Jimbo's Electric Conversion

[woodshed]

Very cool build there Jimbo.

[Jimbo]

Corene, that 60 ft of 8/4 is a gold mine. Nice score. Solid is great for the runs. Its just stiff as hell so for the controller to still bit you'll prolly want to get a few feet of stranded 10/3.

Humbledore, thanks. Ya I been brewin down there for years. I crack the door but it still smells mighty fine in the basement after brewin a batch LOL. I have plans to put a hood above the cook deck with a fan blowin outside with a dryer vent type flapper door dealio. I think my biggest motivation is so I can spark up a stogie while Im brewing Haha.

Singlemalt, sounds great. Let us know how it goes.

Thanks Woodshed.

[drinkingdog]

I may have missed it but did you ever get to run her on electric yet. I have just one 5500 high density element and it works great. Of course I have never run one of propane before so I couldn't tell of any differences between the two. Let us know what you think of the conversion

[greybeard_biker]

just a quick mention, check your local places for remnants, I was at Lowes yesterday & saw a section of 10/3 multi-strand cable of just under 100' for $90 most of the time they have remnants of some type & just keep checking, as well as any lowes you happen to pass by.

[Jimbo]

Yup, that how I got the 8/3. Normally its 2.50 a foot, I picked up a 27 foot remnant at HomeDepot for 50% off on the remnant rack.

[rad14701]

By the way I went down to the shop today and there is 60 foot of 8-4 copper cable. I think it will work fine. Is there a difference in stranded cable versus solid core cable as far as it's ability to carry current?

Solid copper wire has less resistance per foot than stranded copper wire so you lose less power and the wire doesn't get as hot during high load power draws...

[corene1]

Corene there is no need to hit your electrician friend up to rewire your place. Use your dryer plug. Its 30 amps.

Thanks Halfbaked, after a lot of looking and thinking and shopping I think that is probably the best idea. If I put in a new breaker I still have to run the wires. So If I buy 20 foot of 8-3 and run it under the house to my shed and plug it into the dryer socket it should work fine. No wiring and I can do it myself without any fear of problems. I guess I will have to juggle my time between laundry and stillin though.

[Jimbo]

LOL, or buy a gas dryer and take over that feed for the important stuff Or wear your britches a few times between washes...

[corene1]

LOL, or buy a gas dryer and take over that feed for the important stuff Or wear your britches a few times between washes...

ORRRRR, Maybe just go shopping!

[Jimbo]

Well I was hopin to run some wheat this weekend but the stuff is still bubblin. So I did a 2 run test of this setup today with 6 gallons in each tank. Also since the elements draw 23A at full tilt I swapped out the breaker for a 50A. With both elements at full blast everythign worked beautifully. After several minutes wtih both going at full bore everythign was cool, the 8/3 main feed carrying 46A was cool, 10/3 feeds were cool, the air blowing out of the controller box cool. And both tanks boiling. Success.

Cheers.

[S-Cackalacky]

Well I was hopin to run some wheat this weekend but the stuff is still bubblin. So I did a 2 run test of this setup today with 6 gallons in each tank. Also since the elements draw 23A at full tilt I swapped out the breaker for a 50A. With both elements at full blast everythign worked beautifully. After several minutes wtih both going at full bore everythign was cool, the 8/3 main feed carrying 46A was cool, 10/3 feeds were cool, the air blowing out of the controller box cool. And both tanks boiling. Success.

Cheers.

Cool!

S-C

[corene1]

Well I was hopin to run some wheat this weekend but the stuff is still bubblin. So I did a 2 run test of this setup today with 6 gallons in each tank. Also since the elements draw 23A at full tilt I swapped out the breaker for a 50A. With both elements at full blast everythign worked beautifully. After several minutes wtih both going at full bore everythign was cool, the 8/3 main feed carrying 46A was cool, 10/3 feeds were cool, the air blowing out of the controller box cool. And both tanks boiling. Success.

Cheers.

WOW! You got 6 gallons boiling in a few minuets. I did a 7 gallon strip today with my gas burner on MAX and it took 53 minuets exactly to get product coming out, that is with the thumper running inline. I am sold for sure now!

