JayBird's RIMS Tube

[mbaker33]

Hey Guys,

I recently purchased a RIMs tube as well as a keggle false bottom from norcallbrewingsolluctions.com (run by JayBird) and am just getting the pieces together to tie it all together. I got my heating element today, and the fit is tight. I got a 4500 watt 240V element that I was planning on running at 120V which would put me just under the standard 15A circuit load in a typical house. The issue is, most of these 240V elements are essentially bent in half and the part that comes back actually touches the outside of the tube. I assume this is going to be a huge problem, and I'll probably have to get an element that is designed for 120V.

Just out of curiosity, what do other people use with the JayBird RIMS tube, or any other 1.5" tube?

Thanks for the input.

Mark

 

[acidrain]

With careful bending, you can make the fold-back element fit.
4500 watts at 240 vac = 1125 watts at 120 vac and about 9.4 amps... that puts you well under a 15 amp breaker.
http://homebrew.stackexchange.com/questions/6181/electric-rims-wattage-voltage-calculations

 

[mbaker33]

Thanks acidrain, I had done the calculations on amperage, but thanks for the reinforcement.

As for the bending the element, I thought that might be the way to go but wasn't sure if there was a trick to it. Any suggestions?

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[Bobby_M]

Do you have a bench vise?

 

[mbaker33]

I do have access to one. Are you suggesting slow and steady pressure at the bend?

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[rgauthier20420]

I do have access to one. Are you suggesting slow and steady pressure at the bend?

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I have the same style 4500W fold back element your talking about in a 1.5" stainless RIMS tube. It was a little tight, but I just slightly bent the angle of the element by hand over my leg. It's easy to bend and you shouldn't have to go that far. I don't know the dimensions of the RIMS tube you've got, but this is my experience. Hope it helps.

 

[Bobby_M]

If you have some scrap pieces of soft wood, like 3/4" x 3/4" x 4" long, you can use them for some firm, but non-marring jaws in the vise to grip the two tubes right above the base. Basically you bend the tube bundle a little towards the side of the foldover and the base side the other way. That creates a gentle Z bend that gets the package of four tubes centered inline with the base, rather than offset. From there you can fine tune by hand while testing in the tube.