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Sutronics have a 6kw controller, but it is a bit pricey.I would have used a sultronics controller, but they are rated lower than for my 4.5 KW
Would you be running the 4.5KW element off 240 or 120...??? You definitely need to make sure you aren't pushing the limits of your electrical system regardless of supply voltage... Hope he offered up some good advice...stillvodka wrote:Speaking to a electrician today, he does bit work for me and my Brother on a house conversion we are doing, got around to discussing my distilling hobby and about my new boiler, told him about me fitting a 4.5 KW element, first thing he said was how are you running that, have you got a separate 40amp consumer box fitted in your shed wired into the direct mains house consumer unit same as the cooker, felt and looked abit,he said surly your not running from house socket 13amp plug socket, I said yes, never really thought about it, Kettle element is 3kw why worry always worked before no trouble.
Yeah, sometimes it's best to not push the issue, especially when you're looking for reasonable charges for services provided... I know a couple tradesman that won't deviate from standardized code advice one iota because they don't want to jeopardize their licenses - no way, no how... By the book all the way... In a way I can't say as I blame them...stillvodka wrote:I didn't really want to question his advice, he's a bang up to date BS regulated electrician.
I run my 2" neutral column at about 1300-1400 w. Some stillers run harder than that, some slower.eternalfrost wrote:His 4500W 240V element will put out 1125W at 120V. This is plenty to run a column. have to admit im not an expert on potstills but i would imagine this would be enough to run one as well
on my 2" reflux i only use in the ball park of 750W.
Beginning to think I shouldn't of mentioned anything to the electrician, I always ran my old boiler on 3 kw through a plug with 13am fuse never had a problem before, maybe 4.5 kw is a bit higher but it will only be running that for 3/4 hour for heat up, it wont be constant running full 4.5kwUgly wrote:The only thing that caught my attention in that was why he said a 40amp handling capacity was needed when your 4500W element only needs a 20 amp max handling capacity (slightly less but 20amp is the correct breaker size). It's not an electrical motor and does not surge when it's turned it. It'll draw its max load of ~18.75 and no more - usually less since the rating for those elements is usually on the high side.
12 gauge can carry 20 amps
10 gauge can carry 30 amps
8 gauge can carry 40 amps
big difference in the price of those wires if you are talking about any distance at all.
I run my 4.5kw element from a dryer plug, which is on a 40 amp circuit double what the element requires, assuming you have a 240v source you shouldn't have issues with a 3/4 hour warm up, or even longer.stillvodka wrote: Beginning to think I shouldn't of mentioned anything to the electrician, I always ran my old boiler on 3 kw through a plug with 13am fuse never had a problem before, maybe 4.5 kw is a bit higher but it will only be running that for 3/4 hour for heat up, it wont be constant running full 4.5kw
It's common practice to use components rated double the intended load so that they run cooler and have a greater fault margin...julythermostats wrote:The only thing that caught my attention in that was why he said a 40amp handling capacity was needed when your 4500W element only needs a 20 amp max handling capacity..
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Programmable thermostats
Being a simple man, I was trying to imagine a simple, 'me proof' way to regulate the power to a hypothetical 20l pot still when I had a hair brained idea, but since I am not an electrician I'd like to be shot down now if I've got this bass-ackwards, before I waste my time and money, kill myself or cause the next Chicago fire.HookLine wrote:
I run my 2" neutral column at about 1300-1400 w. Some stillers run harder than that, some slower.
On a spirit run in pot still mode, I judge heat input by condensate output rate. I start at about 2 drops a second for the fores, then 4-5 drops for the heads, and for the hearts I set the rate where it just starts being a solid stable stream, about the thickness of a pencil lead. These different output rate correspond very roughly to maybe 600 w, 800 w, and 1000-1400 w.
The output rate tends to drop over the hearts cut if you hold the power input the same. So I turn the power up a little every so often to keep the output rate the same, and by the end of the hearts it is on about 1300-1400 w.
(P.S. I have a well insulated boiler.)
Not at all. If you have dual voltages, like in the USA, and you have two different size elements, then by switching between different combinations of voltage and elements you can in principle get 8 different power levels. So if you pick the element sizes carefully you could do without a dedicated controller, for both reflux and pot stilling.Klaassen wrote:Is this foolish, is a hard wired power control like this too coarsely grained?
I've seen little explanation for sizing of the elements. I'm building a 25g pot and been trying to figure out which way to go with the element(s). acording to a few ignorant calculations it will take 25000Btu to bring 200lb wash from 75 to 200f. I also found a few btu ratings for elements stating 2000w @235 vac = 6824 Btu/H and 4500w = 1863 Btu/H????????? that seems like I'd need 2 large elements to heat my pot at a reasonable time. Is there any info out there on sizing of elements?.DBDub wrote:I'm building a 25g pot and been trying to figure out which way to go with the element(s). acording to a few ignorant calculations it will take 25000Btu to bring 200lb wash from 75 to 200f.
"1 hr" is error. BTU don't include time. BTU mesures energy, not power.to DBDub wrote: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
D.
The British thermal unit (BTU or Btu) is a traditional unit of energy. It is approximately the amount of energy needed to heat one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit. One Btu is equal to about 1.06 kilojoules. It is used in the power, steam generation, heating and air conditioning industries. In scientific contexts the BTU has largely been replaced by the SI unit of energy, the joule (J), though it may be used as a measure of agricultural energy production (BTU/kg). It is still used 'unofficially' in metric English-speaking countries (such as Canada, the United Kingdom), and remains the standard unit of classification for air conditioning units manufactured and sold in many non-English-speaking metric countries.Igor_From_Jdessa wrote:"1 hr" is error. BTU don't include time. BTU mesures energy, not power.to DBDub wrote: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
D.
If heater element a 1 kilowatt works 1 hour, he gives 3412 BTU in a cube.
if you need 26040.6 BTU, heater element 1 kW must works 7.6 hours - wery long time.
Heater element 7.62 kW will works 1 hour, but 33 amps is large load.
It is needed to choose in the middle.
My case. Cube 13g (50 litters). 10g of wash. 2 heater element a 2.2 kilowatt = 4.4. Time of effervescence about 40-45 min.
Time of distillation after diminishing of power to 3 kW - 2-2.5 hr. Result - 11 liters -50%vol (2.9 gallons).
For regulation of power i use simple home-made dimmer with triack BTA41-800 or BTA41-600. Maximum load 40 amps - 9 kW.
Unfortunately this abbreviated gives many misunderstanding in the calculations of power.When used as a unit of power, BTU 'per hour' (BTU/h) is understood, though this is often abbreviated to just "BTU".
