Immersion heaters - electrician advice needed

[brenmurph]

another happy customer

[Jacob]

another happy customer

Not so happy, had some big plans for brewery updates.
Those will have to wait
Thanks again for all the info!

[Will_D]

Just think outside the box or in your case "Think next door neighbour". Have a nice word and drop the extension cables over the back wall.

When we first moved in to an old terraced house in Salford(think Coronation Street - that was only about 4 streets away - really) that had been disconnected a simple length of cable with a plug on each end and a friendly neighbour did the trick a treat!

It allowed us the lights and the power tools to do the rewire.

Just as well as the T&E was lead sheathed over rubber! Looked just like the modern(then) grey plastic T&E!

[JD]

I'm sure JD will weigh in here.

92Kg last time I looked.

[JD]

In my old setup I had one element in the HLT and two in the BK and none in the MLT. I used to brew 40L batches with this setup with only a little extra time needed to get things up to temperature. I insulated each vessel in a  number of layers of aluminized bubblewrap and each vessel had an insulated lid to keep the heat in.

My new system, when I eventually get around to completing it, will have two elements in the HLT to get the ball rolling a bit quicker, one in a heat exchanger pot for the HERMS and two in the kettle. With five elements I will only ever need to use power from two 13A sockets (each on a separate mains circuit). Why? Because I will only ever power a maximum of two elements at any one time. MY HLT will use both until strike temperature is reached. Then one of them will be switched to the HERMS pot until the mash is over. When sparging is completed, both will be switched to the kettle to finish it all out. Once the kettle is rolling, only one element is needed to keep it there. Power used by pumps, controllers, etc. can be ignored as insignificant in the overall calculations.

Switching can be as simple as disconnecting the leads and reconnecting to the other elements. Fancier systems based on relays could be set up too as long as a crossbar switching system is used (basically your'll need as many relays as you have elements times the number of sockets you plugin into).

[Ciderhead]

I'm sure JD will weigh in here.

92Kg last time I looked.

Christmas pud?

[JD]

I'm sure JD will weigh in here.

92Kg last time I looked.

Christmas pud?

Last time I looked was before the pud.  Sayin' no more