Electricians: Help! 240v power supply to 120v Element help

[berrywise]

I made a mistake and had my control panel wired up with three L6-30 240v outlets to heat my heating elements.

My plan was to run my boil kettle and hot liquor tank with 5500w stainless elements I purchased from brewhardware.

For my RIMS tube I purchased the same 5500w element but had intended to run it at half power, 120v.

This is what happens when you don't actually plan everything out from the beginning. :cross:

My question is can I rewire my L6-30 outlet to deliver only 120v power? The outlet already being installed would leave a pretty big hole if I tried to put something else in there.

My box is supplied power from a 50amp breaker run through a spa panel to a 4 prong outlet as I'm already running 120v to my two outlets that run my pumps.

This is what happens when regular guys like myself try to do electric brewing

 

[dex0807]

If your element that you plan on running at 120v is actually rated at 240v its output will be reduced by 4, not 2.

Rewiring the element is as simple as removing one hot lead and replacing it with a neutral.

 

[Bobby_M]

First, you do have a four wire supply going into the panel correct? L1, L2, N, G right?

To make one of your outlets switch between 240v and 120v, one of the hots coming from the outlet needs to switchable from a hot source to a neutral. That would need either a single pole double throw switch or contactor capable of 240v/30a.

The other option is to find room in the panel to mount the new Auber power controller and another SSR. That way you can dial that outlet in to whatever wattage you want.

 

[berrywise]

First, you do have a four wire supply going into the panel correct? L1, L2, N, G right?

To make one of your outlets switch between 240v and 120v, one of the hots coming from the outlet needs to switchable from a hot source to a neutral. That would need either a single pole double throw switch or contactor capable of 240v/30a.

The other option is to find room in the panel to mount the new Auber power controller and another SSR. That way you can dial that outlet in to whatever wattage you want.

That is correct. I have a four wire supply coming from the spa panel.

As far as mounting anything else in the box I think I'm pretty much about tapped for room as it is pretty tight already.

 

[ajdelange]

The real question is as to whether the spa panel is fed by a 4-wire connection from the main panel. If so, OK. O/W, not OK.

 

[dex0807]

What is all the talk about 4 wire from the panel for? He has 240v in his box, his main plug has two hots running to a 2 pole breaker, one neutral leg running to a terminal strip, and a ground.

Your L6-30 outlet can be rewired, no need for a new outlet.

Like I said earlier, just replace one of the hot legs with a neutral.

Sometimes I wish people would just answer the posted question instead of bringing up a bunch of points that are irrelevant to the topic.

 

[z-bob]

If you use a L6-30 outlet for 120V, I recommend you put a label above or below it saying "120 volts", because the outlet pattern implies 240V.

 

[ajdelange]

What is all the talk about 4 wire from the panel for? He has 240v in his box, his main plug has two hots running to a 2 pole breaker, one neutral leg running to a terminal strip, and a ground.

The question is as to whether he has a valid neutral and valid earth. To get that requires 4 wires from the main panel irrespective of how many wires there are from the spa panel to the equipment enclosure. I've seen enough posts here to know that the connection from the main panel to the spa panel is not always a 4 wire connection and in most cases a workaround is, if not per code, possible as the asymmetric load is small (a pump) but with a large asymmetric load (heater) the potential for danger goes up if the connection, all the way back to the main panel, is not done properly.

Like I said earlier, just replace one of the hot legs with a neutral.

If there is a valid neutral AND a valid earth, derived from the service entrance and not interconnected at any other point, then that's fine and it's certainly easy enough to check whether this is or is not the case. If these are not both present then OP takes your advice at his peril.

Sometimes I wish people would just answer the posted question instead of bringing up a bunch of points that are irrelevant to the topic.

Sometimes I wish people who don't understand the basics of electricity (anyone who did would understand in a flash why I asked the question I did and its relevance to the topic at hand) would refrain from posting advice. Someday someone is going to get hurt.

 

[processhead]

If you use a L6-30 outlet for 120V, I recommend you put a label above or below it saying "120 volts", because the outlet pattern implies 240V.

What z-bob said...

No real danger. Just the delay in brewing when you realize you unintentionally ran the wrong element at 1/4 power.

 

[ajdelange]

For my RIMS tube I purchased the same 5500w element but had intended to run it at half power, 120v.

To run the 5500 W element at half power you will need 240 volts (it has already been noted that 120V will only give you 1/4 power). Obtain a diode with sufficient current carrying capacity and sufficient PIV rating and install it (properly insulated on a heat sink) in one of the hot lines. The diode will only conduct on alternate half cycles and half the element's rated power will be delivered to it. This moots the question of outlets.

 

[Bobby_M]

Yes, you can rewire it for 120v at 1375watts now that we verified you have a four wire source. I agree that labeling that outlet as "non standard wiring H,N,G" or something.

 

[sylvr000]

Hello, this seems an appropriate thread for this question. I have a 240v WortHog EBC-130 and I'd like to use it for RIMS with a BrewHardware 5500W element but only with 120V so I get a nice low density. It's also used with my Blichmann boil coil where I like the power. When I wire the heating element for the RIMS, is getting 120V as simple as not connecting one of the hot wires? If so should that third connection be connected to the neutral, or could it be left unconnected? Thanks in advance.

 

[BrunDog]

You could probably just wire one side of the RIMs element to neutral and the other from the switched side of the EBC output. Would require a custom plug mix to be made.

Probably easier to limit the max output on the PID to 25% and just emulate the 120V power via software instead of hardware. Keep the cycle length short and your wort will never know the difference.

 

[sylvr000]

You could probably just wire one side of the RIMs element to neutral and the other from the switched side of the EBC output. Would require a custom plug mix to be made.

Probably easier to limit the max output on the PID to 25% and just emulate the 120V power via software instead of hardware. Keep the cycle length short and your wort will never know the difference.

I hear what you're saying about limiting the PID but since I have to put the wire on the element anyways and it's only used for RIMS, I think that a little wiring change in the "Hot Pod" (BrewHardware product) for that element is a safe way to go... as long as it's also a technically correct way to go as well.