[Jimbo]

I didnt time it cause I was dorkin around with different power settings too, and measuring voltage. Trying to get a feel for where on the dial 1/2, 3/4 power etc are.

When I run these wheat strippers this week they will be about 11 gallons or so. Ill let you know how fast to get up to temp and the run to start. With propane its well over an hour.

[F6Hawk]

I have read a few times that folks get a full boil in a keg in around 8-10 mins @ 5500W.

On a side note, to offer an alternative to the way Jimbo attached his element... I bought one of these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003GS ... UTF8&psc=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

and plan to cut a hole in the side of the keg and have that welded on, then the element will simply screw right into place. Should be simpler than messing with bolts thru the side, and the (potential) leaks that happen.

[Jimbo]

Hawk, Ive seen people here solder those in. Gotta be careful with the hole size, walk it in with a round file, and with a snug fit that baby will solder right in place. If I were to do this again Id go that route. The nuts worked, but in the still it was a pain in the ass.

[F6Hawk]

Hawk, Ive seen people here solder those in. Gotta be careful with the hole size, walk it in with a round file, and with a snug fit that baby will solder right in place. If I were to do this again Id go that route. The nuts worked, but in the still it was a pain in the ass.

Naw, I know how hard it is to solder SS. I will take it to a welder and have it properly welded. A few $$ spent here will save a lot of problems down the road, I'm sure.

[corene1]

I have read a few times that folks get a full boil in a keg in around 8-10 mins @ 5500W.

On a side note, to offer an alternative to the way Jimbo attached his element... I bought one of these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003GS ... UTF8&psc=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

and plan to cut a hole in the side of the keg and have that welded on, then the element will simply screw right into place. Should be simpler than messing with bolts thru the side, and the (potential) leaks that happen.

Ok , here is my take on the 1/2 coupler. If you are going to weld it in go ahead and buy a 3000 pound 1/2 coupler they have a larger od with a thicker wall. Then on the face have the shop or if you know someone chuck it up in a lathe and turn a smooth flat surface on the face so the gasket will have a solid wide face to seal up on. A standard 1 inch collar has about a 1/8 face, a 3000 pound collar has a little more than a 3/16 face but not quite 1/4 inch.

[singlemaltluv]

You could run a 30A breaker to one of these big elements, on a 100A service, no problem. Even with the A/C and your dryer going. But getting that out to your shed wont be cheap. Heavy gauge wire is damned expensive. 8/3 wire is $2.50 a foot. My controller box is 1 foot away from the main breaker panel The box was full, but there was a 30A breaker for the dryer, and my dryer is gas. So I yanked that one out, and popped in a 60A to feed my controllers.

Jimbo I've done just that. A friend of mine who happen to be an electrician and who also happen to owe me a favor, installed a junction box off of my main box. I think that the wire that we pulled which was a heavy gauge was either 8/3 or bigger I have to look still have over 20 feet left. A 60A breaker was installed here. From there we ran the same wire to another junction box located in my shed. From here is were I will install all of my other breaker including an 60A GFI breaker to run my kettle off of.

I stands corrected the wire that we pulled was 6/2. So what do you tech head out there think is this a safe setup?

[ezlle71]

Thank you jimbo for such a easy to follow tutorial!! I have been planning on going electric for a while and was looking for a little direction. I plan on welding in a bung for the element to screw into, and a bung for a ball valve for drain. So for a controller all you needed was those scr's from ebay? That seems so much easier than all the the stuff i have read about solid state relays, burst fire modules, poteniometers, triacs, variacs and the like. I was getting very confused but what you have shown seems soooo much easier. I will have to get started here real soon!!
ez

[Jimbo]

Yes the SCR's truly are plug and play. 2 screw bosses for AC In and 2 for AC Out. Any questions? LOL. They work great. They dont seem terribly consistent one to the next, at 12:00 on the knob one makes 140V and the other 155V. But they both go 0 to 240 with full range motion of the knob. And they even come with with black cool lookin knobs as well. 20 bucks each delivered from Hong Kongl just as you see them in teh first pic on the workbench. Crazy. I read that they can get warm in use, so I put a fan on the box. But its a pretty straight forward build.

