ground wire for heating element

[kokonutz]

I watched some videos today as I prepare to drill a hole into my kettle. I stumbled on this one about wiring/covering the heating element. I do like the clean round piece that fits over the wiring, but the creator states that the ground wire he "just cut it off" since there was no place to attach it. That feels very unsafe. I was/am preparing to go the road of a square box enclosure with a built in ground screw).

When I am done, it won't look as pretty or clean, but thought I'd simply get the community insight on the risk of not grounding the heating element.

UPDATE - I forgot the link to the video that brought about my questions:

 

[Dland]

If that is a 3 pronged plug(I can't quite tell from picture), there should be two hots and a ground. Hot (120V) legs are usually black and red, and ground is green. It is the neutral (white) wire that is not used if you have 4 strand wire.

The ground wire should be attached to element box inside. If it is not, this is not good.

 

[sibelman]

@kokonutz, you may want to consider a weldless (or welded!) tri-clamp fitting rather than the more permanent solution that is harder to disassemble for cleaning. An element can then either be one with an integrated tri-clamp, or one mounted in a purpose-made tri-clamp element housing such as this.

My previous electric keggle had something like the photo you included, and I found it hard to clean the element, especially near the kettle wall. It was so nearly permanent that disassembly never happened. It's also easier to deal with a cleaning a kettle that doesn't have a big gnarly power cord hanging from it.

Oh, and grounding is important.

 

[Dland]

I'll second that, I welded tri clamp fittings in my kettles.

 

[doug293cz]

That video is giving dangerous advice. The ground should be electrically bonded to the metal kettle, and any other metal that is part of the element enclosure. You don't need the ground to operate - you need the ground to protect you from electrocution, if you somehow short the hot wire to the kettle. This can happen from insulation wear, connections coming loose, wire failure due to excessive bending, etc. If the hot shorts to the ground, then you have a return path for the current so that it doesn't go thru you. The low resistance return path also keeps the voltage on any metal shorted to hot very low, so that it is less likely to shock you. Also, current from hot to ground should trip your GFCI. If the short doesn't have have a low resistance path to ground, then current can flow thru you. A proper ground also gives you protection in the case of a failed GFCI. Redundant safety features are a good idea when working with electricity. This is why code requires grounds and GFCI's in areas that are potentially wet.

The easiest way to properly ground the kettle and element is to go with the tri-clamp mounted elements that have an integrated L6-30 plug. The tri-clamp system insures that the kettle is well connected to the element ground.

Brew on

 

[kokonutz]

Everything you have all said is what I thought...so will ground for sure. Tri-clamp is hard to find here. The box I was planning to use is a metal enclosure with ground screw against an SS kettle. While not as convenient as trim-clamp, I presume this will suffice?

 

[duncan.brown]

As aways, consult a qualified electrician for the proper advice and just take this as my own experience: It looks like you are building something similar to the elements on Kal's web site:

https://shop.theelectricbrewery.com...ts/products/heating-element-kit-pre-assembled
I have these for my kettles. I was concerned about relying on the connection between the ground screw -> box lid -> element -> kettle, so I bonded the stainless table that my kettles sit on to the main ground in our basement. That gives me a very solid path between any metal that I might touch and ground.

 

[gello22]

Can you get these (Dernord) from amazon? They come with the ground screw and the cover with cord grip. I have been running the 5500w Tri clamp. Just bought the 6500w.

 

[kokonutz]

Can you get these (Dernord) from amazon? They come with the ground screw and the cover with cord grip. I have been running the 5500w Tri clamp. Just bought the 6500w.
View attachment 719895

No rust issues? I was told only the Camco 2955 can be a rust free-

Looking at the shine on your image I’m guessing that’s no longer the case

 

[gello22]

They are 100% stainless including the base. I clean by heating 2-3 gallons of water with citric acid so it still looks new.

 

[Jeremy W]

Everything you have all said is what I thought...so will ground for sure. Tri-clamp is hard to find here. The box I was planning to use is a metal enclosure with ground screw against an SS kettle. While not as convenient as trim-clamp, I presume this will suffice?
View attachment 719854

I went with a very similar setup (followed Kal's instructions at the Electric Brewery). To confirm I had everything grounded properly, I checked continuity from the actual kettles, all the way to my plug that would be connected to my GFCI-protected dryer outlet. Checking everything like that gave me piece of mind that everything was going to be ok.