Sealing electric heating elements

[The Judge]

So what’s the general way to join and seal a heating element as shown in the picture to a cable?

Need to take it to an appliance electrician with all the necessary parts. I guess the main question is what sort of enclosure do people use to seal the electrics away from hands and liquids??

 

[JB]

I'll have to follow this thread for some suggestions as i was keeping an eye on these element guards - http://www.5stardistilling.net/element-guard-2400w/ - but they've been out of stock indefinitely

 

[unwrittenlaw]

https://store.brewpi.com/mashing/stainless-steel-heating-elements/heating-element-enclosure-kit-178

I came across this the other day while looking at elements. looks quality

Could be similar price to one above by the time you factor in shipping and currency conversion.

 

[nosco]

I have one of the 2" one's with a solder flange. Love it. I bought it from a forum member unused but it would be pretty pricey with the current exchange rate. Quality piece of kit and silver soldering is easy. Make sure to use plenty of solder to get a nice strong join. The join on my first attempt cracked but it was easy fixed and hasn't failed since.

https://www.brewhardware.com/category_s/1895.htm

 

[droid]

that stainless jobbie looks the go..

is that 2C+E orange circ (as in underground, it looks stiff and not like flex) ) or flex, what mm is it? how did you work out what cable to get?

there are small stainless boxes/enclosures available
there is gel available that is used for wet areas and to fill these boxe$$$
there are cable glands
there are crimp links
there is heat-shrink

^ all things a sparkie will know about...there wouldn't be too many sparkies out there that haven't had to change a hot water element...you might not need an appliance technician

nb. in my experience when a cashy gets all the gear together for the sparkie it costs more

 

[malt junkie]

with the 5star gear give them a call and they'll get it in for you, 2 week turn around they recon, so think it just a case of not holding stock.

 

[spog]

So what’s the general way to join and seal a heating element as shown in the picture to a cable?

Need to take it to an appliance electrician with all the necessary parts. I guess the main question is what sort of enclosure do people use to seal the electrics away from hands and liquids??

View attachment 110918

I’ve seen pics where a metal ( aluminium) box was attached to the back of the element using another nut over the thread to hold it in place, aluminium so an earth can be attached and rated IP65 for protection from spills.
.

 

[The Judge]

that stainless jobbie looks the go..

is that 2C+E orange circ (as in underground, it looks stiff and not like flex) ) or flex, what mm is it? how did you work out what cable to get?

there are small stainless boxes/enclosures available
there is gel available that is used for wet areas and to fill these boxe$$$
there are cable glands
there are crimp links
there is heat-shrink

^ all things a sparkie will know about...there wouldn't be too many sparkies out there that haven't had to change a hot water element...you might not need an appliance technician

nb. in my experience when a cashy gets all the gear together for the sparkie it costs more

Cable is rated to 15A, and element is 3600W. It's flex (2.5mm cores).
No sparky north of the river wanted to do this job - tried 3 and got the same response "it's not what I do". Even the appliance electrician scratched his head (www.asaappliance.com.au/) about what sort of housing to put on it.

Currently it's in a 50A junction box, earthed via washer to the kettle. Leak proof and has a drain drilled into the bottom as a fail safe. It's not splash proof, so that's the next priority: replace the junction box with one of these stainless jobbies. Though still not sure where to source one from.

 

[droid]

I might be able to spend a bit of time tomorrow on finding a small stainless box, or at least a supplier for ya. The idea of Gel is that you fill the box (all the wiring sitting there done) completely with this two part liquid that forms a ballistic style gel, once set it's splash proof, sounds a bit weird but true.

 

[The Judge]

Ahh right - so that's the white stuff in my original photo where the two wires disappear into?

Mate that'd be amazing if you could source one. I need to double-check the diameter of that hole... think it's 1 1/4 inch, but have to double check.

