Camco element coating fail

[user 35653]

Can I ask an obvious question about the root cause? Are we putting it down to the fact that starsan ate it away? Just for the sake of the thread when some poor dude in future thinks about soaking his element in starsan...

 

[takai]

Ill soak it again in Starsan, but pretty sure the acid ate away at the thin Magnesium/Nickel coating.

 

[Camo6]

Also not so keen on the stick elements due to the pigtails and lack of ground. Pigtails means more connections to carbon up and having to fit into the small BrewHardware element enclosure.

You won't get a carbon build-up if your BP's are tightened properly. It's not like you're switching the current there.
Not sure how big your enclosure is but the 5star one isn't huge and I had no issues terminating the conductors and tucking them away. Most of your house is likely done this way.

 

[trevgale]

I've got the camco 4500W ripple elements, you want the ones with the incoloy 804SS element. They don't look nice and shinny like 316SS but I've had them now for a couple of years with absolutely no corrosion except for the base which on the standard water heater model was just chrome plated, saying that it is just a bit of surface rust. There is now a version that camco are doing with a stainless base as will which would be ideal. If I upgrade to 5500W I'll probably grab one of these.

Here is a link.

http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/stainless-steel-heating-elements

 

[wynnum1]

How often does the element get used does it make a difference if the element is covered with water or kept dry when do you clean .