[Michael Thompson]

A friend at our local homebrewer's meeting the other day mentioned the idea of using a heating element from a 220 volt water heater for brewing. He suggested just putting the element (in some kind of base, I presume) on the dryer, unplugging the dryer and using that outlet to power the heater.

Has anybody done this? I'm wondering about the practicalities and whether this could work and be safe.

TIA

[Stevie]

Plenty of people have done it. A quick google search will yield loads of examples.

There is an inherent danger like anything else where liquid and electricity are involved. Dangers can be minimized with proper precautions and circuitry.

[blatz]

I use electric:

https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=14134.0

are you really going to jury-rig it with disconnecting your dryer or water heater and all that?

plus, not sure if those two are GFCI outlets.

if you're going to do it, I'd recommend installing a GFCI 30amp outlet close to where you'll be brewing.  you're going to something to control the element(s) too.  www.bertusbrewery.com has some build instructions for a much lower tech system than what i have if you want to read more...

[Jimmy K]

http://seanterrill.com/2013/02/19/the-30-electric-hlt/
 
I've also seen the elements mounted to the end of a piece of pvc pipe, so it's closer to the bottom.

[Michael Thompson]

are you really going to jury-rig it with disconnecting your dryer or water heater and all that?

No, nothing like that. It's about buying the water heater element and wiring it up to plug into a 220V outlet. Since there is one above my dryer, and the dryer makes a handy brewing stand, the idea was to plug the heating element into the dryer outlet.

plus, not sure if those two are GFCI outlets.

Now that's a good point. I doubt it is.

[troybinso]

Check out electricbrewery.com. A ton of in depth information there.

You will want a gfi outlet. A 50amp spa panel is by far the cheapest and easiest way to pull this off. Just install one on the wall in between the outlet and the kettle.