fermenting fridges

danb · May 7, 2013

I acquired a fridge from freecycle yesterday that's gone out into the shed. I will be using a stc 1000 and tube heater to control temp for fermenting in there. was also planning on getting a few more and setting up in the same way so 2 fv can be fermenting and also 2 for conditioning and serving from in the summer through a beer engine.
my main concern is the power draw, the shed supply is on a 20 amp breaker.
if the stc's keep turning the fridges on and off the initial higher draw of a fridge will keep happening when ever needed so would it be a problem to have 4 running in there. I am planning on moving from biab to 3 vessel and brewing in the shed instead of the kitchen. ill be using a Tesco element for the hlt in a fv, converting a coolbox to a mashtun then continuing to use the buffalo boiler for boiling the wort. will it be a problem using the buffalo in the shed whilst the fridge or fridges are running? thanks

rpt · May 7, 2013

The Buffalo is rated at 11.3A so that doesn't leave much for your fridges. I think some can draw as much as 10A.

danb · May 7, 2013

what sort of power supply are people using with quite a few fridges plus brewing?

rpt · May 7, 2013

A ring main can supply 30A and I don't know how many people are using 4 fridges and a boiler on the same circuit. You should check the rating of your fridges because I suspect most don't draw 10A.

danb · May 7, 2013

theres a sticker with some info on inside the fridge and that states power consumption at less than 1a but im sure that would be running constantly not when powering up.

danb · May 7, 2013

ive just checked the label and it says rated current 0.8a

danb · May 8, 2013

ill change the run to a 40 amp supply before getting the fridges and just run 3 fridges when brewing. I can always keep a fermenting fridge of whilst brewing then turn back on when the brew is in fv ready to go in.

Kevin Wood · May 8, 2013

As said, the running current of a fridge is very low - 1 Amp or less. They can take large surges when starting, but it's very unlikely that more than one fridge will do so at a time, so having more than one of them on a supply isn't necessarily going to make things much worse in that respect.

Circuit breakers are designed to take some time to respond to overload conditions for this very reason, and they are available in different grades to protect motor circuits (slow tripping) or resistive circuits (faster tripping). Most products using motors take very brief, high current surges to get started and, unless an overload is sustained for some time (minutes or even hours), it doesn't put the cable run in danger nor will it trip the breaker.

I think your current arrangements will be OK. There'll be no harm in trying anyway, as a sustained overload will not happen. If you do get nuisance tripping of the breaker then think about an upgrade of the circuit (or it might be acceptable to use a motor rated breaker on the circuit - check with an electrician).

danb · May 8, 2013

will give it a go then, im in no rush anyway as its all down to as and when fridges come up on freecycle and got to concerntrate on getting the other shed up and filling it to give me room for starting work on building the 3 tier brew stand, fitting water and drainage etc.
would it not cause the breaker to trip if by any chance 3 fridges kicked in at the same time or is it not long enough at that draw to cause a problem. the only reason I wouldn't want it to keep tripping is I wouldn't know until going out to the shed and looking at the cu which could possibly spoil the beer In there.

fermenting fridges

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