Home Distiller

Getting close on El-2 column and want advice on controlling 2 diff wattage elements into a keg..

I rem that if you add resisters in series they just add but in parallel they are added as 1/r1 + 1/r2...

anyway, should i build a small 220v circuit to switch from series to parallel or can i buy that fairly cheap..?

Also, i fig, from reading and w/o running the numbers, on a 2" diam 4' high refluxer, i wld need abt 800-1000 watter and a 3000 watter..?

anyway, i read the stuff on ditillers site but not sure most efficient way to go on this..

Series/Parallel circuit or Triac or Pid or ??

will buy it if it will work well and dumbo proof <G>

Butane heater works for me.

Blueraven, the following will give you the formulas you need to calculate the Wattage with. As for setting them in series or parallel it will really depend on what wattages your elements are and whether or not you want to increase the wattage or decrease the wattage. A simple switch circuit using 2 switches can be set up to do either.

The wattage relationship when elements are wired in series or parallel.

Basically it’s the Resistant formula in reverse if you remember that one. Ie resistance of Parallel resistors is smaller than the smallest resistor and resistors in series are added to give overall resistance. Where as wattage gets bigger in parallel and smaller in series. That's because power is inversely proportional to resistance.

Anyway.

If you have two elements you can wire them up using a couple of switches to actually get 4 different Wattage results.

Assume Element 1 is W1 and Element 2 is W2

If
W1 = 2000Watts
W2 = 1500 Watts

With elements wired in series you get the minimum Wattage

The formula is W1 X W2 divided byW1 + W2 = Wmin


2000 X 1500
2000 + 1500

= 857 Watts Approx

Amps for this using 240 Volts will be 857divided by 240 = 3.5 amps


With elements wire in parallel you get the maximum wattage. just add them together

W1 + W2 = Wmax

2000 + 1500 = 3500 Watts. But this will pull 14.5 amps when connected to 240 volts.

So depending on how you setup the switches you can get 4 different heating rates using only 2 elements.

I have mine setup with 2000 Watt and 1500 Watt in series. I can select either separately or both to give me a fast, medium and slow heats. The slow is 857 watts.

I didn’t worry about setting switches up to select the elements in parallel as it would pull too much current for my house wiring

Arnie & fellow swill maker <G>


thanks a dram for that 'X-plane-a-nation'..

thats what i want to do.

reckon ill get the wire, switches and try to layout the circuits..

Here, we have each 110v circuit running thru a 20amp load for 220 volts..

Thanks again..

Take CAre,...

Blueraven. How did you go with your circuit for elements ???

I had a bit of time spare so I have drawn the circuit for two switches which will allow you to select each seperately and then in series.

If you want a copy of it please contact me direct and I will see if I can e-mail it to you.

Arnie.