Heater Element Question

[jimsbrotherjack]

I have a 5500W 240V heater element I'm going to run on 120V so it'll be about 1375W. Will this be enough to heat a 50L keg pot still?

[LWTCS]

Its gonna take a good long while to bring it to temp.

And I recon its gonna be a bit slow for stripping.

I put my 4500 watt on a 240/30amp DPDT switch.

Comes to temp real nice. But with my thumper, it may be a bit slow when switched to the 120 volt side. But all in all. I love it.

Variac next year.

Do you have a way to control your input?

[jimsbrotherjack]

Nothing as of yet to control it, just figured on and off... Maybe I should look into just using a propane burner. I like the electric idea, but if it's going to get too involved, I'll go with a burner instead.

[LWTCS]

If you've got a good place to cook outside, the propane will be a real good option.

With the propane you may need to impliment your "rain day" plan though.

The electric option is not really all that dificult to execute.

I just didn't want to be caught with no fuel in the middle of a run.

Had room in my panel. So I just added a 30 amp breaker. My panel is located within close proximity to my stilling area, so I cut in a box for a 30 amp/4 conducter dryer recepticle.

#8 romex and #8 /4 conducter power cord with some twist and lock male and female ends.
Homey Dopey had it all except for the DPDT switch.

[HookLine]

This is how I wired up the element in my keg. Just use a triac based controller (such as a burst fire module) to control it.

[new_moonshiner]

Nice work Hook ..First thing I always look for is the Grounding wire ..I always like to see that ..

[HookLine]

Thanks.

We call them earth wires here. (Active, neutral, earth, for standard household systems.)

You an electrical/electronics guy? Or just naturally sensible?

[DBDub]

OK I found a compilation of usefull info that helped me and may help others.

BTU= energy req to raise temp of 1lb of water 1deg 1 hr
1 gal water = 8.333lbs
1 cubic ft of water = 7.48 gal
1 gal = 231 cubic inches
capacity of a cylinder in gallons is equal to (in inches) Length x Diamiter sqared x .0034
water expands 4.34% from 40* to 212*
1ft water column = .4333 psi or 1 psi = 27.6in

Amps (1phase) = KW x 1000 / Volts

BTUs
1 KW = 3412
1cu ft Natural Gas = 1075
1cu ft Propane = 2570

in my case 25g is max (w/6" head space) and probably wont be filled. These #'s are at 100% efficiency and I understand that a mash is going to be heavier than water, so its just a jumping off point.

25g = 208.325 x temp raise 125* (75* to 200*) = 26040.6 BTU
26040.6 / 3412 = 7.63 KW
7.63KW = 33.17 Amps @ 230v

I dont want to go above 30A so I think I'll stay a bit lower at 6500 or 6000W split between 2 elements. 4500w on a thermostat and 2000w on a controller. I don't mind a bit longer heat up time since I will be making 1 run vs 2. It will still save alot of time in changing over and heating the 2nd batch.

Thanks again for all these great posts
D.DBDub
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Joined: Sun Jun 21, 2009 5:58 pm
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[new_moonshiner]

Thanks.

We call them earth wires here. (Active, neutral, earth, for standard household systems.)

You an electrical/electronics guy? Or just naturally sensible?

electrician by trade, dabble with electronics not enough to speak of .

[HookLine]

Useful trade to have.

And Happy Birthday.

[new_moonshiner]

Thank you Sir..

[jimsbrotherjack]

So this may be a stupid question... How is a 240V element wired to drop a leg and make it 120V? Is it as simple as just wiring it using the normal black and nuetral and pluggin it into a 120V outlet?

[LWTCS]

I wish I knew how to do a drawing on the computer kinda thing. I'd draw it out for you.

Let me pull my switch box apart and take a few pics. Maybe I'll be able to muster enough mental amunition to clearly verbalize what is in the pic.

Give me a few............

[jimsbrotherjack]

Thanks LWTCS... I'd like to get my keg up and running soon... a 4 gallon batch of molassess wash is just dying to turn into some rum....

[LWTCS]

Complete harness

[LWTCS]

On the left is the 4 conductor plug end for the dryer receptacle.

Next is the switch box (notice I did not say controller ) . The right side switch is for master power. That’s is to say power on and power off.

Left side is the DPDT switch. Up position being 240. Down position being 120. Center position being off.

For safety sake, I felt it was necessary to have a dual power shut off.

Then the 2 remaining plug ends are the twist and locks from the power supply to the keg.

[LWTCS]

3 conductor #8 feeding the element.

[LWTCS]

This was the best view I could come up with.

Power "in" on the right to the basic 30 amp switch (master power).
DPDT switch on the left.
The white conductor from the 4 conductor side, gets installed directly to the DPDT switch.

Top side:
*power in (black)…………..*power in (red)

Center:
White to element……………black to element

Bottom side:
White from 4 conductor …….red jumper from red power in.

So, the top two lugs are 240 "in"
Bottom two lugs are 120 "in"
center lugs are "to the element"

Hope this is not too confusing.

[LWTCS]

bump for piratesteve

[piratesteve]

cheers!

thanks

[Jncrtny]

I have been agonizing over what solution I should implement for powering my still, I cam across this and felt it was the best start and most open to any type of modification without relying on anything else to actually run. Only question is regarding sourcing the parts you used, could you take time and maybe direct me to the core parts of the system?