Brew builder 3Kw LWD is 13amp plug ok

[Fastline]

Seeing Kyle's control has spurred me on a little, more eBay china spending, ssr's on order

Kevs reply sounds bang on to me, particularly the recommendation for Mk, I have used cheaper brands of switches and sockets, sometimes the quality is not bad other times I have not fitted items because of cheaply designed terminals that are on the verge of rounding off on day one, Mk, MEM, Eaton all seem to have been of the right quality but not normally the cheapest.

I wonder how long my cheap Chinese SSR's will last

[Kev888]

Ha, well there have been suggestions of fake Fotek SSRs. Mine match neither the examples of genuine or fake, so no idea.

The older and so presumably pre-fake examples people have used seem pretty good though, so nothing inherently wrong with them. Provided on heatsinks where required, anyway.

[rpt]

The reason why running these elements is not blowing the fuse is because that's not what fuses are for. A 13A fuse won't blow if you draw 14A. It takes a considerable over current to blow and even then won't be instant. A short circuit will blow very quickly as it is a much greater current.
The MCBs in a modern consumer unit work the same way. They combine a thermal cutout which will protect against overload after some time and a magnetic cutout to instantly protect against short circuit. The rating for the latter is much higher than for the former.

[pint of heavy]

I have been running my brewbuilder 3kw element on a heavy duty imersion heater cable and heavy duty 13.amp plug for a while with no heating of plug or cable... Unlike the cable on my electrim boilers 2.4 kw element which heats up a fair bit