Beer Forum

Has anyone found or seen a good way to mount a GFCI breaker inside the control box of a RIMS system? We are building a portable RIMS system and it would be nice to have GFCI breaker for just in case. The control box is a modified sprinkler control box.

I don't have any ideas about how to accomplish what you are specifically wanting to do, but take a look at what they call a 'Spa Panel', used for GFCI protection of hot tubs. It is the convenient combination of GFCI Breaker and box. You might be able to modify your design to have a spa panel along side your control box. In general, power from your main(house) panel goes to the spa panel then into your control box. Is your design 110V or 220V?

Thanks for think about it. It is a 110V system.

I used an old tool box, and mounted the 2 pump on/off controls, the heating element main switch, and a GFCI to make all safe. Pumps plug into the panel as well. it is all in Leviton Decora 4 gang and 2 gang setups. 2 gang for the heating element controls, and the 4 gang for the standalone GFCI and pump controls. Worked very well to used on 20amp GFCI to protect both the pumps and the RIMS 1500W heating element. I hate using the residential setup, because it lacks coolness factor, but works so well.

You will notice that the 2-gang does not have a plate, that is becasue after all was built, it turns out they, Leviton, does not make a 2 gang plate cover for a 20 amp outlet and Decora switch. I still need to modify one for my use. This is a temporary setup as I am wokring on a single tier cart and control panel.

The GFCI protection circut is the far left one in the 4-gang. Toolbox has PID controller built in as well and the tri-clamp based RIMS system is below that.

If you are wanting to keep it mobile, then I am assuming you don't want to just put a GFI on the power source (aka wall socket). There are cords made with in-line GFI's built into them you may want to consider that route for GFI protection, this will make the desing portable and provide you the GFI protection no matter where you are brewing and keep it out of your box, as GFI's tend to go bad quicker then a standard outlet.

We ended up using a GFCI wall outlet and a two-pull switch to send the electricity through the outlet (use the GFCI in outlet) or not (use GFCI at house / shop breaker box).

jimmiec wrote:Thanks for think about it. It is a 110V system.

Install a GFC outlet?

I'm not an electrician, but to me it seems you'd want to put the protection at the power SOURCE. Like a GFCI outlet or a spa panel, etc. Putting it in the control box MAY be better than nothing, but if you come in contact either directly or with a leakage path of the line side, the GFCI isn't going to help you at all.