Just burned my boiler!

[escapizm]

I was just going to test the ducting for my extraction hood so I put my boiler in place plugged in and went to get the hose, when I returned it was on fire! One element, the rear one I couldn't see was on and first melted the rare HK plastic boiler I made. This was one of the sturdier ones. I quickly turned it of and hosed it but the element is goosed ( but is easily replaced) and the bucket very badly melted.

What do I do now? Plastic buckets are no longer available, can I transfer all my gubbins to a stainless pot. The cheap kettles are plastic so no earth. Would I need to earth a stainless pot. Are they expensive?

I've just got a load of grains so was rareing to go and now I'm stumped.

Gutted ;-(

[Hoodlum]

a 27 litre young's fermenter will make a good boiler, albeit a little on the small side.

Edit to add - just tried looking for these on the net - can't find any.... I know others have used food grade blue barrels - big uns at 60 odd litres.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/STRONG-55LTR-FOOD ... 2a02cbce4c

I think folk have used these successfully as boilers.

[boingy]

Did the boiler have water in it?

[Hoodlum]

doesn't appear to have had water in it hence it melted i think

[escapizm]

The HK plastic bucket was 60 litre or about 10 gal and my setup work with this size well.
Yes the boiler was dry and yes I had previously removed temp cut out as they were troublsone during the boil, when removing I said to myself I'll never boil all my wort of as I'm constantly tending to it. Never thought I'd be dumb enough to turn it on empty.