Electric brewery, power cord getting hot, melted on leg. leg

[homebrewdude76]

System has been running for 5 years no issues.

With 1 element one, pulls 24amps
Other element pulls 24amps

With both on and pump running 48.5amps

Notice my power cord hot.
End of plug a bit melted.
Outside receptacle warm

My breaker and panel are not even warm.

Any thoughts on what to look for.

 

[Deric]

Check for loose connections in the plug and socket.

 

[homebrewdude76]

So I just ran it for 10min. The plug is getting hot. The prongs are hot and the receptacle is hot. The rest of the cord is not hot.

I opened the plug, 1 leg is brown/hot.

Maybe the receptacle? I can't clean it?

 

[martyjhuebs]

This may be a dumb question but did you over-gage the wires? Maybe they have gotten brittle over the years and somewhere down the line it can't handle the Amps coming through?

 

[oakbarn]

Likely loose connection. Strip wires back and reconnect with good wire or get a new cord. Make sure your connection is tight.

 

[Golddiggie]

Are the cords factory made or did you put the plugs on them? I had to 'adapt' a much longer cord to work with my panel to the kettle elements. I kept one factory end on each part (no issues). I then tinned the wires going to the new plugs that I bought. I do that often when putting plugs on cords so that I don't need to worry about strands breaking over time. If you've been removing the cords from the kettles (IMO, pretty normal activity) and you didn't tin the wires, that could be part of the issue.

 

[rodcopter]

Not enough info. It gets hot where the problem is. 48 amps requires #6 cable and a 50 Amp plug at a minimum, that's a big plug, like a welder.

 

[Golddiggie]

The 50amp panel I picked up from Electric Brewing Supply is fed by a 14-50 connection (from the cable that goes into the panel). I had an electrician install the outlet and bought a cord rated for 50amps (6/3 and 8/1 wires inside it). IIRC, the electrician used all 6g wires to feed the outlet (wasn't cheap). Currently I only have one element running at a time. I got the 50amp panel so that if/when I wanted to double batch, or run both elements at the same time, I could without issue.

I've had electricians install all the outlets where needed. IMO, it's not worth screwing around to save some money by doing it myself. Especially since with a qualified (last guy was beyond excellent) electrician can do this kind of stuff easily. Plus they know all the tricks to make it easy. I'll be using the electrician that did the brewing outlet install to do future work when I get my own house.

 

[homebrewdude76]

Wires to the receptacle are good. Receptical is melted. I tipped receptical over and bunch of dust came out. Wonder if a bug made a nest in it.

 

[Tom R]

I then tinned the wires going to the new plugs that I bought. I do that often when putting plugs on cords so that I don't need to worry about strands breaking over time.

The 50A plugs in my shop would have much less contact area on a tinned conductor, since they are designed to compress and flatten the strands as the screw is tightened.

The plug body should provide adequate strain relief to protect the conductors from fatigue.

Any electricians here?

 

[homebrewdude76]

I have 50amp GFCI breaker
I made the extension cord from pliable 6gauge wire. Everything is rated correct and has been fine for 5 years.

 

[Golddiggie]

I have 50amp GFCI breaker
I made the extension cord from pliable 6gauge wire. Everything is rated correct and has been fine for 5 years.

I kind of doubt any small bugs could be the cause of the issue. More likely the outlet has failed in a bad way.

 

[TheMadKing]

The heat is caused by resistance in the connection. Either from oxidation, poor connection, moisture, or some kind of physical barrier

If you've seen melting, replace any melted plastic parts and strip the wires back to clean wire and reconnect. Tighten all your lugs very tight because heating/cooling cycles will loosen them over time.

 

[sicktght311]

Is it possible this is a combination of the element and the connection? A bad element might be causing unstable resistence across the line and then its seeing itself manifest at a point like the connection where maybe if the element was working 100%, it wouldnt be as big of an issue.

 

[doug293cz]

Is it possible this is a combination of the element and the connection? A bad element might be causing unstable resistence across the line and then its seeing itself manifest at a point like the connection where maybe if the element was working 100%, it wouldnt be as big of an issue.

Highly unlikely. If the wiring isn't undersized, then overheating is almost always due to poor connections, and the heat is generated at the poor connection (and conducted to adjacent areas), because that is where the resistance is higher than it should be.

Brew on

 

[homebrewdude76]

I bought a new receptacle and new end plug - 50 amp again.

The receptacle was packed with Mud Dabber mud..

Both hots had heat damage on the plug end.

So when I brew again, I will watch the temp on the cord to see if it happens again.

 

[homebrewdude76]

Highly unlikely. If the wiring isn't undersized, then overheating is almost always due to poor connections, and the heat is generated at the poor connection (and conducted to adjacent areas), because that is where the resistance is higher than it should be.

Brew on

Would I also see this on my AMPs on my panel.
I have 3 elements total, can run any combination of 2 at a time. They all read the exact same amps when they are running 100%.

 

[crazyjake19]

Sounds like you just had a bad connection between your plug and receptacle. It will happen over time if you're regularly plugging and unplugging this setup for some reason, especially a higher draw setup like this.

 

[Bobby_M]

It doesn't hurt to polish the male blades with some 100 grit sandpaper once a year. Same for the female slots but you can use a pair of emory boards with the BREAKER OFF.

 

[homebrewdude76]

New plug and new receptical installed.
Brewing using all three elements.

Main power cord was not even warm to the touch