Electric Brewing, Old House Wiring and only one powerpoint circuit.

[black_labb]

I've slowly making my brewing setup more time efficient to make it easier to fit it in. I built a keezer 6ish months ago and recently I've decided to get that spare electric keggle up and running with a ball valve. This way I can use my diy single vessel recirculating system as a recirculating mash tun and the keggle as a kettle. This way I can do a few brews after each other and have the mash overlap the boil. It would also make a more efficient sparge (recirculating). The replacement element I have in the single vessel is also a bit on the weak side and I wanted to get a better boil without having a side boil on the stovetop like I so often do. The element in the Keggle I have has a touch more power making it ideal for a single batch.

So before I try the maiden brew with the split setup I do my last bit of homework and go to the powerboard to make sure that I plug into different circuits as there will be times where both elements will be on drawing ~18A. I wanted to have one plugged into the garage as usual and the other into the kitchen or the laundry room. Being an old house we're renting the writing isn't clear on which wire fuse is what but I go through and pull out the ones that I think are the garage so that I can check that the ones I want to use are on a different circuit. Nothing switches off the power to the garage or any other powerpoint I check until I pull the fuse descriptively called "power". I check and every powerpoint in the house including garage and laundry room are on this one 16A circuit.

Is this normal for a small 3 bedroom house? There's no gas in the place so heating would have been electric originally.
How many times had we gone over the 16A? Kettle, vaccum, fridge and keezer would do it pretty easily. I know I've used the kettle in the kitchen when brewing many times while my partner watches TV.

Kind of ruined my plan but it will work out once we move, hopefully around the end of the year.

 

[Chap]

4th yr Apprentice sparky here so take with a grain of salt, or whatever the saying is [emoji4].
Old house wiring commonly had only the 1 power circuit for a 3 bed single storey home. Heating/hot water should be on it's own separate circuit.
You would have gone over 16A numerous times, but the fuses basically work on a higher current faster trip scenario ie if you're right on 16-17A it will take a few seconds even a minute or more, but if you're drawing 32A it will trip pretty instantly. A vacuum, fridge and freezer don't draw much power even when the compressor is running. The main concern would be all hot plates, oven, toaster and microwave running at the same time. Either way, unfortunately while renting there's not much you can do to increase power capacity.

 

[black_labb]

4th yr Apprentice sparky here so take with a grain of salt, or whatever the saying is [emoji4].
Old house wiring commonly had only the 1 power circuit for a 3 bed single storey home. Heating/hot water should be on it's own separate circuit.
You would have gone over 16A numerous times, but the fuses basically work on a higher current faster trip scenario ie if you're right on 16-17A it will take a few seconds even a minute or more, but if you're drawing 32A it will trip pretty instantly. A vacuum, fridge and freezer don't draw much power even when the compressor is running. The main concern would be all hot plates, oven, toaster and microwave running at the same time. Either way, unfortunately while renting there's not much you can do to increase power capacity.

Thanks for that. I didn't realise it was common as it seems very underdone to me. Just checked my vaccum and it is rated at 1600-2000w. My kettle is 1600w. from memory my keezer is 400w max (presumably when the compressor kicks in) and the fridge probably a bit more. We tend to use the electric frypan which is probably 2000w for some things as the stove isn't great. We don't have a drier but if we did we'd have to be very mindful of when to use it. I'm very surprised the thing hasn't blown on us.

Might have to convince the neighbour to throw an (as short as possible) extension cord over the fence and come over for a beer next brewday.

 

[barls]

im not surprised at all. my garage was on the lighting circuit before we got the board rewired.

 

[Danscraftbeer]

What about gas? as an option..
I'm planning on doing without a kitchen at all for a while but the BBQ and my keggle burner will get me through for good food and beer supply.

 

[black_labb]

What about gas? as an option..
I'm planning on doing without a kitchen at all for a while but the BBQ and my keggle burner will get me through for good food and beer supply.

