National Homebrew Club Ireland

I plan to install an immersion heater element in my kettle and I have a few questions please.

1. To bypass the thermostat can I simply remove it and wire directly?

2. If the answer to the first question is yes, can I then use the empty thermostat well as a thermowell for a temperature probe from say an STC1000?

3. Has anyone tried using a 64mm+ hole saw on 3mm deep stainless steel with a handheld one-speed drill?

Thanks in advance.

There's a very good chance that you'll wreck your pot. It will be very hard to hold a large holesaw  steady with a hand held drill and you will need also someone else to squirt lube onto the holesaw as you drill. You would be better with a mains powered drill or a good professional battery drill, but a post/bench drill would be my weapon of choice, as there's less chance for the drill to wander when everything's clamped down. You could easily end up with an oval hole and it could wreck a cheap battery drill in the process.  It would be much better to try source a 3kw Camco element. They are cheaper in the states, if you know anyone over there, and the hole size is 1", they fit into a 1"gb socket if you wanted to get that welded into your pot.
The thermostat well is located in the centre of the element and I'd be dubious that you would get an accurately representitive temperature when the element is firing.
I had looked seriously at the option of using an immersion element myself and even bought stainless sockets which could be welded into the pot to make sealing/replacing easier. But opted in the end for Camcos.
Depending upon the curvature of the pot you may have problems getting the element to seal well.
New elements come unwired so to speak, there is a thermostat, a thermal cut-out with two short wires and that's it. I suppose it saves the manufacturer money, but you don't have to bypass anything as it's not wired, just pull out the stat and ignore the thermal cut-out.
If the stainless hardens as you are drilling it, (lack of lube) it could cost you more in holesaws than a Camco element, and will become almost impossible to finish the hole.

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Those camco elements look good. Expensive postage from the states but still works out about the same as an immersion heater element here. A step bit might be more manageable with my drill than a hole saw. From what I can find out online those camco elements need a 31/32mm hole.

They have a 1"NPS thread (National Pipe Straight) which is exactly interchangeable with 1" GB thread

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What about low density elements which are available from uk sellers?

Brewpi sell elements, they're fully stainless, but not the 804 stainless like the camco ones. https://store.brewpi.com/mashing/stainless-steel-heating-elements

I fitted one of the brewbuilder elements into a ss vessel . Used a step bit to drill a 32mm hole. Used water as lubricant (just put the vessel on its side and let the hole flow a slow constant stream onto the drill site). Slow and steady did the job.
One tip, that one if the folks here gave me - take your measurements and mark the hole centre internally, ensuring you leave enough space for your lock nut to turn

A much more easier way is to use those q max cutters. I used two different sizes when I made a keg boiler and a keg mash tun a few years back. Literally the easiest thing ever and no worrying about misshapen holes!

Not designed to cut kegs though, you'll get away with one or two cuts and then cutter is fecked

I made 2 element holes and 5 half inch holes on the kegs. The cutters were like a fiver each. I'd say that's better piece of mind than destroying a pot with a fecked up hole.

http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/14928.pdf up to 1.6mm sheet they are fine.
I used them once in the 15 kegs I've put holes in and won't be using them again.

Yeah made shit of mine as well, but treated them as throwaway tools for the job.

Each to their own. Like i said I had one do 5 half inch holes. Cheaper than wrecking a pot and potentially a drill.

Indeed still using the same step bit drill and Bosch electric drill as I started out with.

The camco elements are 240V so I assume I can just wire this up with a standard house plug?

Whats the wattage? You need to be careful with how many amps some of those camcos pull.

5500W so 22.9 amps?

Domestic circuits in new houses can handle 13A
Please please call a sparks for a dedicated circuit if you intend using that element.

Yea. Can't just plug that into a socket I'm afraid. You're going to need a special 32amp circuit.

Yup, you'll just melt all the wiring. 32A is basically a cooker circuit, which has much thicker wiring.

The 2800w element from Brewpi or Camco is your man. 

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I've read all the internet I can find on the subject and now is the time for someone to jump in before I electrocute myself.

All I need is the right size cable for the job. No special circuits or converters.

2.5mm (27A) cable should do for an element up to 6480W. (Current = Power / Voltage = 6480 watts / 240 V =  27 Amps).

Am I right?

You still need to consider your fusing/MCB as you will trip depending on what the MCB is rated to (6/10/16 Amp etc).   For 27 amp you need a 32 amp MCB.  The 2800 will work on a standard 13 amp fuse.

Thanks Ciaran. Makes sense. A 3000W element would be alright too then?

you'll be pulling 12.5 amps with a 3000w element. Not something I would be confident doing for a number of hours on end.

Mk brand sockets and plug tops are a little dearer than the usual cheap Chinese sockets sold by most electrical wholesalers. I'd always use them in kitchens where people are going to be plugging in and out kettles etc. They'll handle 3 kw no problem but be aware most twin sockets are only rated for a combined load of 20 Amps not 2 x 13 amp

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I was considering a kettle lead for the job. Then I rediscovered the 2.4kW elements sold in LHBSs. Does anyone know if those elements would bring 23 litres to a good boil?