PSA - tighten your wires every few years

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milldoggy

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Been brewing on my Kal clone since 2011. Only lost 2 lights and an ssr till today. My mash receptacle melted today when trying a 5 am call into work sick brew day. Wire must have worked loose and created an arc. I checked every other wire in the system and they all were loose.

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Yup Ive seen a few threads on this over the years.. didnt believe it was needed once but after speaking with an electrician friend from GM he told me they routinely recheck this stuck there too.
 
What do all the Non "handy" people who bought their panels do I wonder? Send them in for this service? Not to be a smartass but that requires some dissembly just to get to some of those screws.
 
What do all the Non "handy" people who bought their panels do I wonder? Send them in for this service? Not to be a smartass but that requires some dissembly just to get to some of those screws.

Was thinking the same thing. I built my panel, so I know how to break down and fix anything.

It is not hard to get to the screws. Just had to unscrew a few cables and mounting screws to rotate the receptacles. Took me an hour to go over everything. Time well spent and will make it a yearly or two event
 
Was thinking the same thing. I built my panel, so I know how to break down and fix anything.

It is not hard to get to the screws. Just had to unscrew a few cables and mounting screws to rotate the receptacles. Took me an hour to go over everything. Time well spent and will make it a yearly or two event

Btw I opened my cables up too,. They were a little loose,. Check them to. Even checked my spa panel and breaker in my main panel. They were fine.
 
Was thinking the same thing. I built my panel, so I know how to break down and fix anything.

It is not hard to get to the screws. Just had to unscrew a few cables and mounting screws to rotate the receptacles. Took me an hour to go over everything. Time well spent and will make it a yearly or two event

I honestly dont thing the difficulty has as much to do with it as some peoples unwillingness to to touch it due to fear of electricity.. Plus it may void warranty on boxes like the high gravity setups that have a lifetime warranty.. I guess with those you just hope your there if/when it fails and send it in once it does have a meltdown?

I had this happen myself on one of my old speakon element connectors... my solution was to use better 30a aviation connectors and solder the connection points.
 
This is a trait of aluminum wiring. It is less expensive but requires this maintenance. For electrical panels there are special spring loaded connectors that help.

Copper should be far less prone to this phenomena. Of course any time you have heating and cooling with use it will tend to work loose over time.
 
This is a trait of aluminum wiring. It is less expensive but requires this maintenance. For electrical panels there are special spring loaded connectors that help.

Copper should be far less prone to this phenomena. Of course any time you have heating and cooling with use it will tend to work loose over time.

Mine was all copper. Must have been all the cycles.
 
Agreed that thermal cycling will cause this. I️ also think some may experience a level of dissimilar metal corrosion and/or oxidation that causes it. A very small increase in impedance can cause a bunch of heat. Just think that a ~10 ohm resistance dissipates 5500W of heat. So a hundredth of that, at 0.1 ohms equates to roughly the same amount of heat as a 60W light bulb. That’s heat with little place to go other than being conducted down the terminal and wires.

This likely occurs to many of us over time without even knowing it. This is a snowball effect as thermal cycling increases in intensity as a result. Then at some point the heat becomes too much for the components until one fails - hopefully without nothing more than just smelly plastic.

So yeah - check those connections!!
 
Does it make sense to apply dielectric grease to these connections to reduce the resistance?

I am rebuilding my panel right now and will probably add dielectric grease to the receptacles connectors.

Chris
 
I always advise people to do at least bi-annual inspections of their panels. If they don't know what to do then I instruct them. It isn't hard and it can save big issues!

Glad nothing worse happened to you!
 
if looking for the ultimate piece of mind, consider purchasing a torque screwdriver. these are what the pros use to ensure their electrical connections are torqued properly. power conductors are typically torqued to 12 in-lb but this can vary based on the type of terminal block used. low voltage stuff like temp probes typically can take less, like 7 in-lb but it is really a function of terminal/screw size more than the voltage/amps being used. above are good recommendations but if you know the manufacturer of your terminals, you should be able to find their requirements in their literature.

and note that it is possible to over-torque a connection, which can lead to problems. mechanical issues include weakening the screw to the point that it eventually fails. while not as common at the brew panel scale, it is possible to cause electrical issues such as damaged/broken conductor strands or strands being 'squeezed' out of the termination, effectively reducing the current carrying capacity and possibly leading to overheating. a torque screwdriver is the only real way to know the terminations are installed properly.
 
if looking for the ultimate piece of mind, consider purchasing a torque screwdriver. these are what the pros use to ensure their electrical connections are torqued properly. power conductors are typically torqued to 12 in-lb but this can vary based on the type of terminal block used. low voltage stuff like temp probes typically can take less, like 7 in-lb but it is really a function of terminal/screw size more than the voltage/amps being used. above are good recommendations but if you know the manufacturer of your terminals, you should be able to find their requirements in their literature.

and note that it is possible to over-torque a connection, which can lead to problems. mechanical issues include weakening the screw to the point that it eventually fails. while not as common at the brew panel scale, it is possible to cause electrical issues such as damaged/broken conductor strands or strands being 'squeezed' out of the termination, effectively reducing the current carrying capacity and possibly leading to overheating. a torque screwdriver is the only real way to know the terminations are installed properly.

Great to know. I just acquired one of those for one of the product lines I service at work..
 
I've only had problems with cheap connectors.... in retrospect, I shouldn't have bought these plugs with the screws on the outside. Bad design.

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