Hot Plate cycling

[gtwarren1966]

Ok I bought the 1100 watt hot plate that Brewhaus sells and while I was making my first ever run yesterday the plate kept cycling on me and I'd lose my equlibrium in my column. I finally just switched to my propane burner out of frustration. Is there any way to keep this burner from cycling on and off?

[Odin]

Yes there is: put a variac or triac in between. Turn your hotplate on full. Manage power input with tye triac/variac.

[gtwarren1966]

Not sure what a variac or a triac is but i'll search on it

[Prairiepiss]

Search for heating element controller. Most are made to control internal elements. But can be adapted to a hotplate.

[Odin]

A crude & dirty solution is to put a slate of iron in between the plate and your boiler. The iron will act as a buffer. Not sure that will be good enough for you.

Odin.

[rad14701]

If you have access, try a 3/8" - 1/2" heat sink diffuser plate as close to the diameter of the bottom of your boiler as possible... Otherwise a phase angle controller is your best bet... The only potential issue is that some hot plates cycle even when turned up all the way and in that case you'd have to open it up and bypass the control circuit so it runs at 100% mains power all the time...