Jimbo's Electric Conversion

[HDNB]

I don't think it's the element as he can run it without the controller on 110v.

To test if it's the controller you could wire the element straight up to 220v, that's if you wanted to risk blowing your element if you have in fact used the wrong phase wires. Or any other 240v thing you have. How hard are 240v light bulbs to find?

you can't use the wrong phase of wiring here... there is only 2 of them.... and 240v bulbs all but do not exist on this side of the planet.

3 phase power is only used industry in north america

[Monkeyman88]

I was meaning if he had two wires of the same phase. Wouldn't that be bad?

[HDNB]

I was meaning if he had two wires of the same phase. Wouldn't that be bad?

asked and answered ^^^

[raketemensch]

Levitating is simply the act of throwing yourself at the ground and missing, what could be easier?

Do I look like Arthur to you? I mean, other than the robe and the rabbit bone in my beard....

[sambedded]

and 240v bulbs all but do not exist on this side of the planet.

Connect two identical 120V light bulbs in series and you can use them to test 240V circuit.

[youngonce]

I have done this conversion and have done a few runs with it - burnt out my first controller so had to run from outlet straight to heating element in keg - turned out the take off rate was pretty good. So now I have a new 10000 watt controller but was wondering if anyone knows what the switch is next to the A/C connectors - one position of the switch is an A and the other is a D - it is a little toggle switch. this controller has a built in small fan - the toggle might be for the fan?

Also I have a volt meter - no matter what I put the dial on the volts do not change - wondering if the controller is working or not..

I put the element in a little high on the keg - the element gets submerged after 6 gallons... was wondering if there was something I could put in the keg to displace liquid in case wanted to run like 3 gallons.. a few rocks? Sand? dirty laundry?

Thank you!

[DAD300]

Sand will work for some elements, but water is safer and easier.

[Jimbo]

Dad300 he wants to raise the level of his wash (fill the dead space in the bottom under the element)

[Swedish Pride]

I just finished putting this controller together, I went with an on off switch as per HDNB's advice as well.

Works as far as running the fan in the box, I've yet to attach it to the keg and element, but should be working as well

Thanks Jimbo, HDNB and others for your help, would not have managed to do it on my own

[Oldvine Zin]

Dad300 he wants to raise the level of his wash (fill the dead space in the bottom under the element)

Thanks for that idea Jimbo! I was thinking about building a smaller boiler to do smaller batches, it takes 3 gal to barely cover the element in my half keg boiler. Adding a layer or two of glass beads might be the ticket to running small batches.
Should work??

[Jimbo]

I was thinking marbles too. But a few gallons of marbles is a lot of marbles. Mine is at the 3g mark too. Hasnt been a problem really, but youngonce element is at 6g mark. In an all feints run I just did, where I didnt have 3+ g feints I just left 5 gal of hot backset from a fresh run and put the feints in with that and started it back up

[raketemensch]

Alright, I wired up the new box last night, I'll get a chance to run it tomorrow or Sunday.

It's as simple as you can get -- one pole connects straight through, one pole connects in and out of the SCR, and the ground goes from the plug straight to the keg:

Oh, and there's a potentiometer, of course.

If this one blows up too, I obviously would need to bring in a real electrician. I've done my share of re-wiring kitchens and bathrooms and hallways and an entire finished attic, but for some reason this simple little thing has eluded me.

If it fails, I'm also considering putting in second element at 110 and just plugging in the 220 to get the time-to-boil down, then unplugging it and running at 110. It feels like cheating, but I'm already like 2 months behind where I wanted to be.

If it works, I'll have a fan aimed into the box to cool it until it proves itself working, then I've got a couple of PC fans that I'll have blowing in -> out.

[Jimbo]

Good luck man.

[jackspratski]

Ok! I got the SCR from China. I installed a GFCI 40A Breaker onto my Dryer Circuit.

Can someone confirm my wiring?

2 Hot wires from the dryer cord go to the IN on the SCR.
2 wires out of the SCR directly to the element.
Ground wire from Dryer cord directly to Kettle.

What do I do with the Neutral wire coming from the Dryer cord?

THANK YOU!

[Jimbo]

You put a 40 on 1 circuit? Can the wire Guage handle 40? What was there before? Probably a 25 or 30? Don't go up on the breaker unless you rewire with heavier Guage wire.

[jackspratski]

The wire can handle the circuit. Just need to know how to wire it.

[FreeMountainHermit]

jackspratski , may I ask what gauge wire you are using, Sir ?

[jackspratski]

The wire I currently have there is 10 3.

I do realize that this isn't rated for 40 amps, but my electric element is 5500 watts. Which will only draw a maximum of 23 amps anyway.

I guess I could just get a 30amp breaker if you guys think it's really that dangerous. I just don't see the load ever getting that high with 1 element to really matter.

Can you anyone help me answer my original question about what to do with the neutral wire coming from the dryer plug?


*****Edit*****

I've consulted an electrician friend of mine and he convinced me to put back the 30amp breaker where it was for the dryer, and install the 40amp on a new run with all proper stuff for the kettle and 40Amp circuit. Thanks for everyone's concern.

[HDNB]

so guess he told you the neutral wire is not needed unless you are planning to accessorize with 120VAC devices?

