3kW AliExpress Element

[ppsmith]

I'm planning on upgrading my mango chutney barrel kettle to stainless, and as part of that I'm looking at alternative elements to the £5 Tesco kettle ones I've relied on so far.

This AliExpress listing is intriguing me, for a few reasons.

Firstly it looks like it's actually 3 separate elements, presumably around 1kW each. That's interesting because (correcly wired) it'd theoretically be possible to switch each element individually for a bit of control over the vigour of the boil.

Second, because it's 3 separate U shapes, I'm estimating the overall element length is somewhere around 1100mm. It's maybe not as low a wattage density as some other elements, but it should be less likely to scorch than the small 2.2kW elements I've been using.

Finally, it looks like you can get a DN32 thread to 1.5" tri-clamp adapter, and a weldless 1.5" tri-clamp bulkhead should make for easy cleaning.

So, a low(ish) wattage density variable power element, with a tri-clamp fitting, for somewhere around £35 all-in. Too good to be true?

Anyone have any experience of these elements? Would appreciate any thoughts.

 

[ppsmith]

Answering my own question, in case anyone comes along and wants to know the outcome...

I went for a slightly different element, still 3kW but with an inbuilt 2" tri clamp fitting. Added a 2" weldless tri-clamp port to the kettle and wired each segment of the element separately, one with a variable power output giving fully adjustable 0-3000w power.






Test fired today using water and all seems good. Looking forward to next brewday with my new shiny kit.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Nice work there! Shame you don't have a 3-phase supply

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

FWIW, I've found the ability to vary the power continuously is tremendously useful, particularly to control the vigour of the boil. Once it gets fully established I've found I can dial the power back to about 40% and still keep it nicely rolling so long as I've got the lid on. Lower power bills, fewer boil-overs and less volume loss. Triple win!

 

[Brew_DD2]

Beautiful work!

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

By the way, if you're using a triac (or SSR) power controller I'm surprised you don't need more of a heatsink... mine gets quite warm by the end of a 2hr boil - but mind you, you've only got to do variable control on a single 1kW element haven't you - my... that makes for a pretty neat setup. Nice!

Here's a couple of pics of my controller just for interest - I integrated it with a digital temperature sensor so I can use it for controlling the mash too

 

[chopps]

Nice. Is that an Arduino nano in there?

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Nice. Is that an Arduino nano in there?

Indeed it is! well spotted - a very cheap way of getting an ATmega328P on a board: less than the price of a cup of posh coffee :-)
I'm not a big fan of the Arduino IDE though: I did all the code in avr-gcc

 

[chopps]

Indeed it is! well spotted - a very cheap way of getting an ATmega328P on a board: less than the price of a cup of posh coffee :-)
I'm not a big fan of the Arduino IDE though: I did all the code in avr-gcc

Show off :). I rarely need to go beyond the capability of the IDE. I’m about to start a controller design - Please can I DM you a question so we don’t hijack the thread?

 

[ppsmith]

you've only got to do variable control on a single 1kW element haven't you - my... that makes for a pretty neat setup. Nice!

Yeah, that was my thinking - keeping that as under-utilised as possible to avoid it melting down. Time will tell if it needs additional cooling or not...

I'm not a big fan of the Arduino IDE though: I did all the code in avr-gcc

With you on that one - platformio is my goto as it lets me structure projects sanely while keeping an easy to use toolchain

As for 3-phase... ha! Currently I live in a flat and brew in the kitchen. Everything needs to pack down onto the shelf above my desk. I'd settle for a fixed setup first.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

I live in a flat and brew in the kitchen

Well your boiler looks like a truly beautiful bit of kit - I'm properly envious of that... what capacity is it?

 

[ppsmith]

Well your boiler looks like a truly beautiful bit of kit - I'm properly envious of that... what capacity is it?

50L, one of the brewbuilder.co.uk high end pots - managed to snag it second hand recently for a good price. Prior to that I was boiling in a blue HDPE barrel which was okay if a little worrying when it was going soft with 30L of boiling wort inside.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

50L

AAAaaaaargh - I'm SO jealous LoL

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Please can I DM you a question so we don’t hijack the thread?

Of course! have started a 'conversation' - hope that works

 

[Geordie_Paul]

Out if interest how is your AliExpress kettle element still doing? Looking at potentially purchasing 1 or 2 myself soon but just wanted to check you were getting longevity from it?

Thanks in advance!

 

[hughjamton]

Out if interest how is your AliExpress kettle element still doing? Looking at potentially purchasing 1 or 2 myself soon but just wanted to check you were getting longevity from it?

Thanks in advance!

Not much help to your question, but I've bought one after reading this post, but not yet fitted it, I'm still waiting for a couple of bits to arrive.
What I will say is appears to be well made and of good quality.
This is the one I bought, don't forget it's all plus vat on Ali Express
DERNORD 2"tri clamp 64mm Flange Power 220V/380V 3KW/4.5KW/6KW/9KW/12KW SUS304 Brewing Water Heating Element with Cap & Ferrule

￡21.03
Wattage: 3kw

• 3kw

Color: Grey

• 

 

[foxy]

The next generation kettles are already in the pipeline, heated with microwave, no hot or cold spots, even temperature throughout, easily controllable temps and cheaper to run.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

cheaper to run

I'd be surprised if they are cheaper to run than a simple heater element, because they are basically 100% efficient at converting electrical power into heat.

 

[ppsmith]

Out if interest how is your AliExpress kettle element still doing? Looking at potentially purchasing 1 or 2 myself soon but just wanted to check you were getting longevity from it?

Thanks in advance!

I'm 12 brewdays in now and no issues with mine. Bring it to a boil with all 3 elements running at 100%, then scale it back to ~1800W to maintain the boil. No scorching on the element when it comes to clean it, just a little "fur" (hot/cold break material I think) which comes straight off with a scourer.

Not sure whether that single datapoint is any use as an indicator of longevity though, as with anything on Aliexpress quality can be variable.

 

[foxy]

I'd be surprised if they are cheaper to run than a simple heater element, because they are basically 100% efficient at converting electrical power into heat.

I wouldn't have a clue just quoting the electrical engineer who is developing it, I am on the mechanical side. He was speaking a different language to me but.