# pid to hot plate



## sawyer

Hi guys ,

  quick question , I am building an electric smoker using a pid. I ordered a replacment burner element for an electric oven on line wich is just the coil alone for my heat sorce. It seams everyone is using hot plates tho? Is this because i need the wireing from the hot plate to power it? or can i plug direct into the relay and get power without blowing myself up? any direction would help a lot. or if im posting in the wrong area please let me know.

thanks guys.


----------



## dward51

How many watts is the element?  Most oven burners are high wattage and 240v

Since you posted this in the "Cold Smoking" area, I would take it you want a cold smoker.  An oven element may be too high powered for that purpose but would work great for "hot" smoking at 220* or more.  Although with a PID setup, you could keep the temps down for cold smoking, but the element would not run hot enough to generate smoke from chips in a pan.  You would have to use either another smoke source (smoke generator or smoker tray like the ones Todd makes).

I would think if anyone has a oven element in a cold smoker they will jump in here in a few with their thoughts.

An electric heating element at it's core is an electric heating element.  It gets hot as long as electricity is applied to it.  Does not matter if it's a hot plate or a oven element, the basic principal and electrical process is the same.

I think most of the people who use hot plates do so because they are inexpensive, readily available, and compact in size.  You can often find them for a few bucks at a yard sale or under $15 new at Walmart.  If you do use a hot plate, they normally have some sort of temperature limiting device that when put inside a closed container such as a smoker, will shut the electricity to the element off at certain temperatures.  You usually have to bypass this to get the element to stay on long enough to keep generating smoke from your chips (or use one of Todd's AMZPS trays or tubes).  If you bypass this by using a PID controller setup, it may get too hot for the housing in a closed area so you may need to take the hot plate element out of the stock housing. I tried a Walmart hotplate in my WSM "as is" years ago and the temp limit device was a problem so I called it a failed experiment as I was not going to make an external controller at the time.  That being said, the Brinkmann electric element is a 1500 watt element that has no temp control and is on 100% when plugged in (it's a raw element and an electrical cord with a wall plug on one end).  But it's for purely hot smoking.

You can use a PID to switch a SSR (Solid State Relay) which controls your high amperage current to the heating element.  Does not matter if it's a hot plate element or a oven element, it all works the same.  There is a ton of info on how to wire PID and SSR units in the forum.

Just remember, this is real electricity at potentially dangerous (lethal) voltages and amperage in these devices.  If you are not comfortable wiring something like this up, seek help from someone who knows what they are doing.


----------



## sawyer

Thanks dward !

   Its an 8" Electric Surface Burner Element and it has no wattage , its just the element , got this from amazon for 5 bucks 

  

 I think i might need more heat tho. 

yes i did post in the wrong area. However , you cleared up alot for me i dont regret it.


----------



## dward51

Frigidaire part number 316442300 (from the Amazon link), is a 220 volt, 2100 watt, 8" element.  It will not work well at all on 120v but should put out a good amount of heat on 220v.  Don't let the size of that unit fool you, 2100 watts is pretty heafty.  A 40" MES uses a 1200 watt element for comparison.

Here is a page where I found the wattage

http://www.a-1appliance.com/product/6761477

Wiring it for 220v should not be a huge issue.  It's really no more involved than wiring for 120 (but not the same as you have two "hot" legs in the circuit).

Walleye1 posted a diagram of his 220v PID controller setup in his album.   He added a 2nd controller as a high temp limit in this diagram.  I think it was originally posted at the Bradley Smoker forum under the Bradley Smoke Generator sub-heading.

He is a regular in SMF and I'm sure if you PM him he could give you more info (or he may see this and jump in the thread).

Here is his diagram for a 220v PID setup he made













220diagramcopy.jpg



__ dward51
__ Dec 18, 2012






Lots of good info on PIDs and other parts in these threads too.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/72491/home-built-electric-with-pictures

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/73778/the-start-of-a-fridge-conversion


----------



## sawyer

Wow, I'm going to double check everything I have. Thanks so much. I will have much more to ask.


----------