[Jimbo]

The wire I currently have there is 10 3.

I do realize that this isn't rated for 40 amps, but my electric element is 5500 watts. Which will only draw a maximum of 23 amps anyway.

I guess I could just get a 30amp breaker if you guys think it's really that dangerous. I just don't see the load ever getting that high with 1 element to really matter.

Can you anyone help me answer my original question about what to do with the neutral wire coming from the dryer plug?


*****Edit*****

I've consulted an electrician friend of mine and he convinced me to put back the 30amp breaker where it was for the dryer, and install the 40amp on a new run with all proper stuff for the kettle and 40Amp circuit. Thanks for everyone's concern.

Your electrician friend is a smart guy. If you did have a problem on that dryer circuit, no point in burning up your wires, and the house, before the breaker pops. The breaker is sized to the circuit (wires) not whatever you plug in the end.

[raketemensch]

Well, it didn't blow up, but it did throw the circuit. For the entire sub-panel, not even for the breaker it's on.

I'm wondering if there's something odd with the way this sub-panel is wired. There was an issue with it when we had the house inspected before we bought it, and an electrician came in and fixed it as far as we know, but I can't remember what the issue was. So we're digging the inspection report out of the filing cabinet, to see what the original issue was.

It could also be that the sub-panel is overloaded when trying to fire up the element.

Edit: Nope, if I am not even connected to the heating element and I plug in, I'm throwing the breaker on the main panel. Oy.

[jackspratski]

My new current plan is to get a sub panel to plug into the 30amp circuit. And put the 40amp gfci in the sub panel.

This way it is all still under 30amps at the panel, but I still get GFCI protection from the sub panel.

Does this sound safe?

[FreeMountainHermit]

Yes, as long as the total amps doesn't exceed the main panel rating.

[Jimbo]

My new current plan is to get a sub panel to plug into the 30amp circuit. And put the 40amp gfci in the sub panel.

This way it is all still under 30amps at the panel, but I still get GFCI protection from the sub panel.

Does this sound safe?

Sounds very weird. Whats teh point of having a 40Amp breaker downstream of a 30. The 40 Amp will never do anything. Might as well not even have it.

[Jimbo]

Raket, your issue there almost has me curious enough to fly out and see WHAT THE HELL is going on ?!?!

[raketemensch]

Raket, your issue there almost has me curious enough to fly out and see WHAT THE HELL is going on ?!?!

Yeah, it's a real f#$&king mystery.

Part of me wants to just add a second element at 110 for stripping and heating up (and that part of me just ordered an element for doing so), and another part of me wants to persevere just to find out what the hell could possibly be going on.

Meanwhile I'm on my 22nd 200ml jar of a spirit run, so it's not ALL bad....

[S-Cackalacky]

I probably have no right jumping in here - being an electrical dumbass, but is this a new circuit, or a circuit for your dryer (or such)? If it's new and untested, it sounds like some wires crossed somewhere between your controller to wall plate, or wall plate to breaker panel. Just a thought.

[jackspratski]

My new current plan is to get a sub panel to plug into the 30amp circuit. And put the 40amp gfci in the sub panel.

This way it is all still under 30amps at the panel, but I still get GFCI protection from the sub panel.

Does this sound safe?

Sounds very weird. Whats teh point of having a 40Amp breaker downstream of a 30. The 40 Amp will never do anything. Might as well not even have it.

The point is that I want to have the kettle GFCI protected and I already have a 40A GFCI breaker. 30A GFCI breakers are around $200.

I can get a panel for $40 to put my 40A GFCI breaker in and then plug that into my 30A circuit at the main panel. Then any draw over 30A will trip the main breaker, but any water in my circuit will trip the GFCI in my sub panel.

My other option is to rewire a whole new circuit using 8/3 wire, but even that will cost over $100 in wire. (That stuff ain't cheap)

Get it?

[HDNB]

Raket, your issue there almost has me curious enough to fly out and see WHAT THE HELL is going on ?!?!

Yeah, it's a real f#$&king mystery.

Part of me wants to just add a second element at 110 for stripping and heating up (and that part of me just ordered an element for doing so), and another part of me wants to persevere just to find out what the hell could possibly be going on.

Meanwhile I'm on my 22nd 200ml jar of a spirit run, so it's not ALL bad....

you pretty much got to have the wires in your dryer extension cord mixed up. to drop the breaker, you got to have one hot line shorted to ground...the only other reason is if you are shorted hot to hot...which means the element is shorted...but since it (the element)works, it has to be one hot shorted to ground.
test with that handy meter you found.

this is what i think you got going on:

dryer plug in>>>to dryer extention cord>>>hot #1>>>>>through the scr box with wire nut>>>>>>>element
>>>ground>>>to scr>>out of scr>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>element
>>>hot #2>>>>not hooked up to nothin (or worse yet the keg "ground")

basically i think you are energizing the keg with 120VAC, and the 120vac loop you have going through the scr caused the first two to fail, cause they were shite, this one is tougher so it dropped the breaker instead of smoking.
probably a good thing that hapened before you touched the keg.

[raketemensch]

From some research online, it looks like if I test a one hot pole to the other, I should get 240. I don't.

It also shorts out without even connecting to the element right now.