Electric Heater

[sltm1]

I just bought a Broil King 1500w heater off Amazon as recommended by the Clawhammer site. I did a water test and it takes about 2hr 15min to get it to 185degrees from 76degrees. I also located the proper lower setting to keep it at that temp. I'm running a 5gal milk jug pot with a concave base and small legs so the pot doesn't actually touch the coil. So here's my plan, I've tried to find info on difuser plates as described on some posts, but can't find any actual info on what to use or how to use it. I've also seen a post or 2 sayin "on a hot plate?", so that might not be the right way to go. What I do have though, is an 7.5" burner with a collar of 9" + some 1/4" thick 9" cast iron pipe in my scrap dump. My thought is to make a 3" high collar out of the pipe, coming off the burner and have the milk can resting on it to direct the heat?? That would eliminate the air space all together. More better for quicker heating and surge control, or pissin' in the wind?

[WERAT]

Why do you want an air gap between your heater and boiler? This will drastically reduce the efficiency of your heater.

[Mazriam]

I just bought a Broil King 1500w heater off Amazon as recommended by the Clawhammer site. I did a water test and it takes about 2hr 15min to get it to 185degrees from 76degrees. I also located the proper lower setting to keep it at that temp. I'm running a 5gal milk jug pot with a concave base and small legs so the pot doesn't actually touch the coil. So here's my plan, I've tried to find info on difuser plates as described on some posts, but can't find any actual info on what to use or how to use it. I've also seen a post or 2 sayin "on a hot plate?", so that might not be the right way to go. What I do have though, is an 7.5" burner with a collar of 9" + some 1/4" thick 9" cast iron pipe in my scrap dump. My thought is to make a 3" high collar out of the pipe, coming off the burner and have the milk can resting on it to direct the heat?? That would eliminate the air space all together. More better for quicker heating and surge control, or pissin' in the wind?

Mmmmm, wow. 2 hours and 15 minutes?! Ouch, I feel for ya, I do!

Last night, I ran a 8 gallon batch of neutral on my first ever, homemade still. (reflux still, offset head). Came out with just under a gallon of 95%

Total time to 190F was 30 minutes

4500 watt element

what I found odd though was, my controller showed it was pushing only 4200 watts at full throttle.

[Otis Campbell]

I just bought a Broil King 1500w heater off Amazon as recommended by the Clawhammer site. I did a water test and it takes about 2hr 15min to get it to 185degrees from 76degrees. I also located the proper lower setting to keep it at that temp. I'm running a 5gal milk jug pot with a concave base and small legs so the pot doesn't actually touch the coil. So here's my plan, I've tried to find info on difuser plates as described on some posts, but can't find any actual info on what to use or how to use it. I've also seen a post or 2 sayin "on a hot plate?", so that might not be the right way to go. What I do have though, is an 7.5" burner with a collar of 9" + some 1/4" thick 9" cast iron pipe in my scrap dump. My thought is to make a 3" high collar out of the pipe, coming off the burner and have the milk can resting on it to direct the heat?? That would eliminate the air space all together. More better for quicker heating and surge control, or pissin' in the wind?

Mmmmm, wow. 2 hours and 15 minutes?! Ouch, I feel for ya, I do!

Last night, I ran a 8 gallon batch of neutral on my first ever, homemade still. (reflux still, offset head). Came out with just under a gallon of 95%
Total time to 190F was 30 minutes

4500 watt element

what I found odd though was, my controller showed it was pushing only 4200 watts at full throttle.

I loose 40 volts through my SSR.
I get roughly 4000 watts from a 5500 watt element.
I heat 10 gallons in 35 minutes... Which is plenty good for me

[Smokehouse Shiner]

Id say your biggest problem beside the slow warm up is that since the element is not touching the bottom of the can its gonna burn that element up in a hurry. The way those elements work you have to have the pot resting directly on top to act as a heat sink. Draw the heat away from the coil. Otherwise it wont last long. Your collar idea might help the warm up time but youll be replacing that element after a couple runs. Your pot having a concave bottom youd be off using gas or an internal element.

[sltm1]

Thanks for the warning SS, didn't know the heat sink theory, guess I'll save the electric heater till I find a new pot with a flat bottom and go back to propane for now.

[Tater]

Get ya a piece of 1/2 in steel plate to lay on element and use it that way . If the heat switch is type that switches off and on to maintain heat setting the plate will help to keep temps even also.

[sltm1]

Tater,went on ebay and found 3/8ths thick steel targets in various diameter's, got me an 8 incher for $23 delivered, cheaper than going to the nearest junk yard and cutting it out myself considering the cost of gasses (including auto), any more. Also cheaper than a new pot or burner element.

[Windy City]

Hey Otis
Not trying to hi-jack a thread but check out this thread. I don't know if it applies to your equipment but hopefully it helps
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 16&t=41653

Good Luck
Windy City

[WERAT]

Hey Otis
Not trying to hi-jack a thread but check out this thread. I don't know if it applies to your equipment but hopefully it helps
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 16&t=41653

Good Luck
Windy City

I think his problem here is the gap between his heating element and his boiler. Not the fact that it is not producing enough heat.

[sltm1]

Heat sink update. With the 3/8ths plate, my warm up time went down 25min, however, when I took the lid off the pot she was almost at a rolling boil even though the thermometer said 185....close enough for gov't work especially since the temp guage is of no practical use on my pot still. I camphered the edge of the disc to get better contact, may do more and see it that speed things up, also figure I could cut down my warm-up time by preheating the disc, but why bother, sounds redundant to heat something that's gonna get hot anyhow. Thanks guy's.

[sltm1]

Final fix. I welded a 2nd smaller piece of 1/2" plate to the 1st, contoured it to the base of my still with an angle grinder and drilled it through to allow more heat to generate and for it to heat up faster. I'm now coming up to temp in approximately an hour and a quarter.

[Prairiepiss]

I take it its a hot plate? The cycling is not what you want. Setting a temp is not what you want.

[sltm1]

Right, it's a hot plate, when I turn it down from high to warm the temp levels within 5 minutes and according to the on-off flickering of the overhead light, it's cycling maybe 15 times per minute (guess).