A Step by Step Guide |
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Heating the Boiler |
Electric Hot Water Boiler From Bradlee Boilers Ltd. |
Now that you've got a real still, better give some consideration as to how the boiler will be heated. The two most common choices are electric or gas. Like most things in life, each selection has its' own merits and demerits. Electric Heating Electric immersion heaters are readily available for hot water heaters in the U.S. in either 1500 or 3000 watt sizes. But if you want a precise regulating of the heat ( and that degree of control may not be needed) then these heaters will require an additional, and very expensive voltage controller. The U.S. immersion heaters also require a separate 120/240 volt AC source to operate, and they respond very slowly to controls that would regulate the boiler temperatures. They have to be mounted inside the boiler (a messy thing to clean) and the wires run to the outside (a hard thing to seal from leaks). The wiring connections must be enclosed in approved electrical boxes and, to be safe, the work must meet a lot of electrical code specifications. External electric hot plates avoid the internal mounting and wiring problems, but they are very inefficient. They are generally limited in the U.S. to about 1600 watts on a 110 volt alternating current house circuit. That amount of energy may work, given enough time, for small boilers but many find the boil up time excessive for boiler sizes over 5 gallons. On the plus side, electric heating is much better suited for indoor use. It is cleaner, safer (if wired properly), needs no venting, and provides much less risk of alcohol fires or explosions. Heating with Gas Bottled LP gas, on the other hand, avoids many of the boiler fabrication, electrical wiring and cleaning problems associated with electric heat.
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Page last modified 19 August 2001