Well, I had an uncomfortable experience last night as I started to get my strike water heated.
I have a 240v/50a system that has been working fine for a the last few years. I typically do a simple BIAB so I only use a single element/vessel, but occasionally I will do a 2 or even 3 vessel system just based upon how I'm feeling.
Last night I decided to hook up my HLT and Kettle elements. Basically BIAB with a heated HLT for a final rinse of the grain.
To start the brew day I hooked up the HLT/element with about 10G of water. All was working fine for about 20 minutes as the water started to reach ~90 degrees. All of a sudden the element power indicator light on my brew box went out, and I could tell power had dropped to the element.
"oh, weird" I thought as I went over to the box and flipped the element switch to off and back to on. But I noticed a faint whiff of smoke coming from the box. I immediately cut power to the whole unit. Opened it up, and noticed that the wiring down from the contactor to the receptacle had all fried.
(I had started cleaning up a bit of the mess/clipped some affected wires before taking this second/third pic)
I'm not sure what happened, or what was at fault. I am just super thankful that nobody was hurt, and nothing started on fire (Thankfully I keep a CO2 extinguisher nearby).
I want to troubleshoot and fix, but I'm right now not sure where to start. I plan on replacing the relay, contactor, receptacle, and all wiring that was affected. The only thing new/changed was the use of a 5500W element that I'm not sure I have really used more than once or twice before. Is it possible to check the working condition of an element to see if that was a possible source of a short?
I have a 240v/50a system that has been working fine for a the last few years. I typically do a simple BIAB so I only use a single element/vessel, but occasionally I will do a 2 or even 3 vessel system just based upon how I'm feeling.
Last night I decided to hook up my HLT and Kettle elements. Basically BIAB with a heated HLT for a final rinse of the grain.
To start the brew day I hooked up the HLT/element with about 10G of water. All was working fine for about 20 minutes as the water started to reach ~90 degrees. All of a sudden the element power indicator light on my brew box went out, and I could tell power had dropped to the element.
"oh, weird" I thought as I went over to the box and flipped the element switch to off and back to on. But I noticed a faint whiff of smoke coming from the box. I immediately cut power to the whole unit. Opened it up, and noticed that the wiring down from the contactor to the receptacle had all fried.
(I had started cleaning up a bit of the mess/clipped some affected wires before taking this second/third pic)
I'm not sure what happened, or what was at fault. I am just super thankful that nobody was hurt, and nothing started on fire (Thankfully I keep a CO2 extinguisher nearby).
I want to troubleshoot and fix, but I'm right now not sure where to start. I plan on replacing the relay, contactor, receptacle, and all wiring that was affected. The only thing new/changed was the use of a 5500W element that I'm not sure I have really used more than once or twice before. Is it possible to check the working condition of an element to see if that was a possible source of a short?