Chassis (Stand) Electrical
Introduction
Now that you have the gas system installed, you need to run electric to the valves. You also need to hook up outlets that will operate the pumps. The pumps need 110 VAC, and the valves need 24 VAC. I will discuss here how I did it – there are infinite options available. Both my pumps and valves are operated by my controller, so my connections may be different than yours. Even if you do it differently, you can use the same set up and just control the valves differently – either thru manual switches (if you aren’t looking for full automation), or using different a different controller. Same goes for the pumps, I have seen them just plugged into altered extension cords, you don’t need to do it the same way I did. My set up uses a water protected connection, but you may not need it. Again, here’s what I did, you can adapt it to suit your needs as you see fit.
Prep work
Standard industry practice in the HVAC world is to use blue and yellow wiring for 24 VAC (secondary) voltage. Blue is hot yellow neutral. I used 16 gauge THHN wire, again available at HD or Lowes. Wire is naturally watertight, but I went a step further to run it in a home made conduit to keep it even more protected. I got some vinyl tubing and a compression tee fitting, and ran the wires thru that. It splits at the tee, where 4 wires (2 blue 2 yellow) come in, and one set (1 blue 1 yellow) leaves each leg to go to the applicable valve. To make it tight, I had to do a few wraps of electric tape on the vinyl tube. This stuff wasn’t made to run wiring through, but it works and it’s easier (and I think it looks cooler) than running actual grey conduit.
Next, for the pump hook ups, I got a standard two receptacle outlet, a metal outlet box, and an outdoor in-use cover for the outlet. Make sure that the outlet has the ability to have separate hook ups for each receptacle (if so it will have 2 screws on each the hot and neutral side of the outlet). Snap the ear off that make the two hot screws common, then snap the ear off that does the same on the neutral side. My box had two little nubs on the back that needed to be ground off so that it would mount flush on the stand. Again, after grinding flush, I painted it to prevent possible corrosion. It also had 3 holes in it for the wiring to be run into it. Using the two threaded plugs provided, and a small bit of silicone, I sealed the top and back holes.
Build out
To keep track of which set of wires go to which valve, I just wrapped the end of one set with different colored tape. You can do it whatever way works for you, but you want to make sure that you know which set goes to which valve.
This wiring runs to the same place as the propane hookup. At the end of the wire, I used the male side of one of these to create a disconnect. You could alternatively use XLR connectors. The vinyl tube with the wiring run in it gets zip tied to the gas pipe to secure it.
For the hook up to this disconnect, I used the female side of the 3 pin IP68 connector. From it, I ran two 18/2 thermostat/bell wires to XLR connectors that go to my controller.
Now, if you are using a control panel that is attached to your brewstand, you can omit the disconnect entirely and go right to the controller that you are using (so long as the output on the controller is 24 VAC!!!). If using switches, just run the blue wires to the appropriate switches and the yellow wires back to the transformer (we’ll talk about this transformer later in the controller discussion).
To mount the box for the pump hook ups, I used #10-24 x 1” screws (#10-32 is another option if you have them laying around). Mark two holes in the back of the box, along the center line. Drill them out slightly larger than the #10 screws. Mark these holes in the stand where you will mount the box, and drill and tap these holes.
For the pump power, I have three prong twist lock connectors on my controller. I got a 16/3 25 foot extension cord and cut both ends off of it. Then cut it in half to get two 12.5 foot cords. Do your conscious and the kid who might find that male plug that you cut off a favor and either cut the prongs off the plug or bend them in such a way that they can’t go in an outlet.
I ran the extension cords thru the bottom hole, and hooked one to the each set of screws. Remember, black is hot, white is neutral, and green is ground. You also need to run a wire from the grounding screw in the box to the one on the outlet. The two green wires from the cords should go to the ground on the outlet. At the other end of these cords I hooked up the twist lock connectors that go into my controller.
And with that, the chassis electric work is buttoned up.
Now that you have the gas system installed, you need to run electric to the valves. You also need to hook up outlets that will operate the pumps. The pumps need 110 VAC, and the valves need 24 VAC. I will discuss here how I did it – there are infinite options available. Both my pumps and valves are operated by my controller, so my connections may be different than yours. Even if you do it differently, you can use the same set up and just control the valves differently – either thru manual switches (if you aren’t looking for full automation), or using different a different controller. Same goes for the pumps, I have seen them just plugged into altered extension cords, you don’t need to do it the same way I did. My set up uses a water protected connection, but you may not need it. Again, here’s what I did, you can adapt it to suit your needs as you see fit.
