Electric Brewing

[Tybo]

I took some pictures of my heater elements for your viewing pleasure...

Those are from my BK heater element (note the copper showing up and the darkened zinc plating):

(continued in the next post)

 

[Tybo]

Those are from my HLT heater element (zinc plating turned yellowish and some dimples showing copper are appearing):

Note that both elements where used to make two 5 gal. batches. Boil time in the BK was 60 min. Element power is 4500W for both. 240V was used.

I didn't got my incoloy element so far so I can't compare. However I would recommend to stay away from zinc plating if some of you are considering them!

I'll keep you posted with the incoloy element performance.

Tybo

 

[RonnieDobbs]

Anyone have experience or thoughts about using a couple immersible cartridge heaters to accomplish the same goals (HLT, MLT, and/or boil)? Are there any advantages or disadvantages like watt density or durability of the elements? I've seen some cartridge heaters that have thermocouples built in which might be very useful. I'm definitely not an expert, but it seems like immersible cartridge heaters are designed for applications such as brewing so they might have some advantages.

 

[Orfy]

This is the one I use in the HLT.

There are a couple of points.
Itmust all be submarged so I can't heat less than 20L in the HLT.
The thermosat maxes out at 70°C so I had to bypass it.
220v @ 3kw

Apart from that it's perfect.

 

[slnies]

If you reduce the rated voltage of a resistive load by 50% the resultant current is also reduced by 50% so the resultant power is 25% of the rated power.

So it would be 875W

As it turns out my Calc.s are low. Old Olms law never lies. A heating element of 3500Watts has a resistance of 13.8, and at 220v draws 15.9amps. At 120 the wattage goes down to 1056w and it will draw 8.8amps. Elements like resistors do not change resistance no matter what voltage is hooked up to it. This correction took so long because a calculated risistance is not always accurate and I had an element on order; the measured resistance of that element was used. :rockin: S.

 

[wihophead]

As it turns out my Calc.s are low. Old Olms law never lies. A heating element of 3500Watts has a resistance of 13.8, and at 220v draws 15.9amps. At 120 the wattage goes down to 1056w and it will draw 8.8amps. Elements like resistors do not change resistance no matter what voltage is hooked up to it. This correction took so long because a calculated risistance is not always accurate and I had an element on order; the measured resistance of that element was used. :rockin: S.

Your right OHMs law doesn't lie...my previous statement is based off of Ohm's and Watt's law.

You are using 220V and 120V as your voltage values.

What is the actual heater rating... 220V or 240V? This will throw off your calculations.

If you have 120V at your receptacles it is impossible to have 220V.

What was the measured resistance, did you measure your voltage also?

 

[slnies]

Your right OHMs law doesn't lie...my previous statement is based off of Ohm's and Watt's law.

You are using 220V and 120V as your voltage values.

What is the actual heater rating... 220V or 240V? This will throw off your calculations.

If you have 120V at your receptacles it is impossible to have 220V.

What was the measured resistance, did you measure your voltage also?

The heater is rated at 220V My house hold voltage to ground is 120. So you are right in assuming that even if I ran the element at its rated voltage at my home I would be running it above its rating and the element would run at a higher wattage. One the other hand I have three phase in my garage and it is 120/208 so in my garage the wattage at 208 would be lower. I used the stated wattage at voltage on the box and calculated for my home. Does this make things clear?
On the other hand the wattage rating at 110v would be 869w and at 115v 958w and so on. So, even my rough guesstimation wasn't far off. It really does not matter, a grape is a grape no matter what kind it happens to be. Another point, the voltage values that are used to calc. the element's wattage only apply to that voltage, so where you start and where you end only apply to that voltage. It does not matter that I used 220v as a start, the resistance is still the same. That would mean that the Calc. at 120 is still valid. Answer to last question. Measured resistance was 13.8 Olm's as listed above. Almost right on with the calc., but like i said before, the calculated resistance in some instances using Olms law may not be accurate. So a measurement was used for the calculations. S.

 

[wihophead]

3 phase in residential...wow
Here you can get grounded B but not in residential.

If you have 208v you could get a buck boost transformer and run the element at the rated voltage and get the most out of the element....

 

[slnies]

3 phase in residential...wow
Here you can get grounded B but not in residential.

If you have 208v you could get a buck boost transformer and run the element at the rated voltage and get the most out of the element....

That costs money. Until I have one laying around from another job, anyway.
I live close to the the substation so three phase can be had reasonably and it was already installed when I bought the house. The old owner had a Machine shop with a couple of bridgeport mills. S.

 

[slnies]

3 phase in residential...wow
Here you can get grounded B but not in residential.

If you have 208v you could get a buck boost transformer and run the element at the rated voltage and get the most out of the element....

I take it that the power company out your way has not changed the system out? A while back our power company started changing out the old delta systems for wye because of insurance claims. Home owners "farmers" are allowed to work on their own systems and they would burn up equipment hooking up 110/120 circuits to the high leg. The Power Company will not install a delta system any more unless it is requested and then only for industry. Some of the outlying Co-Ops however do not have the same policies. Interesting eh. S

 

[wihophead]

I take it that the power company out your way has not changed the system out? A while back our power company started changing out the old delta systems for wye because of insurance claims. Home owners "farmers" are allowed to work on their own systems and they would burn up equipment hooking up 110/120 circuits to the high leg. The Power Company will not install a delta system any more unless it is requested and then only for industry. Some of the outlying Co-Ops however do not have the same policies. Interesting eh. S

I work in industry so I don't get out to see a lot of the rural installs. In the instances that I have seen it around here they were not center tapped so it was strictly a 240V service so there wasn't a high leg but I could see that being a problem. Some of those farmer electricians do some amazing things....lol

 

[slnies]

I work in industry so I don't get out to see a lot of the rural installs. In the instances that I have seen it around here they were not center tapped so it was strictly a 240V service so there wasn't a high leg but I could see that being a problem. Some of those farmer electricians do some amazing things....lol

Amen Brother!