Hop & Grape Element Problem

[des]

Have you had these from this supplier?

Yep, element, two washers and a threaded lock ring. Made by Becker, identical to Hop 'n' grape item.

hat extension only supplying one 2.4 kw element, lead and plugs still cool after 90 minutes.

Sorry, it's just that my extension lead gets bloody hot if I run an element without unwinding it. I'll wind my neck back in now

Cheers Johnmac - handy to know, probably better quality than cheap kettle elements but for £18 +p&p I'll stick with cheapo's for now as I am from Yorkshire and every penny counts

[Horden Hillbilly]

Nice one Des, well worth considering! The elements in the kettles on this Tesco link appear to be 2.2w, these will be fine for our needs, especially on a twin element boiler.

Pesonally, if I used these myself I would probably use an rcd as well as there is no shroud on the element to cover the pins.

[des]

Quite right 2.2 Kw - my mistake.

The description on the site says it's a concealed element, it's not - under the features tab it confirms that it is an exposed element.

I think I'm gonna put a third one in my (10 gallon) boiler just to get it to the boil a little quicker - that will make it 6.6kw with all three on, can easy maintain a rolling boil with two elements and with no lid on though.

[Andy]

Quite right 2.2 Kw - my mistake.

The description on the site says it's a concealed element, it's not - under the features tab it confirms that it is an exposed element.

I think I'm gonna put a third one in my (10 gallon) boiler just to get it to the boil a little quicker - that will make it 6.6kw with all three on, can easy maintain a rolling boil with two elements and with no lid on though.

Be very careful about how you connect up three elements. Ideally you should have each one on a separate circuit as two of them will draw nearly 20amps and could overload a ring main.

[des]

Quite right 2.2 Kw - my mistake.

The description on the site says it's a concealed element, it's not - under the features tab it confirms that it is an exposed element.

I think I'm gonna put a third one in my (10 gallon) boiler just to get it to the boil a little quicker - that will make it 6.6kw with all three on, can easy maintain a rolling boil with two elements and with no lid on though.

Be very careful about how you connect up three elements. Ideally you should have each one on a separate circuit as two of them will draw nearly 20amps and could overload a ring main.

Yes, fortunately I am able to plug 2 elements into seperate outlets in the garage, the other one will be from the kitchen via extension lead.

Garage circuit is on a 13amp fuse so I have to be carefull how much I put on it.

Cheers

Des

[Andy]

Don't you mean one socket/outlet per element. The ring main is 32a.

Yes but unless you can guarantee no-one will turn on a kettle/washing machine/dishwasher/hair dryer etc etc + all the other appliances typically drawing power from a ring then it would be very easy to overload it. Not a problem for you DaaB as you're on your own but if you're in a family household then be careful....

[Andy]

Quite right 2.2 Kw - my mistake.

The description on the site says it's a concealed element, it's not - under the features tab it confirms that it is an exposed element.

I think I'm gonna put a third one in my (10 gallon) boiler just to get it to the boil a little quicker - that will make it 6.6kw with all three on, can easy maintain a rolling boil with two elements and with no lid on though.

Be very careful about how you connect up three elements. Ideally you should have each one on a separate circuit as two of them will draw nearly 20amps and could overload a ring main.

Yes, fortunately I am able to plug 2 elements into seperate outlets in the garage, the other one will be from the kitchen via extension lead.

Garage circuit is on a 13amp fuse so I have to be carefull how much I put on it.

Cheers

Des

Is the garage circuit a dedicated one (from the main house consumer unit) or a spur from one of the house ring mains ?

[des]

Is the garage circuit a dedicated one (from the main house consumer unit) or a spur from one of the house ring mains ?

Dunno!

House is all on RCD's anyway

I do keep an eye on other high consumption items like washers and dryers etc, mainly brew while the girls are at work/school.

Poor show if you can't boil three kettles

[Andy]

A RCD will only be of any use once your ring main cable has melted

[edit1now]

Des - thanks for the pictures!

Now we need a way of shrouding those exposed pins so as to use the cheapo element safely with a standard kettle lead. Might be able to bodge something using the bits from the last one I blew up

[edit1now]

You can boil 3 kettles, just don't watch the telly at the same time

I found that I could run two 2.2kW elements off one socket (the 13A fuse in the plug typically won't blow until you get to about 18 or 18A) but it went as soon as I switched the big pump on!

Next time I'll run two separate extensions onto the patio from separate sockets indoors.

[johnmac]

Big News: Hop & Grape have kettle elements again!

[Hogarth]

If you can't find the kettles at Tesco, Woolworths have these for a fiver each. The elements are identical.



That's four elements for the price of one from H&G ... keep your inner Yorkshireman happy!

By the way -- this confused me at first -- there are two cut-outs in these kettles, both metal disks. The first is beneath the switch and flips it off when the kettle boils. The second is inside the round bit itself, behind the element, and is a 'Oh my God it's going to melt!' sort of thing. This can be kept unless it cuts out during the boil.

I'm working on ways to shroud the plug.

Thanks for the photo tutorial, Des -- very handy.

[des]

I have found that a short section of plastic tubing from a silicone sealer or no nails glue cartridge fits perfectly, doesn't even need glueing its such a good fit.

[yojimbo]

Ive stripped a tesco kettle for the element after seeing this thread but !!

It will not tighten up enough on my stainless steel boiler. The plastic boiler is fine. I am now on the hunt for a thick fibre washer to make the thickness up. The casing of the kettle has got to be at least 3.5 mm thick (from memory the casing went into the bin ) the stainless boiler is only thin compared to this.

Apart from that the element is providing a very cheap alternative to the over priced ones the homebrew shops supply.