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Wiring Control Box


thebottle

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Having trouble figuring out exactly how to wire my control box. I have 2 - 5kw Heating elements that need to be wired to a 10kw Control Box.

The electrician that wired the box to the Electric Panel isn't sure either, so that doesn't really reassure me.

 

Any help on this would be great, thanks. 

Picture attached with inside of box.

control box.png

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I would call for yet another opinion...... Not a good looking box.  Besides you only have a single SSR.  Your elements have all been connected together for single phase operation.  So unless your SSR is big enough for two elements, I would re-examine the build.

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I bought a 30A 3 phase 380VAC, phase angle power controller the other day for my continuous column still that I am busy building.  Nice because it has both 4-2mA input control as well as a manual pot control.  Of note is the size of heat sinks that they come with and also the air flow requirement for panel cooling and this then all relate back to large panel sizes /volume.

 

 

IMAG3110.jpg

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Met with Electrician yesterday and we figured this out. First off we found a wiring problem, the ammeter didn't have a current carrying wire passing through the sensor, we fixed that.

Next, we were able to determine where exactly the heating elements got wired. Everything is good to go now. 

 

Thanks for the feedback.

wiring Control Box.PNG

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The class 1, division 2 hazardous environment extends 6 feet around the still and 3 feet off of the floor.  If you have an electrical enclosure inside that area, that has an arcing mechanism within it, then the enclosure must be in an explosion proof enclosure.  If you have an electrical enclosure inside that area, that does not have an arcing mechanism inside, then that enclosure must be wash down rated, NEMA4.  If you have an electrical enclosure outside of the class 1 division 2 area, that is still in the same room as the still, then that enclosure must be wash down NEMA4.  A NEMA4 enclosure is liquid, dust and vapor proof, which means that it must be sealed up tight.  If you vent that enclosure with a cooling fan, which will pull air in one vent and out another, you are creating a very dangerous situation.  if ethanol vapor get's into the air and gets drawn into that electrical enclosure you may have a fire or explosion that could cause accidental injury or death.  The contactor is the arcing mechanism. 

This is propitiatory information, but I am going to give it out to help make sure that no one gets hurt.  We use oversize heat sinks for our SSRs.  Our very over sized heat sinks mount on the outside of the enclosure, while the SSRs are mounted to them on the inside of the enclosure.  Our enclosures are sealed up tight.  If a distillery equipment vendor sells you an electrical control panel that has a cooling fan in it, then they do not know what they are doing and they are creating a very dangerous situation.  

Another fire has occurred at a distillery http://www.10news.com/news/husband-and-wife-distillery-catches-fire-in-spring-valley  We mus all do our best to keep things as safe as possible in our industry.  Just so everyone knows, the still in the above link is not one of mine.  We sold them a still, but it was still in transit for delivery when the fire occurred.  Please keep Trent and his wife in your thoughts and prayers.  This can't be an easy situation for them.  I wish them a speedy rebuild, and I hope they get back in business very soon.  

 

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Thanks for this info! I guess I don't have to worry about cutting that hole in the box this weekend.

Over-sized heat sink, that's a good idea, thanks for sharing. You got me thinking of other possible safety issues now. The box has the EMT conduit coming from the panel, which is about 30 feet away from the still. Should i seal the locations where the conduit comes into the box and where the 2 heating elements come into the box? Could I use gasket sealant?

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