Wiring 240v heater element to 120v power for Dummies?

[stealthfixr]

Hello, perhaps I've missed it, but my searches on this have not been helpful. I am really just looking for what power cable to buy at Lowe's or similar to do this, and I will have a qualified electrician I know wire it up; I know very little about this area.

I bought a SS 240V element from Brewhardware.com for use their 18" RIMS tube system. This element will plug into THIS RIMS controller I got off of Amazon.

Any electrical guidance for an electrically challenged brewer greatly appreciated!

 

[robfar]

Buy an appliance cord at HD or Lowes. It will have a 120V plug on one end and three wires on the other. Connect the two insulated wires to your heater and connect the ground to the metal tube if you can. Be aware that by using a 240V element at 120V your power output will be 1/4 of the rating (5000W becomes 1250W.) You can hold a steady temp with that, but you won't be doing step mashes.

 

[stealthfixr]

Yup, I bought it knowing the 5500W element would be at 1/4th power on 120v (if I got that right). I use a Blichmann burner for the large temp increases--just need this to hold a steady mash temp for 60-90 minutes. It's kind of a pain holding mash temps manually, and sometimes I overshoot or let it fall too low without noticing.

 

[waleed121]

At first, I was thinking of using 110v on the rims tube to lower the wattage, but maybe I should not care with a pid controller.

 

[stealthfixr]

Okay, perhaps a dumb question. My qualified electrician isn't available and the project is just sitting around. This doesn't look too complex, but I am definitely not an electrician.

The three wires coming from the 3-prong 120V power cord I bought at Lowe's (15 Amp) has three colors: black, white and green. All appear insulated. I assume the black and white connect to the heating element, and the green goes to the lug already on the brewhardware SS RIMS tube enclosure for the heating element. Is this correct?

I bought ring terminals to get better contact with all three connection points and will crimp appropriately. Would it hurt to also put a touch of solder on the crimp points? Or, is this just wasted effort?

 

[stealthfixr]

Nothing has been plugged in, but here are the pictures of what I did. Comments and suggestions appreciated.

I'll wait before comments posted telling me if I got this right or not before plugging it in. I did get a GFCI to plug in between the wall power and my PID controller & pump.

 

[Bobby_M]

Correct.