Kettle elements question

[BeardySi]

Right, I'm in the process of making a plastic boiler with two kettle elements. I'm confident enough with electrics to wire up the thing safely without any problems. Thing is I know bugger all about household wiring. I've read mentions in one or two places that you should have each element on a separate circuit to avoid problems (unspecified). My original plan was to have both elements (2kW) plugged into a short extension which would likely go into the wall socket attached to the cooker switch. Is this a bad idea? I wouldn't have though two kettle running together would draw too much power, but as I say, I really don't know a lot about this sort of thing....

 

[nbpicklesno2]

I'm confident enough with electrics to wire up the thing safely without any problems.

Thing is I know bugger all about household wiring.

Are these statements not a little contradictory?

I wouldn't have though two kettle running together would draw too much power, but as I say, I really don't know a lot about this sort of thing....

I think this statement screams "STOP". You may be about to set your house on fire.

Although I may be wrong and it'll all go tickety Boo.

Or possibly tickety Boom.

 

[simon12]

If you have a 32A ring main (most kitchens do you should be able to tell looking at your fuse box) you can run them on the same circuit as long as you use separate sockets and don't have much else using the same circuit.

 

[MyQul]

I know nothing about this kind of thing. But here's the forum guide on making a boiler with kettle elements

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=49121

 

[Dads_Ale]

i am no electrician but I run one element from the normal kitchen socket via a 30amp cooker on off switch (self build) and the other from the socket built into the installed cooker switch (30amp supply)
I used a separate on off switch because I was getting a bit of flashover when breaking the load on the normal socket.

 

[ManseMasher]

Right, I'm in the process of making a plastic boiler with two kettle elements. I'm confident enough with electrics to wire up the thing safely without any problems. Thing is I know bugger all about household wiring. I've read mentions in one or two places that you should have each element on a separate circuit to avoid problems (unspecified). My original plan was to have both elements (2kW) plugged into a short extension which would likely go into the wall socket attached to the cooker switch. Is this a bad idea? I wouldn't have though two kettle running together would draw too much power, but as I say, I really don't know a lot about this sort of thing....

Rule Number One - electrickery is bad for you -if you don't know what is going on, get hold of someone who does!

First you need to work out the current draw. X2 2000w elements (4000w) ÷ 240v = 16.6666 amps. This is more than most extension leads are rated at, so using one is not a good idea. Your cooker socket should be way above this, but unless it's a double socket you'll only solve half the problem. If this is the way you want to go, wire each element with its own cable and plug, put one in your cooker socket, and plug the other element in to a socket elsewhere. If in any doubt at all mate, get a suitably qualified sparky to help or give you the assurance you're not going to set light to anything (and sods law says if you do have such an accident, your insurance company won't pay out once they've investigated/discovered the source of the fire!)

 

[Fil]

13a sockets even the double ones are rated to supply 13a max,

plug in a higher load like 2 x kettle elements (20a+) and the 13a/plug/socket could start to melt very quickly

Also the flex of the extension lead unless rated to hold a 20a+ load may also melt with such a hi load..

so 2 x extension leads into 2 x discrete 13a supply sockets is the safest way to proceed, some folk will plug into 2 seperate ring mains from the house to ensure no one circuit is overloaded, if your using 2 x 10a load kettle elements off the kitchen ring and a 3rd kettle the w/machine dishwasher and the freezer all kick in you could trip the switch in the consumer unit..

brew safe :)

ps im not an electrician either..

 

[BeardySi]

Are these statements not a little contradictory?.

Not especially, I know enough to knock up basic gadgetry and lighting to run on mains, I don't know the ins and outs of household wiring and loads...

Cheers for the information on working out the loads, I'll make sure and not overload any one bit and run the whole shebang by mate who's a sparky...

 

[ManseMasher]

13a sockets even the double ones are rated to supply 13a max.

That's not strictly correct. A double socket rated to 13 amps is for each socket. That doesn't mean however you can happily run 26 amps from one, more like 20.

'BS1363 states that all outlets shall be labelled with their maximum rating in amps. In theory this could be anything but in practice a double socket outlet will usually be rated at 20 amps.'

The only way to tell for sure is check the current rating on the back of the socket faceplate. I wouldn't advocate that of course, as it means unscrewing it!

 

[Fil]

happy to stand corrected, im no electrician, but if in doubt i find it best to err on the side of caution

hence rounding up the guestimate of a 2kw element drawing 10a load rather than googling the specific..

 

[ManseMasher]

Or indeed knowing the specific equation to work out amperage from any given power and voltage, which is quite a simple but invaluable tool for anyone that works in the electronics field, without having to resort to google or such like. Your guess wasn't far off though!