Kettle heating element upgrade!

[karrathabrewer]

Hey lads I'm seriously thinking of doing a heating element upgrade on my 35L BIAB system (NANO electric brew kettle) the current heating element doesn't seam to have enough juice to get a good solid rolling boil so iv priced up 2400watt element and thinking this should kick some arse! Question is will it work with my current temp controller?

 

[micka80]

How many amps is your temp controller rated for? Make sure it is 15amp and above first.

 

[karrathabrewer]

Cheers mate I didn't take that into account!

 

[TwoCrows]

You can use one as a booster element, and use the temp control on the other element for control.

If you want it to boil, you dont need temp control!!

2400 Watt is at the upper limit for a 10 amp circuit.

 

[karrathabrewer]

Looks like i need to upgrade to 15 amp then I'd say

 

[mashmaniac]

Looks like i need to upgrade to 15 amp then I'd say

Look in real terms depends on what your using to control the element and how tight your off set is. Lots of guys have used a standard stc1000 with offset of 0.3 or 0.5, no issue. If your using a controller that switches quickly (PID) you create heat, this is dangerous if using mechanical relays so standard practice is to use an SSR (solid state relay) for fast switching controllers with PID.

For the boil you don't need a temp controller (just plug the thing into the wall socket)

 

[karrathabrewer]

I'll have to talk to my sparky mate for the technical stuff you just talked about( I'm just a dopy boilermaker) but I get the general gist of what your talking about

 

[millsii]

I'll have to talk to my sparky mate for the technical stuff you just talked about( I'm just a dopy boilermaker) but I get the general gist of what your talking about

@karrathabrewer I am guessing you are based in Karratha WA? If so, our voltage is 240V +/-6%. So it can be up to 254V.

Without seeing the specs of your element, I presume it is 2400W at 240V? If so, as previously mentioned it is right on 10A. However, if your voltage goes above 240V (the incoming voltage on my server UPS regularly reads above 250V) then you will be drawing more than 10A.

Heating elements are basic resistors, so can apply Voltage = Resistance * Current. The resistance of the element is fixed, so if voltage increases, so does the current.

The other thing to consider, is if you intend on powering other appliances such as a pump from the same wall socket.

As others have mentioned if you are still intending on using that power element, it might be good to upgrade to a 15A circuit for a bit of safety buffer.

 

[wynnum1]

Hey lads I'm seriously thinking of doing a heating element upgrade on my 35L BIAB system (NANO electric brew kettle) the current heating element doesn't seam to have enough juice to get a good solid rolling boil so iv priced up 2400watt element and thinking this should kick some arse! Question is will it work with my current temp controller?

How big is your element do you have any insulation how violent does the boil have to be.

 

[karrathabrewer]

I don't know how big my current element is at the moment mate I'm gonna have my sparky mate take a look but it doesn't seem to boil very hard it hovers at 101c on my temp gauge so as soon as I get a decent gust of wind it drops to 99 and I loose my boil, I'm gonna try some more robust insulation first and maybe try using a heat Stick or am I asking too much is 101c ok do I need to sit at a higher temp