HLT element ULWD or not?

[Ramdough]

So, I found a 5500 watt strait folded element from camco. It appears to have a slightly higher watt density than the wavy one Kal uses just because it is straight, but it is cheaper by 30%. Is there any advantage to having a lower watt density on the HLT?

I plan to use the wavy one on the boil kettle, just because it may be less likely to scorch, but the HLT is jus water.

Thanks.


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[kal]

The biggest advantage (IMHO) to the ULWD elements is that they're harder to break if you dry fire them - it can take considerably longer so you have time to turn things off hopefully before it fries.

Some of the higher density elements will pop almost immediately.

That said, I've never dry fired mine by accident ever, but that's mostly because my brewing process (steps) doesn't really present the opportunity for that to happen.

If you like to continuously heat your HLT sparge water while you're sparging, or have too many un-labelled buttons on your control panel, the change of dry firing goes up.

Kal