I have been thinking gas after this, atleast until we've moved. Hoping to buy a place in the next year or 2 and I'm sure I will have a few projects for an electrician mate.

 

[Stouter]

I've got 3 phase in my meter box, does that help me out for such situations?

 

[black_labb]

I've got 3 phase in my meter box, does that help me out for such situations?

I didn't mention it but I've got 3 phase as well. There is an old cast iron socket in the garage, though I don't think it is currently connected. If you don't mind having something wired up by a sparky it suggests you have power to spare and you could wire up for a 3 phase setup, but that's probably going overboard unless you are doing big volumes.

 

[Stouter]

Yeah none of my plugs accommodate anything 3phase but it's there. I've only ever associated it with big arse welders, and my mate that switched the power meter over when we got solar panels joked that I could run heaps of lights for my "crop" in the shed. So I guess the potential is there for a big arse brew rig.
I'm very happy with my Crowny though!

 

[Bonenose]

"Being an old house we're renting the writing isn't clear on which wire fuse is what but I go through and pull out the ones that I think are the garage so that I can check that the ones I want to use are on a different circuit."

I assume from this that you have rewireable fuses not circuit breakers, ratings on fuse wire is pretty broad and really not that good on overloads and unless you have replaced the fuse wire personally it could be any size wire in the fuse holder.

Chap is on the money too pretty much spot

 

[ScottyDoesntKnow]

If you have a working 3 phase outlet you could get something like this: https://www.djwarehouse.com.au/products/3-phase-distribution-board#.WOFzb_mGNPY
Power for days

*edit that link is to hire not purchase one but you get the idea

 

[black_labb]

"Being an old house we're renting the writing isn't clear on which wire fuse is what but I go through and pull out the ones that I think are the garage so that I can check that the ones I want to use are on a different circuit."

I assume from this that you have rewireable fuses not circuit breakers, ratings on fuse wire is pretty broad and really not that good on overloads and unless you have replaced the fuse wire personally it could be any size wire in the fuse holder.

Chap is on the money too pretty much spot

Yep, wire fuses. I did have a look and it visually looked the same as the spare 16A fuse wire but I probably wouldn't notice the difference if it was 20A. On the plus side it's not fencing wire.

 

[Tony121]

Yep, wire fuses. I did have a look and it visually looked the same as the spare 16A fuse wire but I probably wouldn't notice the difference if it was 20A. On the plus side it's not fencing wire.

Or a 6" nail (seen that before)

 

[S.E]

I have been thinking gas after this, atleast until we've moved. Hoping to buy a place in the next year or 2 and I'm sure I will have a few projects for an electrician mate.

Where is the fuse board? Could you ask your electrician mate what it would cost you to install a circuit in the garage (with permission from the landlord).

It may be a simple and cheap job to do if your fuse board is in or near the garage. Or perhaps he/she could install an outdoor socket next to the meter/fuse box so you can run a lead to the garage on brew day. Cheaper than building a temporary gas brewery anyway.

 

[Markbeer]

I was going to suggest the same thing. A PowerPoint in the electrical box on a separate circuit. Problem solved.

Where is the fuse board? Could you ask your electrician mate what it would cost you to install a circuit in the garage (with permission from the landlord).

It may be a simple and cheap job to do if your fuse board is in or near the garage. Or perhaps he/she could install an outdoor socket next to the meter/fuse box so you can run a lead to the garage on brew day. Cheaper than building a temporary gas brewery anyway.

 

[TwoCrows]

Get a sparky to put another circuit in and run the cable thru conduit to a power point. You can then remove it later if needed.

 

[black_labb]

The fuseboard is the furthest part of the house from where I brew. If we planned to be here longer I would sort it out anyway but we're planning on moving once the other one can organise a transfer to the Illawarra. I'm thinking a fresh wort kit occasionally to keep stocks up isn't a bad idea considering how busy I am.