Questions on converting to electric

[bigljd]

I've been brewing AG for the last year using propane out in my brew shed, which is located in the back of my yard about 50 ft from the house. I'm wanting to convert to electric, but I don't want to run 240 permanently out to the shed since we may move in the next year or less.
My electric source would be a 240v 30amp electric dryer outlet in the front laundry room of the house. I'm looking to power a simple control panel (not built yet) running a single 4500 or 5500 watt element and a pump. I came up with a few options and want to see what you guys think:

1. Hook up a 240v spa panel in the laundry room with a 4 prong plug. On brew day, unplug the dryer from the spa panel and plug in a 4 prong plug wired to 75 feet of 10/4 cable that I would unwind out the back slider door to the shed like an extension cord, and plug into the control panel.
Any problems running cable this far? Would the cable linked below work? It looks about $100 less than 10/4 at Lowes for 75 feet.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/75-SOOW-10-...aultDomain_0&hash=item2a12abd752#ht_699wt_952

2. Build a brew stand with wheels that I could store in the shed and roll out across the lawn to my front porch on brew day. There's a window in the laundry room that opens to the patio, so I could plug into a spa panel and run a short cable out the window to the brew stand control panel.

I'd probably spend the same amount of $$ building the brew stand with wheels as I would would on 75 ft of 10/4 cable, plus I'd be brewing on the front porch where I'd be exposed to winter winds and annoying neighbor kids asking if I'm making meth.

3. Wait to convert to electric until we move and I have a garage or more suitable place to build an electric brewery (this would likely be SWMBO's choice).

Every 5 minutes I change my mind on what would be the best option - I guess I'm just looking for ideas/thoughts from others who may have already done something like this.
I'm also looking for opinions on the safety of running 240v cables across my lawn in the rain, or anything else I'm considering doing. I understand electrical stuff reasonably well, but have no hands on experience with 240v. Fortunately I live just a few miles from PJ, so if I build this I'll have to bribe him with something (homebrews?) to come and look things over for me before I power anything up.

Thanks in advance

 

[bigljd]

OK, I think my rambling original post lost the interest of everyone. Let me boil it down to 2 questions.

Will this cable work to run 240v 75 feet from my laundry room to my brew shed to run a 5500 watt element?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/75-SOOW-10-...1878098?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a12ab d752#ht_699wt_952

Are there any safety concerns running this cable from my laundry room thru the kitchen, out the slider door and across the back yard (possibly in the rain) to my brew shed?

Thanks

 

[Bobby_M]

Yes it will work fine and no, there are no safety concerns specific to running the cord through the house temporarily. Of course, there are other inherent risks with using electricity to heat liquids to boiling, but you know that.

 

[bigljd]

Thanks Bobby - I couldn't find any other people running 'extension cables' that long, so I wasn't sure if that was OK or not.

 

[Bobby_M]

Long cables do incur voltage drop but it's really not going to be a big deal in this case.

 

[bruin_ale]

As Bobby said, there is a voltage drop on a long run - but I think the reason most people avoid this is because 75ft of 10/4 cable is mucho dinero. I have a 25ft cable to get from my garage plug out into my driveway and I paid more than I'd like just for that.

 

[bigljd]

It is a lot of money for the cable, but I really like brewing out in my shed - it's my little man cave. I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet. If I end up going electric, I'll make a thread to show it.

 

[hatfieldenator]

Why are you so anxious to convert to electric now if you're moving in a year? If I were you I would just keep brewing the way you are now and save your money to use on your new electric system when you move. What are you going to do with all that cable after you move?
You could just start building your control panel now and let that occupy your time over the next year while you wait to move?

 

[bigljd]

Why are you so anxious to convert to electric now if you're moving in a year? If I were you I would just keep brewing the way you are now and save your money to use on your new electric system when you move. What are you going to do with all that cable after you move?
You could just start building your control panel now and let that occupy your time over the next year while you wait to move?

Patience has never been one of my virtues - I've built my electric rig in my head about 100 times now and I'm itching to make it for real. But you are right, I should just wait. I need to refocus my desire to build things over to a different project, like replacing some of the wood trim on my house that is starting to rot. But building a control panel sounds like a lot more fun...

 

[johnodon]

Patience has never been one of my virtues

Guilty here also!

My wife and friends are actually surprised I have stuck with brewing this long.

 

[johnodon]

1. Hook up a 240v spa panel in the laundry room with a 4 prong plug. On brew day, unplug the dryer from the spa panel and plug in a 4 prong plug wired to 75 feet of 10/4 cable that I would unwind out the back slider door to the shed like an extension cord, and plug into the control panel.
Any problems running cable this far? Would the cable linked below work? It looks about $100 less than 10/4 at Lowes for 75 feet.

Be careful with this...

I know I read somewhere in this forum that 240v dryers are not meant to be plugged into a GFCI outlet...something to do with the electronics and teh dryer not running as expected. I'll see if I can dig up the thread but I think it was P-J that made the comment.

Also, the same cable at Lowes is $2.22/ft.

http://www.lowes.com/pd_59154-295-5...=1&currentURL=/pl__0__s?Ntt=10%2F4&facetInfo=

If you don't really need 75ft and can get away with closer to 50', it may save you a few $$$.

John

 

[bigljd]

Be careful with this...

I know I read somewhere in this forum that 240v dryers are not meant to be plugged into a GFCI outlet...something to do with the electronics and teh dryer not running as expected. I'll see if I can dig up the thread but I think it was P-J that made the comment.

John

Hmm, if this is true it certainly would make things more difficult. The 240v dryer plug is mounted along the baseboard behind the dryer, and there is no way to unplug the dryer easily from it's socket for a brew session (the laundry room is really a small pantry with a washer/dryer wedged in there). I definitely don't want to have to re-wire/re-position the dryer plug.
I'm probably just going to stick with propane for now, but I am curious if running a dryer on GFCI really is a no-no.

 

[johnodon]

Hmm, if this is true it certainly would make things more difficult. The 240v dryer plug is mounted along the baseboard behind the dryer, and there is no way to unplug the dryer easily from it's socket for a brew session (the laundry room is really a small pantry with a washer/dryer wedged in there). I definitely don't want to have to re-wire/re-position the dryer plug.
I'm probably just going to stick with propane for now, but I am curious if running a dryer on GFCI really is a no-no.

Yeah...I want someone else to chime in. I may be imaging things but I am pretty sure I read that somehwere.

John

 

[KEG99]

You could just start building your control panel now and let that occupy your time over the next year while you wait to move?

If you are like me - a non-electrical guy - designing and building your control panel will be a big effort. I just finished mine, a simple one, and it took quite a while. And now that it's finish (not yet even tested) I am already finding things i want to add, etc. Building my brewstand also took a long time and then converting the kegs was a challenge. I guess the point is, you could easily chew up a year just working on building all the parts so that when you finally move, the first thing you do at the new home is hook it all up and start brewing.

 

[shortyjacobs]

I'm an idiot, meant to post a new thread...instead posted a reply by mistake....ignore this post, sorry folks