I dry fired my ulwd for 30 secs and it is still kicking.
I read here or on Kal's sight that the low wat Density elements are a little more forgiving if fired up dry..
I dry fired my ulwd for 30 secs and it is still kicking.
I like the plug/cord on my BK for this reason. It does not get plugged in until wort is over the element so no chance of frying anything.
I read here or on Kal's sight that the low wat Density elements are a little more forgiving if fired up dry..
kpr121 said:Yeah right on the 5500W Camco element package it says that it is able to be dry fired. For how long, it doesnt say.
I went with plugs for three reasons.
[3]Safety. I don't have a master key switch or disconnect on my current system. It just gets unplugged when not in use. If I'm not brewing for a while, I'll also disconnect the CP from the keggle and put everything away.
gunmetal said:I guess it depends on what you have to pay for twist locks. A vendor on ebay was selling 30 amp L6 twist locks for around 4 bucks each. Shipping was also cheap. I also found a local surplus store in Ohio that was selling them dirt cheap. My local scrap yard had 30 amp twist locks on SOOW 10/3 cords for so long that they ended up in a 4X4X4 bail! I even have a 50 amp 4 pole twist lock that I plug my brewery in with. I paid $5 for it.
What are the chances you could find another one of those 50A connectors?
The 50amp twist-locks are pretty common. Once you go up from there (60amps +) it is more moolah and takes some hunting.
kal said:I went locking with everything that hangs out the bottom of my panel for convenience and safety.
Yes, some of these cords require a lot of insertion force to push in/pull out so they may be fine to be non-locking. Maybe. I don't know. The power cord (for example) is stupidly heavy. All my connectors are on the bottom which made me want to go with locking even more. So why'd I put them on the bottom? Again for safety (water runs downhill), how it looks, etc.
Locking is used for safety. Just in case. Like the seatbelt in your car. You just don't know what might happen one day. You may not normally pull on a cord but you just never know. We don't use locking because it's an absolute requirement to make the thing work.
Look at it in the opposite direction: Why not go for locking? The *only* benefit to not using locking is to save money. There are no other benefits. Everything else is a negative. So you need to make that choice yourself. Nobody else can tell you "you should use locking" or that "you don't need to use locking" or anything else for that matter since this is setup you use yourself at home that you built yourself.
Kal
Locking is used for safety.
Worst case scenario: Say a cord comes loose and falls out over time. That itself isn't probably going to be unsafe. What is unsafe is that before it actually falls out the electrical connection points (spades) would only be touching in a few small spots which means more current flowing through small spots which means increased temperature which could cause a fire/melting/etc.Can you explain why locking on the control panel is for safety? My only though is it would be to keep the power cord going from the spa panel from falling off and landing in a puddle of water, which is a very good reason. As far as all the other plugs if they get yanked from the control panel there is no power going to them. I guess if they fall in a puddle and you pick it up to plug it back in that could be bad. However, if they are locking and you trip on the cord going from the panel to the BK then your going to tip the BK all over and possibly on yourself.
(This is not meant to be mean or rude if it came off that way, I just want to be as safe as possible and want to make sure I fully understand all the safety steps)
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