Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

A guy bought a 2400W heating element , wired it up without an earth.
Now he’s telling me it won’t make 50l go past 74deg or something like that .
He is telling me I should have sold him a 3600W element because he’s seen on the net that a 2400W will never boil 50l .
And to top that off he’s got a 2” column.
Settle the dispute , who’s right ?

It will take about 2 hours to get to the boil (assuming start 20C, boil 90C), but it will definitely boil. Not that I've ever tried boiling a full 50L in a keg though - normally 40L or less.

I've seen plenty of other guys with only 2.4kw in a standard sized keg.

:text-+1:

Of course it will, it will seem to take forever, watching a keg boil always dose

The 74 (accuracy?) he's getting is the wash boiling if it has alcohol in it and no amount of power will change that temp until some of the alcohol has departed and subsequently raised the boiling point of the remaining contents. The boiler temp will be below the vapour temp and have a few degrees of difference top to bottom.

The 2" is going to run on much less than 2400 when its up to temp

If he had a 15 amp outlet to play with, then he should have worked out to get a 3600 to start with? but that of course means a more hardcore power controller and more $$ overall....

I recently helped a good mate put together a pot/CM combo, it took about 30 seconds and showing him the heat up times for an agreement of a second element run off a separate circuit in the house.

Introduce the customer to the idea of insulation too

I just hate it when people blame the hardware before looking at anything else

Don't think I've ever tried a full 45-50L charge on a single element but a 22-25L charge takes about an hour so double volume will just take 2x as long to boil. A painfully long time when you just want to make spirit so perhaps just getting impatient?

RC makes a good point about it potentially actually boiling already and user perhaps not knowing. If it is leveling at ~74 degrees and they are expecting something higher, is there a risk that they are in fact boiling and (hopefully not) no cooling water on?

Insulation would be critical also, makes probably 15mins difference on a 25L charge on single element with something wrapped around the boiler, a cut up yoga mat works a treat

I generally laugh in the face of people who feed me the line "the customer is always right" when dealing with the few customer disputes that I get, i'd rate them at around 5% correct in general lols

Gotta love being in retail and dealing with the public, just wait another 10 years lols 8-}

Breathe, Chilllax and remember that the world is currently headed towards a horrifying mix of two movies, Demolition man and Mediocrity :angry-banghead:

And tell them that if they are trying to heat 50L of wash in a standard keg boiler, regardless of how much power they are going to learn all about puking!!

What a laugh it is. I run a 10 gal boiler and 5 gal thumper with a 2500w element no sweat. Takes a bit for the fores to run, maybe 45 or 50 minutes. Then I throttle back to get more cuts clarity. I’m done and broken down in a few a hours. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Sadly i had to do this last weekend. 2.5hours, turn on to first drip, using 1 element and 50l of wash.

He’s probably using a PID to control boiler temp not realising you cant run a still like that. Have you asked him Stig I wouldnt be surprised :laughing-rolling:

Hmmm, this is food for thought.
About how long will 2 x 2400w elements take to heat up a 100litre milk can?
Anyone know?
I really don’t want the expense of running a 15amp circuit to the shed.

second from the bottom mate, play away :handgestures-thumbupleft:

http://www.aussiedistiller.com.au/xcalcs.html

Amberale wrote:Hmmm, this is food for thought.
About how long will 2 x 2400w elements take to heat up a 100litre milk can?
.

If my foggy memories are correct it took me about 1 and a half hours with a 90L charge .
This gave me enough time to get everything sorted. Pump, lines, fix any leaks, coffee, sandwich, jars, jugs and so it goes on and on and on and .........

Never under estimate the public stig, we never cease to amaze you.

Something about a horse to water springs to mind mate.

Hang in there as there are so many in here who truely value your honest and open advice mate. Please don’t let 1 poor experience change the honest and open way you deal with all our questions.

What is your voltage as a 2400W element is at 240 volts but that can be higher or lower.

Thanks Stig.
No change to plans then.
Onwards and upwards.
:text-thankyoublue:

wynnum1 wrote:What is your voltage as a 2400W element is at 240 volts but that can be higher or lower.

Buggered if I know.
I know that thevoltage regulators gauge on my second element fluctuates between 232-238 when turned right up.
I assume it is dependent on whatever else is running at the time eg Aircons kicking in.

What am i missing if you fill a keg with water and have a 2400w elemdnt it will boil :think: it just takes longer to boil then a 3600s or 2x 2400w..

Earth will play no part in output power it is just a safety system. Plenty of 240v devices dont have earth but they are double insulated to prevent electrocution..
I have no idea what this xustomer is talking about..and pretty sure neither does he..

He’s an electrical engineer, so he keeps telling me :angry-banghead: