Is this safe?

[Steven Sinclair]

I'm currently finishing up a 20gal eherms system...

Controller: 240 volt, two 30 amp breakers for elements, two 15 amp breakers for pumps
Connection: Dedicated 240 volt, 60 amp breaker in panel
Elements: 204 volt 6500 watt

With this setup, will both elements be able to be powered on concurrently (no pun intended) or will I have to settle on 5500 watt elements? And, with that in mind, will I notice that much of an increase in speed as pertains to the time it takes to reach a boil between the 5500 watt elements and the 6500 watt elements?

Thanks in advance.

 

[thomashp]

The rule of thumb for electrical circuits is not to load them more than 80%. 30amps x 80% = 24 amps. The 5500W elements would pull 23 amps at 240V and the 6500W elements would pull 27 amps. I would personally go with the 5500W elements. With the 6500W elements you are not technically overloading anything, although with both elements and pumps running I am assuming you would be very close.

There's an electric heating calculator at the bottom of this page: https://manskirtbrewing.com/calculators.aspx
You would probably save about 10-15 minutes off your brew day with the larger elements.

 

[doug293cz]

The rule of thumb for electrical circuits is not to load them more than 80%. 30amps x 80% = 24 amps. The 5500W elements would pull 23 amps at 240V and the 6500W elements would pull 27 amps. I would personally go with the 5500W elements. With the 6500W elements you are not technically overloading anything, although with both elements and pumps running I am assuming you would be very close.

There's an electric heating calculator at the bottom of this page: https://manskirtbrewing.com/calculators.aspx
You would probably save about 10-15 minutes off your brew day with the larger elements.

That rule is for continuous loads, with continuous being defined as more than several hours. Highly unlikely that a homebrew system would meet the continuous criterion.

What is the watt density on your proposed 6500W elements? The 5500W elements that are commonly used have less than 70W per sq in. To get this low density the element has to be folded back and bent to a wavy shape to get enough length to keep the watt density down. I haven't seen 6500W elements like that. High watt density will lead to wort scorching problems.

Brew on

 

[Steven Sinclair]

The 6500w element is a ripple element and identical to [THIS ONE] except for the fact that it is 6500w instead of 5500w. Thanks again.

 

[doug293cz]

You don't mention how you are planning to modulate the heat output of your elements in order to maintain a constant temp in your HLT, and an even boil vigor in your BK.

Brew on

 

[Steven Sinclair]

Sorry, kinda missed that little important fact, eh? I utilize an [EBC-350] for the rig. Thanks again.

 

[GParkins]

Elements: 204 volt 6500 watt

204VAC kinda implies 3⏀ power. You should double check to make sure it is compatible with household single-phase power.