use 14 AWG? And for 100 amps it wants 12 AWG? I'm not an electrician but I would stand pretty far back from a 12-AWG wire in a 100-amp circuit. Maybe this isn't AWG but something else?

Yah, that doesnt make any sense... Id be using 6AWG off the top of my head for 50A

 

[BargainFittings]

I bet you could get away with smaller gauge wire than that. Each burner pulls maybe 10 amps max. No stove has wire that large to the individual burners. Getting the right kind of insulation to handle the heat at the connector is more important.

I assume based on the picture of the control box you are running separate lines to each burner, right?

I realized I only really need a 30 amp service for the 3 burners. I will be running separate lines for each burner so I guess 14 gauge will carry up to 10 amps.

I can leave the wiring as is on the connectors and junction tie into them so I don't have to special order any wire with the right insulation.

 

[passedpawn]

I realized I only really need a 30 amp service for the 3 burners. I will be running separate lines for each burner so I guess 14 gauge will carry up to 10 amps.

I can leave the wiring as is on the connectors and junction tie into them so I don't have to special order any wire with the right insulation.

I threw away the identical jennair unit (at least it looked the same) about a year ago. Ducted air in the middle, right? I had 30A 240AC running to it. BTW, that is the same circuit I run my 5500W element off of now.

 

[BargainFittings]

Yes ducted in the middle. I kept the duct with motor for another project.

 

[MacBruver]

Help me out, what am I doing wrong here. For a 15-foot run of 240 volts at 50 amps it wants me to use 14 AWG? And for 100 amps it wants 12 AWG? I'm not an electrician but I would stand pretty far back from a 12-AWG wire in a 100-amp circuit. Maybe this isn't AWG but something else?

Huh, that doesn't pass the commonsense test. I've used it for much smaller calculations. I'm guessing there's a lot it doesn't take into account. The equation is pretty simple:

circular mils = (Resistivity * 2 * Amps * Distance) / voltage drop in volts
(17.2*2*50*15) / (240*0.03) = 3583 cmils
and then per this chart: http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/awg-wire-gauge-circular-mils-d_819.html 14ga is 4107 cmils.

While that all jibes with teh calculator, it doesn't make much common sense. 30A dryer cords are 8ga.

 

[bad coffee]

12ga. is only rated for 20A at 120V, so it would be 10A at 240V.

If the calculator is telling you 14ga for 50A at 240, someone's gonna get hurt.

After playing with the calculator for a while, I think the values are reversed in their spreadsheets.

single phase 120V, 50' 20A = #10
single phase 240V, 50' 20A = #14.

Single, 120v 50' 50A = #6
Single, 480v 50' 50A = #12

I sent them an email.

I dig the project though. recycling an old cook top into a functional brewery is actually a great idea.

 

[Brewmoor]

12ga. is only rated for 20A at 120V, so it would be 10A at 240V.

If the calculator is telling you 14ga for 50A at 240, someone's gonna get hurt.

After playing with the calculator for a while, I think the values are reversed in their spreadsheets.

single phase 120V, 50' 20A = #10
single phase 240V, 50' 20A = #14.

Single, 120v 50' 50A = #6
Single, 480v 50' 50A = #12

I sent them an email.

I dig the project though. recycling an old cook top into a functional brewery is actually a great idea.

Are they talking about stranded wire as opposed to solid? That is usually different in how it handles current. I just can't remember which way you have to go; smaller or bigger.

 

[BargainFittings]

So I'm thinking 12/2 wire to the elements from the control box. The hard part is figuring out how to make this removable without hardwiring it.

Using plugs I'd have 3 of them unless I make the control box part of the removable part and just unplug the whole thing

I would have to make an easy to remove mount point for the control box on the rig.

 

[d_m_s_00]

Looks great for a prototype. I've been looking around for a while for something electric that doesn't involve immersing the elements, (i want electric, but have to learn much more about it before i'd feel safe trying anything)
from my searching i found this http://www.mereo.sk/en/kitchen-equipment/stock-pot-ranges/electric-ste-6.html at 6000 wats it could probably do 10 gallons. the problem is that i can't find anything in north ameriaca, and no idea about how 400V.

 

[BargainFittings]

Bought a 50 Amp gfci spa panel at home depot for $49.00 on clearance. Now I just need to get it all wired up.

 

[Zooom101]

I mentioned sort of jokingly in another thread that someone should create a pot that is oval shaped. Maybe 12" wide, 24" long, and 12" tall. When set on the stove it would completely cover two burners. You would also have a larger surface area that you would be applying heat and that would lessen your tendency to scorch.

Just a thought.

 

[MacBruver]

Bought a 50 Amp gfci spa panel at home depot for $49.00 on clearance. Now I just need to get it all wired up.

Nice. It's too bad you can't just set a spa to 152F, that'd make a hell of a RIMS mash tun...

 

[The Pol]

Nice. It's too bad you can't just set a spa to 152F, that'd make a hell of a RIMS mash tun...

Hrmm, winter project?

 

[BargainFittings]

Finally wired the spa panel.

I decided to wire a 30 amp breaker in my service panel and wire the spa panel to that.

I'm using a 30 amp plug and will stay under 30 amps so the 50 amp breaker will only act as a gfci breaker.

Anyway it went well today and I'll get the "burner" assembly wired tomorrow and tested with any luck.

 

[BargainFittings]

Tested the burner today. Worked great. Changing a few things on my stand and will do a full boil test later today.

 

[BargainFittings]

Did not get to the full boil test run. I did get it all together and test its function.

Here are some pictures.

 

[The Pol]

SWEET, wow... children do not play around the stove!

I have some photos for you Wayne, they are in your latest thread.