Electrical Loads

[woodwormm]

I'm in the planning stage of a BIAB system.

Got a big pot and tossing up putting it over flame or electric elements in it.

I'm leaning toward a recirculating system and keeping it ghetto with a couple kmart kettle elements and a brown pump...

is there a general rule of thumb (or actual science) for how many elements you can run on one electrical circuit?

My only doubts about electric are that i'll have to wait around for things to happen, ie for it to reach strike temps and also to come on boil.

In my brew room, which is in my shed, I have one circuit but my shed's got 2 10amp circuits and one 15amp, so with a bit of mucking around i can have 2 10 amp circuits in the brewroom and/or a 15amp as well (just can't weld at the same time as brewing)

Looking to do double batches, so will 2 2400W elements cut it? Is there a bohemoth element that can run on 15amp circuit that will crank things up?

 

[raven19]

2 x 10A and a 15A will be oodles for sure.

fwiw:
1 x 2400W will be fine for a HLT up to 50L

I have had my larger 110L electic kettle up to the boil (soft rolling boil maximum) with 2 x 2400W

So a traditional double (40 - 50L) batch of wort will boil easily with 2 x 2400 or maybe just 1 x 3600W (using your 15A)

Using an over the side immersion element may be a handy booster in your brewery when required too (i.e. getting HLT/wort up to temp quicker).

 

[spog]

I'm in the planning stage of a BIAB system.

Got a big pot and tossing up putting it over flame or electric elements in it.

I'm leaning toward a recirculating system and keeping it ghetto with a couple kmart kettle elements and a brown pump...

is there a general rule of thumb (or actual science) for how many elements you can run on one electrical circuit?

My only doubts about electric are that i'll have to wait around for things to happen, ie for it to reach strike temps and also to come on boil.

In my brew room, which is in my shed, I have one circuit but my shed's got 2 10amp circuits and one 15amp, so with a bit of mucking around i can have 2 10 amp circuits in the brewroom and/or a 15amp as well (just can't weld at the same time as brewing)

Looking to do double batches, so will 2 2400W elements cut it? Is there a bohemoth element that can run on 15amp circuit that will crank things up?

going down the same path myself,i think running 2 kmart elements off the same circuit wont be a problem as several appliances in my kitchen run on the same circuit wiyhout any trouble.
i might try this t,morrow after work and see if it works.
no doubt someone with lecky nohow will post and sort it..my 2 cents.....cheers.......spog..........

 

[sama]

I'm in the planning stage of a BIAB system.

Got a big pot and tossing up putting it over flame or electric elements in it.

I'm leaning toward a recirculating system and keeping it ghetto with a couple kmart kettle elements and a brown pump...

is there a general rule of thumb (or actual science) for how many elements you can run on one electrical circuit?

My only doubts about electric are that i'll have to wait around for things to happen, ie for it to reach strike temps and also to come on boil.

In my brew room, which is in my shed, I have one circuit but my shed's got 2 10amp circuits and one 15amp, so with a bit of mucking around i can have 2 10 amp circuits in the brewroom and/or a 15amp as well (just can't weld at the same time as brewing)

Looking to do double batches, so will 2 2400W elements cut it? Is there a bohemoth element that can run on 15amp circuit that will crank things up?

Just to clarify,What size circuit breakers are supplying the circuits to the shed? I ask this cause 10 amp power circuits is not the norm. Old school the norm was 16 amp rewirable fuses.these days most use 20amp circuit breakers for power circuits.is it a mixed light and power circuit at 10amps?

 

[NickB]

Most power circuits in a modern house SHOULD be 16A.

However, some may be more, some may be less.

Probably best to get a qualified sparky out to assess things at the least - You could run 2x 2200W elements off a standard 16A power circuit, but you'd most likely continually trip it, as the 2200W elements run at approx 9.16A each therefore 18.32A for the two.

Honestly, either consult a qualified person to get the correct circuits installed/work out what you can use, or just make sure you're running the two elements off separate circuits....


PM if you need more info.


Cheers

 

[woodwormm]

Just to clarify,What size circuit breakers are supplying the circuits to the shed? I ask this cause 10 amp power circuits is not the norm. Old school the norm was 16 amp rewirable fuses.these days most use 20amp circuit breakers for power circuits.is it a mixed light and power circuit at 10amps?
[/quote


Oh yeah sorry.. 10 amp gpo's... without wandering out there to stick my head in the sub main box, pretty certahn theyre 16 amp breakers on the "10" amp circuit and 20 amp breakers on the "15" circuit... 6 mm feed to the sub from the meter box, the "10" wiring is all 4 mm cable and the "15" wiring is all 6 mm cable, so its all over engineered,

 

[felon]

I'm assuming your sub board is a long way away from from your meters if your sparky has run it in 6mm.

 

[glenwal]

Oh yeah sorry.. 10 amp gpo's... without wandering out there to stick my head in the sub main box, pretty certahn theyre 16 amp breakers on the "10" amp circuit and 20 amp breakers on the "15" circuit... 6 mm feed to the sub from the meter box, the "10" wiring is all 4 mm cable and the "15" wiring is all 6 mm cable, so its all over engineered,

Are the 2 10A GPO's you have on the same circuit, or on seperate circuits? If they are on the same circuit you're limited to 16A across both (also assuming nothing else on the same circuit).

If you have 4mm wiring though, you should be fine to (get a sparkie to) swap out the 16A breaker for something larger (the size of the breaker is dependant on the capacity of the cable, not by why its supplying)

 

[woodwormm]

I'm assuming your sub board is a long way away from from your meters if your sparky has run it in 6mm.

I ran all the cable and did all the first fix, sparkie (mate of mate) did all 2nd fix and signed off on my work. Future proofing - I wasn't going to dig that trench twice. it is a reasonable distance, 18m lineal but factor in a few more metres for the cable route.. 6mm was used to ensure a decent circuit for welding and the ability to put solar panels on that shed if we choose to.

Are the 2 10A GPO's you have on the same circuit, or on seperate circuits? If they are on the same circuit you're limited to 16A across both (also assuming nothing else on the same circuit).

If you have 4mm wiring though, you should be fine to (get a sparkie to) swap out the 16A breaker for something larger (the size of the breaker is dependant on the capacity of the cable, not by why its supplying)

I wasn't so clear in my typing (was on tablet before - back on lappy with real keyboard now ) - I have 2 circuits with multiple 10AGPO's, only one of these circuits currently goes into the brew room. both of these circuits are 4mm cable so most likely upgradeable on breaker size, but as a fair bit of other stuff runs off of them, i may as well just run a new cable in there and get sparkie around for a beer or three..