Electric Conversion - Spa Panel wiring time. Dbl Check?

[j3hx]

Hey Guys! Working on some wiring to day in prep for my keg propane to electric conversion.

I am not entirely sure of myself and just want to ensure this is done properly. Hopefully breaking this down will help others as well.

Step 1:

4 Wire outlet (dryer) to spa panel:

[j3hx]

Step 2:

Wired my new switch:

Going to mount this to the side of the spa panel..

[HDNB]

NO!

WHOA!


green is ground.... centre pin on plug....does not connect to breaker!

[HDNB]

i'll stop there cause i'm not familiar with that style of breaker. i have never seen a double connection on one phase of a spa pack like that...maybe it's for a 120VAC take off.

the white pig tail for the GFIC is good as is.

your black and white should each go to one separate breaker, and connect to the left and right of the receptacle. the green is ground and should be connected to the ground bus and the (lower) centre pin on the receptacle.

the green ground in the wire from the (lower centre) plug to the still element should then be connected to the body of the still. andthe white and black wire should then be connected one to each terminal on the 220VAC element.

[HDNB]

i just had a look at 120vac GFIC breaker i have and i see it does have a place for the neutral from the appliance, similar to what you show.

i think perhaps what you are doing is mixing two specifications....you should have a four wire cable, plug and receptacle for that breaker arrangement...that way you'll have the box ground, the neutral and the two hots.

the one thing i'm sure about is the centre pin on that 3 wire receptacle is ground.

wait for an actual sparky to chime in here.

[acfixer69]

It appears that you are using a 3 wire SJ wire for the plug connection. If so pull the green wire from the breaker and attach it to the ground bus in the panel. Then in the plug swap the green and white. Then on the breaker put the white wire where the green was. The white wire is now a being used as a red lead so needs to be noted red tape works good and even a red marker will do.

[j3hx]

Ahh well thats embarrassing.. Im color blind and thought for some reason that cable was gray lol.. smh... Fixing things now and will check back in a sec.

Thanks Guys!

[j3hx]

I tried to get a clear picture..

The plan is to plug in another 3 prog dryer cord which will run to my controller, then out to my element.. (which has the 2 terminals and grounding screw

Thanks Again, this looks a little better?


My dryer uses a 4 wire outlet.. i dont think ill be using the extra wire, for now anyways. so going 4 wire to panel, adding 3 wire plug, which then will run through my SD controller and on out from there... was my thought anyway.. will that be an issue?

[acfixer69]

That looks correct but do your self a favor and mark that white wire red.

AC

[j3hx]

That looks correct but do your self a favor and mark that white wire red.

AC

On goes the red tape. Ty Sir! Good idea there.

[j3hx]

All closed up:

[acfixer69]

So the plug is off to the controller. And only the controller. The 4th white wire for the drier is a neutral for the 120v drier motor and the controls. So off to the races

[j3hx]

So the plug is off to the controller. And only the controller. The 4th white wire for the drier is a neutral for the 120v drier motor and the controls. So off to the races

Thanks AC, so having the neutral tied down (to the neutral bus?)in the spa panel is ok? Or should I have capped that off? Just trying to make sure i dont let the magic smoke out when i decide to fire this thing up lol. Im hoping to plug it in and test the voltage at the plug to make sure all is well before moving on to my controller.

I have one of these and some 10/3 (5 feet or so). I was hoping to use this cable into my controller, then the 5 feet out to my element. Kinda stinks they wont match color wise but... Ill be redoing my controller anyways, my rotozip got crazy a time or two and made it look a little rough lol.

I figure ill go to the controller ssr, use the other 10/3 to go out to the element.. which has 3 connections. 2 for the hots and 1 ground. If all that sounds right the only question ill have remaining is making sure i connect my drok amp meter up correctly.. Then im praying my keg soldering holds up when boiling. Ill revisit that once i follow things down the line and make sure I dont fry anything. Kinda nervous still lol

[acfixer69]

Sounds like you got it right. The cord you are holding will be fine to the controller it is 230v only and all you need for the controller. I'm bout 4 drinks in ATM and cooking dinner for the wife so be back later and recheck but all looks good.

[j3hx]

Sounds like you got it right. The cord you are holding will be fine to the controller it is 230v only and all you need for the controller. I'm bout 4 drinks in ATM and cooking dinner for the wife so be back later and recheck but all looks good.

Thanks Again! Very much appreciated.

[HDNB]

yep you want the neutral on that bus bar and the pig tail so the gfic works properly.

[The Baker]

Maybe you wonder why I get my electrician or electronics technician to do this stuff??!

