Shocking Keggle

[pidass]

shocking keggle could be the title of my latest chapter of my current troubleshooting my newly built electric BIAB keggle setup.

In the process of testing out a new SSR, the heating element would not respond to anything, at one point I leaned over to look in the keg and my lip touch the top of the keg and it gave me a jolt :cross:

WTF, so I grabbed my multimeter and sure enough the keg had ~24V on it :O

The wires going to the element are tight and are not touching the keg. So I pulled out the element and the base was all rusty, so I'm assuming the rust was acting like a small conduit to the keg allowing some voltage to reach it???? Anyone else have an idea on what's going on?

 

[mattd2]

shocking keggle could be the title of my latest chapter of my current troubleshooting my newly built electric BIAB keggle setup.

In the process of testing out a new SSR, the heating element would not respond to anything, at one point I leaned over to look in the keg and my lip touch the top of the keg and it gave me a jolt :cross:

WTF, so I grabbed my multimeter and sure enough the keg had ~24V on it :O

The wires going to the element are tight and are not touching the keg. So I pulled out the element and the base was all rusty, so I'm assuming the rust was acting like a small conduit to the keg allowing some voltage to reach it???? Anyone else have an idea on what's going on?

Is your keggle grounded? Did you do the wiring yourself? Something is seriously wrong that there is any voltage on the keggle. i would remove the element, remove all wires and check for continuity between the terminals and the srewed base- if you have any the element is poked.

 

[jeffmeh]

Also, definitely check to make sure the element and keggle are grounded.

 

[pidass]

The 1" SS fitting is welded into the kettle.

I got a outdoor electrical box and attached it to the keg with construction adhesive, the power wire enters the electrical box in a strain relief connector and 2 hots connect to the element. The ground connects to a ground post on the electrical box. Neutral is disconnected and wrapped up.

I'm not sure how you mean to ground the keg, though I guess it's not since the electrical box is painted so doesn't actually make a metal on metal contact with the keg.

I'll try to take a pic of my setup and look for the continuity from the posts to the fitting as well.

 

[Bensiff]

So, if I'm picturing this correct, you have your ground going to the electrical box which sounds like is only connected to the keg with glue and has no direct contact otherwise, meaning that the keg is not grounded through the electric box. You need to get that grounding wire connected to the keg, and if the electric box is metal that needs to remain grounded as well.

 

[danb35]

+1 to Bensiff. The keg needs to be grounded for safety. There's a good chance that something's wrong with your element, but if the keg is grounded, it's impossible for it to build up any electrical potential.

 

[passedpawn]

Some good news: your electrical box was properly grounded, and it should be safe to put your lip on it.

Drill a 1/4" hole in the skirt of the keg. Crimp a ring terminal onto the green ground wire and secure it to the hole with a bolt, split washer, and nut.

 

[Rivenin]

Some good news: your electrical box was properly grounded, and it should be safe to put your lip on it.

Drill a 1/4" hole in the skirt of the keg. Crimp a ring terminal onto the green ground wire and secure it to the hole with a bolt, split washer, and nut.

hopefully a picture will help. This is how mine is grounded.

see the elements on the bottom picture? there is a ground wire coming out of it and is going to that nut on the keggle itself.

 

[aquenne]

I would definitely take a step back and review your wiring. You should not being reading any voltage to your kettle.

do you have a GFCI on this circuit? Check your resistance to ground from your kettle. if your good, i would then begin tracing backwards and see where the voltage is.

 

[pidass]

Actually grounding the power cord to the keggle did the trick, helps to actually do it right I guess . Also seemed to fix weird issue with my SSR not wanting to work correctly so I'm good to go! Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

[mattd2]

So have you checked that you have no continueity between the live and kettle now?

 

[pidass]

So have you checked that you have no continueity between the live and kettle now?

correct

 

[mattd2]

correct

Good man! To be honest I was getting abit scared for you as it was really weird what you were experiencing. Maybe it was one stray wire strand???

 

[pidass]

no stray wires. not sure exactly what happened, I used one of those outside electrical boxes that is feels like really cheap metal painted grey from HD, then I used contruction adhesive to attach it to the keg, the ground from the power wire was then tied into that, so the keg was never actually grounded and I guess somehow the element housing was leaking some voltage into the keg?

Sad thing is my degree is like a minor in electrical engineering :/