Immersion Element Questions

[Digby Swift]

I have bought a couple of immersion elements from BES, 16656 11" for very aggressive water (inc.7" thermostat). Does anyone have these and know what size hole I need to cut for them, they haven't arrived yet, and the best place to get leads for them. Did you disable the thermostat? If so is that obvious when they arrive?

[Bopper]

I think for a immersion element there is a fixed nut, which is brazed to actual tank....so i think it would be hard to obtain a large nut of that size...i think the only way is to find a old copper tank and de-braze it or detatch some how! The wire should be 30 amp, eg cooker wire........

PS..Do NOT try to to fit the wires into a standard plug socket.....


Richard

[Blackaddler]

On the same BeS webpage as your 16656, scroll down to 18637 2.1⁄4" brass flat tank Essex flange.

£26.97 is a bit steep, though.

[Digby Swift]

Thanks for your replies guys.

The wire should be 30 amp, eg cooker wire........PS..Do NOT try to to fit the wires into a standard plug socket.....

Aren't these 13A? Can I not plug these into my standard mains?

[Reaper]

Try Tool station, you need an immersion heater flange, you will also need a big spanner to tighten the heater

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Heating ... 708/p31429

Paul

[Digby Swift]

Is there an easy way to regulate the voltage to these as I am now scaring myself after reading a lot of the information on the forum. Maybe I should've gone with gas.

[Garth]

The hole is just slightly bigger than a 64mm holesaw, once the hole is cut you can screw the immersion heater into the hole then tighten the flange on the other side,

I don't think they come with flanges, you need to buy these separately, (part number 6912), they are only a quid or so, buy an immersion spanner as well (pt no 6914), they are only a quid or so as well. You will need some kind of strap wrench to tighten the flange up on the inside of the vessel as the flanges are smooth without a 'nut' hex on them.

I have four of these, two in my HLT and two in my copper. I use 16A heat resistant cable on each element, you can get this at B&Q quite cheaply.







They will draw 12.5A so in theory can be run from a normal household plug/socket, but you do this at your own risk as it's very near the limit.

When wiring them up simply bypass the thermostat, I use the thermostat as a connector post, putting both wires in one terminal hole, saves buying ceramic connectors.

[sib67]

I got a 65mm Bosch cobalt holesaw from B&Q - the element will fit into this size hole without the need to open it out.

I squeezed my heat resistant cable into a 13A plug but, as Garth says, this is not best practice. Works fine though.

[Digby Swift]

Thanks for that guys, I did order the flanges but forgot the wrench so hopefully they'll add it on to my order. Did you just use holesaws without too much problem then?

I'm planning on putting two of these in a 100L stock pot for 10 Gallon batches. Should I put in one element if I am plugging into the mains?

How long do you think this will take to get to the boil? This will be the boiler not the HLT.

[sib67]

Thanks for that guys, I did order the flanges but forgot the wrench so hopefully they'll add it on to my order. Did you just use holesaws without too much problem then?

I'm planning on putting two of these in a 100L stock pot for 10 Gallon batches. Should I put in one element if I am plugging into the mains?

How long do you think this will take to get to the boil? This will be the boiler not the HLT.

Decent holesaws go through without too much trouble as long as you use a coolant (I got some cutting oil from Machine Mart), and take it steady.

2 elements should be just about ok on a 30A ring main, as long as there's not much more plugged into the same one. I plug mine into 2 seperate ring mains.

[sib67]

You must at least use 2 seperate outlets if you don't use 2 seperate rings (ie no double sockets or extension leads), 1 outlet is rated at 13 amps whether its double or single.

Agreed, but a good quality extension lead to another ring main is fine, as long as you don't leave it coiled up. I have wired 2 mains outlets next to each other on seperate circuits, which is the ideal solution.

[Digby Swift]

Noted. Thanks for the advice

[WishboneBrewery]

Does all this mean that for my new garage/brewery/workshop/gym I would ideally need 2 ring mains with 4 fused spurs to cope with maybe 4 Kettle elements??
Or is a Kettle element going to be a lot less load than an immersion heater (hot water tank heater)?
Cheers.

[WishboneBrewery]

ahh...
Thanks

[Garth]

Should I put in one element if I am plugging into the mains?

How long do you think this will take to get to the boil? This will be the boiler not the HLT.

You can put two in if you can plug them into separate rings in your house

in a water test with 80 litres of 13C tap water, it took exactly an hour and a half to get to 100C, so hotter wort coming out of the mash tun is going to take considerably less, I think mine takes about 20 mins-half an hour with a 60 litre batch in it.

If you haven't already, have a good read of this thread viewtopic.php?f=6&t=11466&st=0&sk=t&sd=a from last year, I got a great deal of good advice from folks in the know