Sanity check on getting power to controller

[marvinsjunk]

Hey all,

I’ve decided to make the transition to electric (BIAB) so I can brew in the basement all year round. I haven’t yet decided on a controller but I have my eyes on the brew boss at the moment. I enjoy DIY projects and I may eventually convince myself to just build my own. Just not sure I want to invest the time.

Anyways, here is my plan so far for getting power to the controller. Would appreciate a critique.

1. My breaker box already has a 40 amp 240V circuit as a prewire for a cooktop. We have a gas cooktop so that circuit will never be used. The wire is 8 gauge. I’ll pull it down into the basement and reroute to my brew area. I’m going to reuse the wire but I’ll swap out the 40 amp breaker for a 30 to protect the 10 gauge wiring in the brew boss (or other controller).
2. I had thought about using a non-GFCI breaker and spa panel, but the cost difference would be minimal vs a 30 amp GFCI breaker. Going with a GFCI breaker seems like the cleaner solution. If I do that, I can then just connect the controller and circuit wiring in a junction box. I don’t mind having the controller hard-wired for now. When the basement gets finished and I have a dedicated brew space, I may install a receptacle.
3. I have a blichmann 15 240V boil coil, so whatever controller I use needs to have a twist lock L6-30 receptacle
4. If I go with the 30 amp GFCI breaker, the pigtail gets connected to the neutral bus bar and there are no other neutral/ground connections for the breaker, correct?
5. The existing circuit wiring is 2 hots, neutral, and ground. The brew boss manual says I only need the hots and ground, no neutral. Would I still connect the neutral to the bus bar at the panel, and then just put a wire nut on the neutral at the j-box? Will the GFCI still function correctly this way?

Thanks for the review and advice.

 

[FreddyMar3]

Hey all,
4. If I go with the 30 amp GFCI breaker, the pigtail gets connected to the neutral bus bar and there are no other neutral/ground connections for the breaker, correct?
5. The existing circuit wiring is 2 hots, neutral, and ground. The brew boss manual says I only need the hots and ground, no neutral. Would I still connect the neutral to the bus bar at the panel, and then just put a wire nut on the neutral at the j-box? Will the GFCI still function correctly this way?

Thanks for the review and advice.

Hey Marvin,
I am in the exact same situation as you. Did you ever get it figured out?

I already bought the BB controller. As you point out, it has 2 HOTS and 1 GROUND. I bought a 30 amp GFCI breaker bc it is cheaper than going with the in-line GFCI. I'm pretty new to wiring but hooking up regular breakers and single pole GFCIs has been pretty easy to learn. I just don't get how the GFCI breaker will work if the neutral from the breaker runs nowhere. If GFCI still works without a neutral, why even run it to the breaker?

Dying to hear what you ended up doing.

 

[marvinsjunk]

Dang Freddy, so sorry I didn't response sooner. I'm usually on HBT on my phone and the messages/replies aren't as conspicuous as the web page.

I actually just got the new rig up and running and had the inaugural brew last weekend. I did not go with the brew boss controller. I bought the 30amp BIAB controller from ebrewsupply and had Ryan do a little customization. This thing is awesome and Ryan was great to work with.

Anyways, I did use the existing 8ga wire from the cooktop prewire, and replaced the 40amp breaker with a 30amp GFCI. The pigtail on the breaker gets wired to the neutral bus bar. The neutral from the 8ga wire gets moved from the bus bar to the breaker. Easy peasy.

At the other end of the 8ga wire, I connected a 30amp, 4 prong receptable. I'm pretty sure the ebrewsupply panel does use the neutral, but I'm not positive on that. The brew boss doesn't use the neutral. If you connected it exactly the same as I did, I'm pretty sure you just wouldn't use the neutral prong on the plug.

Hope this helps.

 

[itsnotrequired]

I already bought the BB controller. As you point out, it has 2 HOTS and 1 GROUND. I bought a 30 amp GFCI breaker bc it is cheaper than going with the in-line GFCI. I'm pretty new to wiring but hooking up regular breakers and single pole GFCIs has been pretty easy to learn. I just don't get how the GFCI breaker will work if the neutral from the breaker runs nowhere. If GFCI still works without a neutral, why even run it to the breaker?

for a 240v only circuit (two hots and no neutral), you do not need to hook up a neutral conductor from the load-side of the circuit breaker to your downstream, receptacle, brew panel, etc. the electronics inside the gfci circuit breaker is still looking at current imbalance between the hot conductors. just be aware you won't be able to run any 120v loads on that circuit. for a brewboss which only requires 240v, this is not an issue.

you will need to hook up the neutral pigtail to the neutral bar in your panelboard.

you also mention single-pole gfcis. for the 240v circuit to the brewboss, you will need a two-pole gfci circuit breaker. this will interrupt both hot legs in the event of a problem on just one.

 

[marvinsjunk]

just be aware you won't be able to run any 120v loads on that circuit.

Okay, so that's why the ebrew controller has a 4 prong plug. It also powers a 120V pump.

Doesn't the brew boss include pump control as well? Does it require you to connect a separate 120V circuit?

 

[itsnotrequired]

Okay, so that's why the ebrew controller has a 4 prong plug. It also powers a 120V pump.

Doesn't the brew boss include pump control as well? Does it require you to connect a separate 120V circuit?

the brewboss comes with a 120v plug in addition to the 240v cord. you plug the 120V plug into a gfci receptacle. there is a 120v female cord receptacle on the brewboss as well, that is what the pump plugs into.

so yes, the brewboss includes pump control but you need a separate 120v circuit. the brewboss is available with a 240v pump option that does not require a separate circuit.

 

[FreddyMar3]

No worries on the late reply! I got it figured out.