About my available service and such

[LunaDogFever707]

Hi there everyone, my shop has a 200 amp service, not much has been used up. This past summer a state licensed electrician friend of mine installed a 50a 220v breaker and Nema 14-50r outlet for me for my plasma table.

Was wondering why everywhere I see people running 5500w elements and not really the bigger 6500 or the 9000w elements? Is it because most don't have the electrical service for them? Overkill? Controller expensive?

On my end, I've got the 50 amp outlet I could plug into. Would like to get 5500w to 9000w element and build an SCR controller for it.
Would be for a 50L keg boiler, modular column, but made of 4" stainless.

One last question for the night. Say I build an SCR controller and run a 6500w single element at 220v, that'd be around 30 amps draw. Could I run that thru my 50a outlet with correct plug or one of those RV adapters? Like if I plug 30 amps of usage into 50 amps of supply, will 50 amps of current flow out into my setup? 'm clearly not a rocket doctor.

[shadylane]

You have a 65 amp X 240v circuit to run the still.
That means 15kw is available short term and long term after 3 or 4 hours is around 12kw max.
Long story short, you can only use 80 % of the available power due to heat building up over time.
In this case, when drawing only 6.5kw all is good because your only loading the circuit to around 50%

[LunaDogFever707]

Sorry I got the amperage wrong, it's a 50 amp service. With that said, you're saying that'd run 12kw and 80% be 9,600w. Sooooo in a sense that's 9600w limit, 6500w potential max usage, 2900w of headroom? Think I understand.

[shadylane]

50 amp X 240v = 12kw
12kw x 80% = 9.6kw for long term
All is still conservative and good.

[Yummyrum]

So what sort of 4" still are you wanting to run ?

If its a plated still to make a flavored Rum or whiskey , then 2.5-3kw is all you are going to need .
Stick more than that up it and you will be dragging shitty tasting tails throughout your run ....it will taste like shit

If you are thinking about running a 4" reflux still to make vodka or Neutral spirit , then you will need all of 6-8kw

if it's a Pot still you are running ,then how big your boiler charge is will determine how much power you need

[Steve Broady]

One last question for the night. Say I build an SCR controller and run a 6500w single element at 220v, that'd be around 30 amps draw. Could I run that thru my 50a outlet with correct plug or one of those RV adapters? Like if I plug 30 amps of usage into 50 amps of supply, will 50 amps of current flow out into my setup? 'm clearly not a rocket doctor.

Think of it like a pipe. You can have the entire Hoover Dam behind you pushing water, and you -could- get all the flow you could ever want through a 24” diameter pipe. But if you only hook up a 1/2” pipe, you’re only ever going to get as much as that little pipe can flow.

Electricity is the same way. If you have 50 amps available but you hook up a 30A load, it’ll draw 30A. The rating on the service is just a safety limit, not a meter.

And if you don’t believe me, think about all the things you plug in every day. They aren’t all drawing the full load possible all the time, right? Your breaker box doesn’t know the difference between an LED bulb and a space heater. It just lets electricity flow on demand up to a predetermined limit.

[LunaDogFever707]

Yep I pretty much only want to make neutral. There might be maybe 2oz of copper in what I've got collected so far, the other 70 or 80 lbs or so is all 304 stainless. @Steve Broady, that explanation was awesome, thank you for that!!

[shadylane]

if it's a Pot still you are running ,then how big your boiler charge is will determine how much power you need

Power vs size.
There's a limit caused by the wash foaming up and puking.