Big fail tonight....

So....after a few weeks of working on my electric keggle, I finally got a chance to test it tonight only to find out I can't achieve a boil at all. I'm stuck at 203 F even with a few layers of insulation (I'm brewing inside btw !)

Here are the specs : 2 x 1500 W elements on two different circuits. I'm trying to boil roughly 7 gallons for a 5 gallons batch.

I did some research before getting the 1500W elements and according to a calculator, 3000W was just perfect for my batch size. Do you guys have any idea ?

Have you measured the actual voltage at the outlets? Many times it is not 120 which will effect the actual wattage of the elements.

Have to ask. Are both elements working?

Not I haven't measured my outlet voltage...I will borrow a voltmeter next week. 10 mins after my original post, I got a small boil. What do you think ? I'm used to a big vigorous boil from my propane burner so I'm not sure if this boil is all right. As you can see, most of the bubbles are right over the elements but this was only with 4 gallons. I'll definitively check out my outlet voltage

My calculations show that you should get a boil in just over1 hour with 3000 watts at 85% efficiency. Used that efficiency for heat loss through the keg.

Might you have elements rated at 240 volt? If so, on 120 volt outlet it would take over 4 hours to boil, and would probably be a very weak boil.

What volt and what type of elements did you use ? I know kettle volume makes a diffrence but i srongly feel that my 2000w 120v LWD element could boil 6 gal if i insulated the kettle.

All right guys so I have a few updates for you !

My elements are rated for 120V at 1500W. I bought a multimeter today and right now, I'm doing a test. I took a reading on both elements and got 119V each so voltage is not a problem

Could it be that one of the element is not heating as it should be ???

What else then ?

update : took an hour to get 7 gallons of water (at 140F) to a gentle boil. Boil is very weak and using my thermapen, temperature is 207-208 F. There's also a double layer of aluminium foil insulation !! What a bummer...

Check the resistance of each element. It should be 9.6 ohms.

Not sure its the case here, but I always had trouble boiling with just a 2000w element using a large diameter pot, when i switched to a smaller diameter I could achieve a weak boil. Ultimately I went with 2 x 2000w elements

Yeah I guess. Keg is considered a large pot so maybe it does not help. The resistance of both elements is 10 ohms

With 3000 watts it should boil. It will take awhile but you should be ok. I use a 5500w element in a keggle and can turn it down to 50% and still have a light boil even with 12 gallons in it. You said it only gets to 208, what's your altitude? Maybe that is boiling where you live. My pid usually shows 210-211 at boil.