double down Posted June 3, 2016 Share Posted June 3, 2016 Does anyone recommend an electric boiler? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silk City Distillers Posted June 4, 2016 Share Posted June 4, 2016 Sussman makes a very nice boiler if you have access to heavy power, but not natural gas. If you have the option of either gas or electric, you'll probably find that when you run the math, electric may be considerably more expensive to operate, although this depends on where you are. If you have neither heavy power or gas, you really need to run the numbers before you decide to dig for gas, or wire for 480v. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artisan Still Design Posted June 5, 2016 Share Posted June 5, 2016 Yes Sussman is the leader for electric boilers. on average you will pay 4x as much per heat unit of electricity as you would natural gas, and 2x as much as propane. however there may be times when electricity is still the better option, such as you simply dont have access to natural gas or propane, your building or zoning restricts usage of these, or if you want "Green" points. all are legitimate reasons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TetonDistillery Posted June 6, 2016 Share Posted June 6, 2016 We live in an area with very cheap hydro electricity. So we use electric steam boilers. One of the side benefits is that with no flame source, you don't need a separate boiler room, fireproof walls, etc. Running steam pipes was very easy for our distillery. Much more simple than other types of boilers I suspect. James Morrison james@tetondistillery.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falling Rock Posted June 7, 2016 Share Posted June 7, 2016 Electric from the local Coop worked out to be 20% cheaper for me than propane. Coop did a rural install within a week and for FREE... Weigh the price per BTU and hope it doesn't change in the future. I had no option for Natural Gas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
double down Posted June 9, 2016 Author Share Posted June 9, 2016 It's a tough decision, our electricity is fairly expensive so although electric boilers have an enticing entry price, the op costs are high. Gas is available but as you all know there are trade offs with having to have the boiler in a separate fire proof room depending on your fire inspector. We've been looking at Sussman, anybody have direct experience with them? I'm checking into what exactly "heavy electricity" means. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silk City Distillers Posted June 10, 2016 Share Posted June 10, 2016 480v service Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silk City Distillers Posted June 10, 2016 Share Posted June 10, 2016 A 16 horsepower Sussman requires 190 amps @ 480v, the 18 hp needs 217 amps. The smaller 14.6hp can run on a normal 3 phase, but requires 400 amps to do so. That's heavy power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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