Pleasant surprise tonight... and a question.

[kklowell]

My temp controller and SSR were on my porch at 10 pm tonight!!! I didn't expect them for a week or two yet, so I'm excited. However, I now have a question, which is simply, do I HAVE to use a contactor? This controller/ssr will control a 1500 watt element. The SSR is a 25 amp.
Speaking of contactors...is there a cheap source for these things? When everything is done I will have a 5500w in the BK and an element of 3500 to 5500 in the HLT, so I expect to need one for each of those.

 

[Shockerengr]

Not necessarily, but you will want a switch in line to be able to cut power to it. One of the failure modes of an SSR is to fail on, so you'll want a way to disconnect it safely. The contactor is even more important with multiple elements so that you can have a single control to kill all power in the event of a problem.

since it's only a single 1500w element, you can get a switch from HD/Lowes/Menard and use it in the meantime. For your finished product, I'd have the contactors.

 

[zeus53219]

I use 3 contactors in my set-up. 1 for the 5500w HLT element, 1 for the 5500w BK element, and 1 to turn on main power for the whole control panel with a key switch. I only run one element at a time so I use a 3-position selector switch to select which contactor pulls in to power one leg to the element, and then control the other leg to the ssr via the PID. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f16/contactors-e-brew-heating-elements-273489/