Sunday 22 August 2010

NoKill Fridge Heater

The inside of a fermenting fridge contains enough danger without the addition of mains voltages. But, many home-brewed heating solutions (including my own) seem to revolve around a standard incandescent light globe in a tin or a terracotta pot or some such thing.

When the latest globe blew in my dog-food-tin brew-heater, I decided to accelerate my move to a safer fermenting fridge.

Inside a cast aluminum project box (available at almost any electronics supply store) now live two 12V 50W halogen globes wired in series. A long-ish piece of figure-8 cable ties this to a small, double-insulated halogen transformer. The latter lives outside the fridge. An old LED minus its leads pushed into a hole in the box indicates the globes are working.

Wiring two globes in series halves the voltage across each filament and therefore the wattage drawn by each. I figure this might result in longer bulb life.

Obligatory Pics:

From Beer Equipments


From Beer Equipments