[corene1]

I too am going to make an electrics conversion. Here is my thought on the bung if you are welding it in. It was mentioned earlier in the thread , but pictures work better than words for me. A 150 lb collar doesn't have much surface for the gasket to sit on so I think I will use a 3000 pound collar and machine the face flat so it will have a big face for the gasket to seat on. The one on the left is a steel 150 , the one in the middle is a steel 3000 the one on the right is the 3000 stainless I will use on my pot. I just showed steel one for comparison , not to use.

as you can see there is a big face for the gasket to seat on and it is nice and smooth. I would bet you could even buy a machined one from McMaster Carr or a similar place.

[acfixer69]

I too am going to make an electrics conversion. Here is my thought on the bung if you are welding it in. It was mentioned earlier in the thread , but pictures work better than words for me. A 150 lb collar doesn't have much surface for the gasket to sit on so I think I will use a 3000 pound collar and machine the face flat so it will have a big face for the gasket to seat on. The one on the left is a steel 150 , the one in the middle is a steel 3000 the one on the right is the 3000 stainless I will use on my pot. I just showed steel one for comparison , not to use.

PC020009.JPG

as you can see there is a big face for the gasket to seat on and it is nice and smooth. I would bet you could even buy a machined one from McMaster Carr or a similar place.

The biggest problem is not surface area with using a coupling it is the thread the coupling is NPT and the element is NPS. Teflon tape will seal but if you are trying to seat the gasket it ain't going to happen
AC

[corene1]

I too am going to make an electrics conversion. Here is my thought on the bung if you are welding it in. It was mentioned earlier in the thread , but pictures work better than words for me. A 150 lb collar doesn't have much surface for the gasket to sit on so I think I will use a 3000 pound collar and machine the face flat so it will have a big face for the gasket to seat on. The one on the left is a steel 150 , the one in the middle is a steel 3000 the one on the right is the 3000 stainless I will use on my pot. I just showed steel one for comparison , not to use.

PC020009.JPG

as you can see there is a big face for the gasket to seat on and it is nice and smooth. I would bet you could even buy a machined one from McMaster Carr or a similar place.

The biggest problem is not surface area with using a coupling it is the thread the coupling is NPT and the element is NPS. Teflon tape will seal but if you are trying to seat the gasket it ain't going to happen
AC

Interesting I was just going by what Jimbo had bought. He used a 1 inch npt female threaded nut so I assumed that the heating element was 1 inch npt also. I had an old 1500 watt element at work and it threaded in to the Stainless collar and seated very nicely. Better hold off to see if the 5500 watt will do the same. Have to do a search on 1 inch NPS stainless collars. Or make my own. There are some perks to working for a machine shop. could just run a NPS tap into it also.

[Jimbo]

Whatever I bought it threads on slick as snot. I doubt they are different

[acfixer69]

Whatever I bought it threads on slick as snot. I doubt they are different

Not looking for argument at all. I was noting the couplings not your nuts.

AC

[S-Cackalacky]

Whatever I bought it threads on slick as snot. I doubt they are different

This isn't any kind of definitive answer, but I think the difference is in the shape of the thread - not its size. Apparently they DO mate up nicely, but it's not what you might consider a mechanically tight fit - hince the need for the plumber's tape.

Maybe someone with a little more plumber/pipe fitting knowledge could shed better light on this.

S-C

[S-Cackalacky]

Whatever I bought it threads on slick as snot. I doubt they are different

Not looking for argument at all. I was noting the couplings not your nuts.

AC

Aren't they both NPT?

S-C

[acfixer69]

Maybe my bad... Corene was talking about couplings Jimbo about locknuts. Was only to point it out

AC

[corene1]

NPS is national pipe straight
NPT is national pipe tapered.
They are both 1 inch 11 1/2 thread . it just means the threads are straight on the NPS so they require a gasket to seal on the face and an NPT is tapered and the seal is made when the threads lock up.

[acfixer69]

Whatever I bought it threads on slick as snot. I doubt they are different

Not looking for argument at all. I was noting the couplings not your nuts.

AC

Aren't they both NPT?

S-C

No element is NPS

AC