Geoff

[j3hx]

Maybe you wonder why I get my electrician or electronics technician to do this stuff??!

Geoff

yep you want the neutral on that bus bar and the pig tail so the gfic works properly.

Thanks HDNB! I appreciate yall taking the time to help. Im pumped. Cant wait to fire this thing up. I may run through one more time and make sure nothing is touching anything it shouldnt be. I should be getting close to a test run on the outlet atleast. later tonight or tomorrow ill finish my controller.

[j3hx]

Maybe you wonder why I get my electrician or electronics technician to do this stuff??!

Geoff

No doubt lol.

I ran through everything once more and plugged her in. flipped the breaker on and tested outlet, 120v on each side. Hit the gfci test on my tester, breaker tripped. Reset breaker, lit back up 120, hit test on breaker and off it went again. Spa Panel/ inline GFCI complete!

Now on to my controller... not sure i like it this way so I may run to HD and see what i can come up with as far as another plug end and matching 10/3 wire... Here is what I am working on doing next:

I am not sure though..

The all gray dryer 3 wire is messing with me lol

Trying to wrap my head around having the right gray hot wire..(under #1 lug, or spliced to the 10/3 white wire). Im going to run out and get some ends so i can tie my black and ground down to the SSR.

once this is good ill wire in my amp meter which seems pretty straight forward.. And hopefully ill get to do a teat boil on my soldered triclover keg.. Thanks all!

[j3hx]

I tried to make a diagram of how i think it will all connect up..

[j3hx]

change of plans. To keep it uniform im going to put an end on my 10/3 cable (found one at HD this time). I may have to get more cable... But might as well do it now i guess.. Taking the gray dryer cable out of the setup. ill post another picture once all is done.

[j3hx]

Got everything connected as best i could. Not running back to town today but went ahead with the grey cable but instead ran it to my element. I will be replacing that length later this week with black 10/3.

I am hoping i got this right.. The SD instructions were easy enough so im not worried about those. Does the meter look to be connected correctly? I will attach the donut when im rdy to close up the box.

Thanks Everyone!

Its a bit hard to see.. But i got the wires from the measure voltage side of the meter tied down under my 240v hot wires (1 and 2 on the SSR?)

[j3hx]

Was super tight getting everything into that element... I wrapped tape around the hots just incase anything popped loose... hopefully not.

Anyways, here is the whole thing. As long as i wired it correctly.:

[acfixer69]

Got everything connected as best i could. Not running back to town today but went ahead with the grey cable but instead ran it to my element. I will be replacing that length later this week with black 10/3.

I am hoping i got this right.. The SD instructions were easy enough so im not worried about those. Does the meter look to be connected correctly? I will attach the donut when im rdy to close up the box.

20180603_150736-1280x960.jpg

Thanks Everyone!

Its a bit hard to see.. But i got the wires from the measure voltage side of the meter tied down under my 240v hot wires (1 and 2 on the SSR?)

That is a single pole switch on the ssr so they can not measure any thing there. You need to measure both sides of the element feeds to get any useable voltage reading.

[acfixer69]

Quick look and if you move the red meter wire form the ssr to the red wire nut that should do it.

[j3hx]

Quick look and if you move the red meter wire form the ssr to the red wire nut that should do it.

ahh ok, Thanks AC! Heres to hoping i hear no boom later lol. Thank you for all the help

[j3hx]

tonight is the night! Going to fire it up and see how everything works! Excited lol. Should i disconnect the element and test the wires before hand or fire in the hole? (submerged of course lol) . Just makin sure i cover all my bases to limit any extended 'casulties' of the higher priced parts lol. Ideally ill have a disconnect at the element but those twist lock ends are expensive as crap. Ill do that later when i replace the gray wire.


Pumped! As long as this goes well and my keg doesnt leak ill be burning the midnight oil tomorrow playing catchup.

[zapata]

What's your element - keg connection? If its triclamp, no real need for a disconnect at that end. Or at least I dont have one and just pull the TC, element and all if I need to. If your element is a screw in, then yeah, a twist lock plug would be nice.

[j3hx]

What's your element - keg connection? If its triclamp, no real need for a disconnect at that end. Or at least I dont have one and just pull the TC, element and all if I need to. If your element is a screw in, then yeah, a twist lock plug would be nice.

I have TC at the keg as well. Thats true lol, i could just pull it each time when storing everything.

[acfixer69]

You need to include the element for the test. It is the least piece in danger LOL it's made to take the most you can give it and no element it won't draw any amps. Let her rip