Copper vs Stainless Elements

[Capn_James]

I see that most people have stainless elements. What are the pros and cons of both? I didn't even know they had copper elements until I started looking at Rheem elements.

 

[Lost]

I just did a search on this last week before ordering my new SS ripp elements for my eherms rig.

I didn't find much so I went SS because that's what most were doing. Some one did report the copper ones exploding/breaking spontaneously.

The SS ones I found for about $20 which made them cheaper than the copper ones. They can be dry fired too which I'm not sure is the case with the copper ones.

On the other hand, copper is a yeast nutrient, looks cool, and has better heat transfer properties than SS. It may be harder to clean or the wort might just leave it all nice and shiny like my copper manifold. I dunno, but cleanability and durability would be the things I'd care most about.

 

[orangehero]

Stainless is ideal for the kettle, copper ok for water heating. You may have corrosion problems with the copper after a while if you use it in the kettle, but it's probably not an issue. I've seen inexpensive stainless steel spa elements with a brass screw plug which I think would be the ideal choice.

 

[Walker]

I think a lot of people are using neither copper nor stainless elements.

Camco makes elements out of an alloy called incoloy. It's a black looking material:

 

[Lost]

Fedex just dropped off my camco elements and Walker is right, they are incoloy (nickel and chromium), not SS. Good enough for drinking water then it is good enough for wort.

 

[jkarp]

Stainless is ideal for the kettle, copper ok for water heating. You may have corrosion problems with the copper after a while if you use it in the kettle, but it's probably not an issue. I've seen inexpensive stainless steel spa elements with a brass screw plug which I think would be the ideal choice.

Don't know why you'd have corrosion with copper. Lots of breweries have entire kettles made of copper. I've been running a Rheem copper element for nearly 2 years now in my kettle and it looks like it did the day I installed it. I never got much more than a year out of stainless elements prior to that.

 

[Capn_James]

Walker: I was under the impression that the incology was a coating... def correct me if I am wrong.

jkarp/Walker: I am going to go with two elements: one for my RIMS tube and one for my kettle. I see some rheem elements that are LWD for the 3-3500k on http://bostonheatingsupply.com/SP10869KL.aspx. Not sure what I am gonna purchase. The Rheem are showing stainless but they look dark like the incology< what do you guys think? But, shoot, what's a couple bucks for beer eh?

 

[Walker]

Well... all heating elements are clad in some material. Stainless clad. Copper clad. Incoloy clad. Etc.

It's not some thin coating, if that's what you mean.

 

[Walker]

As for the element you linked to....

Pic looks like incoloy for sure but you can't necessarily trust the pic. I've seen some online plumbing supply shops just use and re-use the same image for multiple products. For example: one place was selling 2000W/120V elements but the pic was of a 5500W/240V element (you could read the stamp on the element base).

So... who knows.

Edit: I use incoloy clad elements. No complaints at all.

 

[pickles]

I also use incoloy elements with no complaints. When you melt one down by accident you can see that its copper below the coating.

 

[jkarp]

Here's where I got my Rheem copper element from.

 

[Capn_James]

I just found a 4500w extra-low density camco element at the local hardware for $23.00. It is the Lime-Life version at 50w per sq. in, would this be ok for a RIMS tube? Will it scorch?

thanks for the help!

 

[Walker]

4500W is way more power than you need in a rims tube, but it won't scorch. Lot of guys use higher watt density elements in rims tubes with no scorching.

Heck, you could run that thing on 120V. It would be a 1125W element with 12.5W/sq.inch.

 

[Capn_James]

so... I broke down and purchased the 4500w ULWD element. It's not a ripple, but i think it will suffice for my charges. I do have pics and will update asap. This site ROCKS!

 

[Capn_James]

 

[Capn_James]