How suitable is this heating element? (Ebay)

[al_shine]

Hello everyone.

Looking to put internal heating on a keg.

I've been reading through making controllers and stuff like that.

Then I found a listing for this four branch heating element ( )

My thought is to switch each of the four elements individually with standard rocker switches (of proper rating) in order to get 4 power settings.

It seems from the main site that might work, if less elegantly than a power controller.

My other concern is if it would be too difficult to mount that funny square bulkhead onto my round keg.

Thanks alot, gents.

[Dnderhead]

grate idea but I thinking "over kill" unless you have a big boiler. at 50 amps, you better have a dedicated circuit for it

[al_shine]

oh, good point. a single one of those elements would be the "large" heater for a keg still.

That's what I get for browsing ebay when the neighbors dogs wake me up too early.

Are there any recommendations? most of the talk seems to be about control, not the elements themselves.

[Dnderhead]

some use two elements, both to "heat up" one to cook on. that one you mentioned whould be good,and compact but to big for most of us
you will have to search for size because I do not use electric

[Barney Fife]

On the other hand, it appears to be 4 separate elements on one base. There are 8 connections, too. That opens the door to having only one element, yet a LOT of control possibilities simply by switching off different numbers of them. If I'm correct, then this item is the cat's ass for us!

I could also be wrong, but that's how I see it.

[Nykter]

To me it seems usable, but a little on the large side, depending on if your column and condenser can handle it.
If as stated it "delivers" 40 A, that should mean 10 A per branch, and connected to 120V that would mean 1200W per branch. If you have fuses enough to handle that, you would have 4.8kW for heating and 1.2 kW for distilling.

if you dont have 4 X 10 A sockets, then just use the amount of elements you can handle. You cant get too puch power for the heating phase.

[Barney Fife]

A little detective work shows that this is a 8,000 watt, 220v unit, and indeed, is meant to be switched, so it can be used as lower or higher wattage as needed.

Lotsa potential...

[al_shine]

*edited for mis-applying ohm's law

Well, he says in the ad that he has a bunch of them, so if anyone can reckon with me for a workable controller design for a full size keg still, I am willing to let my still be a guinea pig. I don't think I have 220 volt outlets readily available.

Can't you use 110, for just the element, and it will be less power (1/4 i think), which we probably want? Also, shouldn't switching the devices in series to lower their heat output even more? (This might cause runaway depending on the temp-co, but I only play electrical engineer on t.v.)

like, two in series would be half the power load of one in series? et c.

[eternalfrost]

looks nice!

i am currently trying to rig up a 5500W 240V element on my keg. i simply bought the highest power one at the store without really thinking it through.

the problem im having now is trying to find circuit components for a controller that will take the ~23A it will pull on max power. the highest residential hardware from homedepot etc are rated to 20A

you should be able to run each element in parallel from one 240V line (make sure the wires rated to carry the amps pulled by all of them combined) then have a switch to shut each on or off.

you could also then add a dimmer circuit to one for fine controll.

you could also rig something up to switch them into a series which would also cut the power output

[Nykter]

A little detective work shows that this is a 8,000 watt, 220v unit, and indeed, is meant to be switched, so it can be used as lower or higher wattage as needed.

Can't you use 110, for just the element, and it will be less power (1/4 i think), which we probably want? Also, shouldn't switching the devices in series to lower their heat output even more? (This might cause runaway depending on the temp-co, but I only play electrical engineer on t.v.)

If the thingie is 8kW on 220V, that should actually mean four elements on 2 kW
Connected to 110V they would give 4 * 500W
If you connected two of the elements in series on 110V you would get 250W
Runaway, dont really se what you mean. in a still, you wouldnt connect a thermostatic controller, just a straight power controller. No feedback.

[al_shine]

Runaway, dont really se what you mean. in a still, you wouldnt connect a thermostatic controller, just a straight power controller. No feedback.

I'll admit that I was over thinking the problem. Doesn't really matter what the sign of the temperature coefficient of the rods are, because even if they conduct more when they heat more, the wash is going to act as a big ole heat sink making them share the same temperature.

What do you mean by "power controller?"

[Nykter]

Power controller, dont really know if thats the correct word, I'm not a native English speaker. It controls the power to the element, according to the setting of a knob. Just a big light dimmer. Read more here: http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3342

[Barney Fife]

f the thingie is 8kW on 220V, that should actually mean four elements on 2 kW
Connected to 110V they would give 4 * 500W

Correct. So on 110v, we'd have 500, 1000, 1500 or 2000 watts available with simple switching, and regular hardware store dimmers will work happily with any of them, too. We could even run it on 220v to heat up, then switch to 110 for finer control.

I think I've talked myself into buying one

[al_shine]

so you're talking about making a switchboard out of four of something like this:
Lutron 600 Watt White Slide-to-Off Dimmer Model: S-600PH-WH $17.93
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action= ... ="nofollow

One for each element?

Would you share a single supply power cord, or split it up from multiple outlets?

I'm not that familiar with dimmer switches, how does this help us compared to just regular old on/off switches? Do they consume power like a rheostat or "pulse" or?

any thoughts on the physical mounting to a keg?

[Barney Fife]

You would only need one dimmer on one of the elements, to fine tune that one. For example, one element, 500 watts, so one dimmer gives anything from 0 to 500 watts, use 2 elements for 1000 watts. Now, dim one of them for anything in between 500 and 1,000. Use 3 for 1500 watts, and dim one for anything in between 1000 and 1500. use all 4 for 2000 watts, and dim one for anything between 1500 and 2000. see? One dimmer gives infinite control.

Then we could have one element on 220v, and the other 3 on 110, and again, one dimmer on one of them gives us more choices.

But really, I don't even think we need to get -that- fussy.

[al_shine]

see? One dimmer gives infinite control.

Sounds good. I was thinking "Now when 'n' the heck would I have four sliders half down!?"

Just wanted to make sure.

Reckon' I'll give this a shot then.

Run two pairs on one circuit, so two inputs. 3 with on/off switches and 1 with a slider. Make a nice little box for it with some strain reliefs and a pair of 10 amp fuses. Cannibalize a few extension cords and an army ammo box. Shouldn't cost too much more than the element.

[Dnderhead]

its is a grate idea and switching is not a problem, but that is 40 amp (total) you cant just plug it in the wall.you are going to nead a 240v
outlet dedacated to that like a range.

[Barney Fife]

Yes, if we want to run it at 8,000 watts.

On the other hand, I think I'd use 2 of them on 220v for a heat up at 4,000 watts, which will only need a 20amp(or larger) outlet, and the other 2 on 110v, for 1,000 watts(or less) for the run, which will operate happily on any 15 amp(or larger) outlet. Shoot, use the 110 and the 220 for heat up and you get 5,000 watts.