Prep work
Standard industry practice in the HVAC world is to use blue and yellow wiring for 24 VAC (secondary) voltage. Blue is hot yellow neutral. I used 16 gauge THHN wire, again available at HD or Lowes. Wire is naturally watertight, but I went a step further to run it in a home made conduit to keep it even more protected. I got some vinyl tubing and a compression tee fitting, and ran the wires thru that. It splits at the tee, where 4 wires (2 blue 2 yellow) come in, and one set (1 blue 1 yellow) leaves each leg to go to the applicable valve. To make it tight, I had to do a few wraps of electric tape on the vinyl tube. This stuff wasn’t made to run wiring through, but it works and it’s easier (and I think it looks cooler) than running actual grey conduit.
Next, for the pump hook ups, I got a standard two receptacle outlet, a metal outlet box, and an outdoor in-use cover for the outlet. Make sure that the outlet has the ability to have separate hook ups for each receptacle (if so it will have 2 screws on each the hot and neutral side of the outlet). Snap the ear off that make the two hot screws common, then snap the ear off that does the same on the neutral side. My box had two little nubs on the back that needed to be ground off so that it would mount flush on the stand. Again, after grinding flush, I painted it to prevent possible corrosion. It also had 3 holes in it for the wiring to be run into it. Using the two threaded plugs provided, and a small bit of silicone, I sealed the top and back holes.
Build out
To keep track of which set of wires go to which valve, I just wrapped the end of one set with different colored tape. You can do it whatever way works for you, but you want to make sure that you know which set goes to which valve.
This wiring runs to the same place as the propane hookup. At the end of the wire, I used the male side of one of these to create a disconnect. You could alternatively use XLR connectors. The vinyl tube with the wiring run in it gets zip tied to the gas pipe to secure it.
For the hook up to this disconnect, I used the female side of the 3 pin IP68 connector. From it, I ran two 18/2 thermostat/bell wires to XLR connectors that go to my controller.
Now, if you are using a control panel that is attached to your brewstand, you can omit the disconnect entirely and go right to the controller that you are using (so long as the output on the controller is 24 VAC!!!). If using switches, just run the blue wires to the appropriate switches and the yellow wires back to the transformer (we’ll talk about this transformer later in the controller discussion).
To mount the box for the pump hook ups, I used #10-24 x 1” screws (#10-32 is another option if you have them laying around). Mark two holes in the back of the box, along the center line. Drill them out slightly larger than the #10 screws. Mark these holes in the stand where you will mount the box, and drill and tap these holes.
For the pump power, I have three prong twist lock connectors on my controller. I got a 16/3 25 foot extension cord and cut both ends off of it. Then cut it in half to get two 12.5 foot cords. Do your conscious and the kid who might find that male plug that you cut off a favor and either cut the prongs off the plug or bend them in such a way that they can’t go in an outlet.
I ran the extension cords thru the bottom hole, and hooked one to the each set of screws. Remember, black is hot, white is neutral, and green is ground. You also need to run a wire from the grounding screw in the box to the one on the outlet. The two green wires from the cords should go to the ground on the outlet. At the other end of these cords I hooked up the twist lock connectors that go into my controller.
And with that, the chassis electric work is buttoned up.
My wire tee using a compression fitting. The vinyl tube needed a couple wraps of electric tape to make it tight in the fitting. 4 wires come in, 2 go up to one valve, and 2 go straight thru to the other valve. The vinyl tubing is attached to the black iron pipe using zip ties at regular intervals.
Electrical connection to the gas valve. Blue should go to TH and yellow to TR. If you wire the valves differently you can have issues during operation, so stick to this convention.
Pump outlets. Top outlet is pump #1 and bottom is pump #2. The outlet has an in-use style outdoor cover on it, with the bottom recess open for the pump power cords to come up thru.
Metal box used to house the outlet, attached to the outside side of the back vertical center post. The cap was screwed in with a small bead of silicone on the threads. The back of the box against the stand also had the cap installed in this manner. Lastly, on the back side against the stand there were the small nubs that needed to be ground down so that the box would sit flush on the stand. After grinding and cap installation, the box was painted with the same paint that the stand was so they look consistent.
You can see the harnesses (cut extension cord) coming into the box here. The two cords come up from the bottom hole in the box. On the outlet, you can see the missing ear that was broken off to break electrical connectivity between each of the screws. This effectively will make each outlet separate. On the back of the outlet it will have an index for which side is hot and which is neutral. Also, the silver screws should be neutral and the brass ones hot. Lastly, note the grounding arrangement. The two green grounds from the cords go to the ground screw on the outlet, then a jumper from the outlet ground screw to the ground screw in the box. The other ends of the cords go into your twist lock connectors that mate with the receptacles on your controller.