[yish]

Actually, what gave me the confidence to use the 1500 watt heating element was when I searched for the PID I was buying on google, I found a lot of links to home-brewers who used these heating elements drilled into the side of big aluminum/stainless steel pots. They were using even higher wattage units to get quicker boil times.

[shpxnvz]

It's great that we can so easily share information between different hobbies, isn't it? :-)

Oh, I also ought to mention one thing regarding the heating element for those who might not be familiar. If I remember correctly the National Electric Code indicates that a constant load (such as a heating element) cannot be more than 80% of the peak load rating for the circuit - which (I think) ends up being 1440 watts on a 15 amp branch.

It's almost certainly safe to operate on a 15-amp circuit, but if one is particularly worried about the letter of the law or insurance coverage if anything unfortunate happens, be sure to run on a 20-amp circuit.

[sokoloff]

In general, if it has a plug on it, it's considered a "demand load" not a "continuous load" as far as the NEC is concerned.

Hair dryer, slow cooker, electric space heater, etc are all demand loads and can use 100% of the rated ampacity.

Edit: Source: Article 100 of NEC

[shpxnvz]

Interesting, I wonder if this is a new development (can't find that in my 2005 NEC codebook). I did run across something else, though, 200.21B2 states that the total load on a single 15-amp receptacle cannot exceed 12 amps, which might also apply.

I guess I'm going to have to go back and re-read the whole section. This concludes the thread-jack. We now return you to the regular discussion.