DIY Water Bath Concept Critique/Feedback

I have been researching the designs and materials of many DIY baths extensively and am extremely keen to experiment with it myself.

My intended product list includes:

Digital PID controller with SSR Output

Hot Water Heater Immersion Element 2500W

Aluminum Heat Sink for Solid State Relay (????)

SSR-25DA 25A /250V 3-32VDC

Thermocouple K type or PT100 Thermocouple (not entirely sure why the PT100 is preferable?)

I was thinking of using power cord of old appliances, extension cord etc, with wall plug on one end (is there a specific cord type it needs to be?) and wired in directly (as Seattle Food Geek does) and putting a standard wall socket instead of wiring the heater in, to allow for versatility. Not sure if a switch is required?

Once this is working I will make an enclosure and look at circulation

All feedback and comments very much appreciated. Thanks.

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Comments

Johan_Edstrom_5586

Heat sink - can't state how much you need that.

Get real cabling.

Look at a smaller heat element probably - you are going to get really hot with that thing.

Make sure you actually can handle 25A

I have always separated the element from the electronics.

Two project boxes / enclosures are not a bad idea.

Circulation is really, really, really important.

lachlan_14664

Thanks for the info @Johan.

So, buy some cable, go for a 1500watt heater, look at circulation.

What do you mean by having the heater separate and is it that the SSR and PID need to be able to handle 25A?

I saw your and others pictures in the other threads and was inspired to give it a go, but don't have much experience with electronics.

Thanks again mate.

Johan_Edstrom_5586

The heating element gives off a ton of heat and humidity from steam.

That is why I ended up just having the element in a box above the water.

I.e what is tricky as a DIY'er is the boxing in stuff, making sure that humidity and

heat doesn't go where it shouldn't be.

I experimented some with CPU fans too to cool the boxes down.

lachlan_14664

Yeah heat of the components does appear to be a common issue.

I think I am just going to have to play around with it a bit to see what works.

My main concern was that the components I mentioned in the post above were not correct and wouldn't work, but seems like if I lower the power of the heater and get some proper cable this may work.

Might order these parts.

Of course I am sure many problems will arise, but I guess that's the point of DIY.

Johan_Edstrom_5586

It is interesting and you learn a lot, just be aware that designing it for several day cooks or very high heat

is difficult.

lachlan_14664

My thoughts were to use it for short retherming and quick single temp applications (ie build a bath for veg and only use for veg, at or around the same temp every time).

For this reason high accuracy is possibly not as crucial and was hoping to do it for as cheap as possible.

I have backed the Anova 2 and hope to use this for proteins and initial cooking.

Initially just building something that even slightly works will be a big improvement from my current setups.

lachlan_14664

Have finished my heater build and am currently trying to find suitable settings for the PID controller. Was wondering if anyone knows of good resources or can offer some insight into what works and what doesn't?