 

[koshari]

that stainless jobbie looks the go..

is that 2C+E orange circ (as in underground, it looks stiff and not like flex) ) or flex, what mm is it? how did you work out what cable to get?

as far as the pic will let me zoom in and still make out the pic i would say its 7 strand and as you alluded not suitable for flexable cable.

there are small stainless boxes/enclosures available

the gland housings in the earlier posts linked by unwritenlaw and nosco look nice and would be fine.

there is gel available that is used for wet areas and to fill these boxe$$$

plenty of options here, good old 5 min araldite is prolly the easiest most commonly available, scotchcasts which are used in industry use an epoxy resin, another alternative is mastic but its messy and hard to get where you want it without burning everything.

^ all things a sparkie will know about...there wouldn't be too many sparkies out there that haven't had to change a hot water element...you might not need an appliance technician

if a sparky had never changed a heating element he would have had a very limited scope of work,

Mate that'd be amazing if you could source one. I need to double-check the diameter of that hole... think it's 1 1/4 inch, but have to double check.

yes you would need to be sure of the thread size on the element to know for sure, alternatively if you knew the size you could couple some basic bits together and acheive a similar outcome, jusr remember that the element is quite possibly a pipe thread and the gland entry will be m16 or m20 thread.


edit, just looking at the first picture , it may be a pain in the ass to earth that element, is will then rely on the sleeve contact with it which will need to be solidly earthed.

edit ...edit the last pic from this link shows the earthing arrangement,

https://store.brewpi.com/mashing/stainless-steel-heating-elements/heating-element-enclosure-kit-178

 

[The Judge]

Thanks Koshari. Yeah earthing has proved difficult but the core is clamped behind a tight washer against the kettle.

Bit disappointed to be honest that Brew Mart in Bayswater sells this without any contacts for appropriate electricians with this sort of experience. Im hearing what you guys are saying about electricians being able to do this sort of stuff but my experience has been to the contrary.

Priority is to source a sealed stainless enclosure, then I’ll decide if it needs gel/araldite depending on the enclosure. All good guidance.

 

[micbrew]

my original single vessel , I used an alloy hobby box from Jaycar to house the wiring
as per a photo above
whilst it did the job , I was never happy (safety wise ) ..having a 15 amp element set up this way.


I eventually had a socket welded in to the pot .. easy to seal on pot and now use a transparent hobby box
this allows me see the wiring and check for any overheating or burning
this was by far the best solution

a ) safety first
b) I can easily remove element for cleaning etc
c) ease of mind

find a someone who can weld it for you ... best thing I have done
it only cost me $20

my 2 cents

 

[micbrew]

I bought my gear from gryphon brewing in WA (Neville)
3.6 kw element and socket

cheers

 

[Nullnvoid]

I bought my gear from gryphon brewing in WA (Neville)
3.6 kw element and socket

cheers

Pictures?

 

[JB]

Not the ones of you in the bath

 

[MastersBrewery]

Not the ones of you in the bath again

FTFY

 

[droid]

I checked out some suppliers yesterday and couldn't find anything smaller than 150x150x100 and bloody exxy

Thermal Products told me of an enamel styled enclosure available but I couldn't find a picture of it on their site. It was $130+gst. I will ask them today to send through a picture of it.

 

[The Judge]

Yeah I looked online too at aliexpress and the likes but 150x150 seems to be the smallest before they go to plastic (which would work but would always annoy me ).

 

[droid]

well they responded and fwd'd me to their supplier for info and they responded with ~ see this attachment...but there was no attachment...this is re the Orange Spun Box (never heard of this before) from Thermal products. Stokes do something similar. I'll send an email back tomoz telling them there was no attachment. Crazy busy with no staff at the moment, tomorrow and Monday will be more of the same so apols for the slowness. I did also speak to the NHP Rep today and an 80x150x150 enclosure in Stainless is about $300, they don't have anything smaller.

Someone said try RS components - they are as cheap to the public as from a wholesaler so try googling them.

I'll get back to ya, so hang on till I hear more about the OSB-2.

Also, the NHP Rep (who is a killer distiller btw) said don't use GEL because when the Element goes/blows (it seems to be not if but when with elements) GEL would be a PITA to deal with.

Have a cracking Wednesday night!!