Dedicated brewery circuit?

[Hogarth]

At the moment my brewery -- which runs two 2.4kw elements simultaneously -- is hard-wired into the kitchen ring main. This seems to work fine, a touch of warmth in the cables after an hour but nothing more. Obviously I'm careful not to use the kitchen kettle at the same time.

Now I'm getting an electrician in to replace the old fusebox under the stairs with a modern 'consumer unit' and also to put in a circuit for an electric oven, and I'm wondering if I should get him to run a dedicated circuit for the brewery? For one thing, I'm worried that the sensitive new consumer unit will start tripping when I run the brewery at full blast -- does this happen to anyone else?

OTOH, I can't help thinking that it's fixing a problem that doesn't exist. What do you guys think?

[Secla]

2 x 2.4kw is only about 20amp so shouldnt trip anything out. Id just ask the electrician what would suit best

[Fil]

let the sparky have a look at your brewery, let him know any expansion plans you have and let him tell you. it sounds like perhaps you could upgrade the power leads at least.

[shepp]

Those two elements are pulling about 21 Amps max. The kitchen should be on a 32A ring so it is fine, even if you boiled a 2kw kettle at the same time I think you would have no problems, seeing the kettle only boils for a relatively short time.
If you are concerned then maybe get the electrician to fit a cooker switch with socket outlet and make use of that when brewing.

[Jambo]

I'm worried that the sensitive new consumer unit will start tripping when I run the brewery at full blast -- does this happen to anyone else?

What you're talking about here I think is RCDs tripping. This isn't anything to do with load, it is about whether you have any leaks to earth...

If the load is excessive then your MCBs will trip, and yes they will probably do this quicker than a fuse would melt but they're saving you from a fire so is fair warning if they go. Funnily enough on my first AG batch I discovered that the kitchen socket I plugged the boiler into was bodged into a lighting circuit! Terrifying.

Anyway as others have said - if you have a sparky round anyway just ask his advice. Expansion plans worth considering, maybe could get a discrete 16A outlet somewhere for an upgraded boiler at some point...

[john luc]

The answer is yes. Always plan ahead and if you do not use it now,its always there in the future. Since you are getting the work done its no bother for the electrician to add this extra. My rule of thumb is,better have it and not need it then not have it and looking for it.

[chefgage]

You might as well get the electrician to put in a decicated circuit while you have the electrician there. Then at least if you upgrade in the future most of The work is already done. Speak to the electrician and tell him what power the upgrade would likely need.

[Jocky]

Adding a 32 amp circuit for brewing (optionally with 16 or 32 amp commando sockets!) won't cost too much if you're already having work done, and is certainly safer than rigging 13 amp cables all over the place.

[Haydnexport]

im not far from the stage of doing the same , i plan on eventually having up to 5 elements at one go (2 in hlt, 1 in herms, and 2 in boiler) plus a couple chest freezers , an upright fridge . What kind of electrics would be needed to supply them?

[chris2012]

I got my shed wired up with 10mm2 armoured cable not too long ago. The shed has a circuit breaker box, and a number of those 32A sockets. Then the armoured cable is wired up to the consumer unit in the house. At the mo' it's got a 42A fuse in the house, but I should be able to use a bigger fuse. My element should draw around 26A iirc.

I wasn't sure if your brewery is indoors or outdoors though, so that would effect whether you need armoured or not.

http://www.rselectricalsupplies.co.uk/g ... w66015_268 where the sockets used

[jaroporter]

meh, having the brewery hardwired in sounds like a tidy arrangement. maybe not ideal if you want to do some serious saturday morning kitchen while brewing, but if the ring is actually only serving the kitchen then it's unlikely to be overloading any part of it even if you do stop for tea and toast midboil. certainly the breaker tripping isn't going to be a problem.
but like others have said, now's clearly the time if you can think of a good reason!

[Hogarth]

Thanks for the replies chaps. Yeah, I guess I'll ask the spark -- if I can get hold of one. None of them seem to want my custom.

But future expansion of my brewery isn't a factor. I've been brewing for ten years now, and although I've sometimes wished for a smaller set-up I've never once wanted a bigger one. So if I went ahead with this, I'd be paying £200 to put the brewery on a new 32a circuit when it's already on a 32a circuit. My inner skinflint isn't liking it.

[shepp]

Does your cooker switch have a socket outlet?

[Matt in Birdham]

But future expansion of my brewery isn't a factor. I've been brewing for ten years now, and although I've sometimes wished for a smaller set-up I've never once wanted a bigger one. So if I went ahead with this, I'd be paying £200 to put the brewery on a new 32a circuit when it's already on a 32a circuit. My inner skinflint isn't liking it.

I'd look at it this way: You have already rationalised the spending of £200 on a brewery upgrade that it turns out you don't need. You now have a "free" £200 to spend on a more frivolous brewery upgrade that you actually want

[jaroporter]

^^^ this!