All Boilermaker pre-orders are currently being fulfilled and shipping! As always, plans for my GitHub projects manage to get interrupted by people with programming contracts who want things right now. However, as that was happening, the guy who came up with the RPi Smart Still hat came up with a printed circuit board for the Boilermaker, which seriously streamlines the assembly process. Airhead kits are also now based on a custom printed circuit board as well!
Boilermaker units are built using an SSR-100-DA mounted to a massive aluminum heat sink and everything is housed in an extremely heavy duty custom designed 3D printed case with 4mm thick walls. The units are fan-cooled and come with both a DS18B20 digital temperature sensor for boiler use as well as a type-K thermocouple for higher temperature use in excess of 1000F. Ordering options for both white or black cases and with or without 12 gauge 120 volt pigtails.
You will receive a post-order questionnaire asking you to choose a black or white case and optionally, if you’d like the unit preconfigured to connect to your WiFi and tuned to your boiler setup. It’s extremely important to remember that the Boilermaker settings need to be properly matched to your boiler volume, the total wattage of the heating elements, and whether or not your boiler is insulated. You can always make adjustments to these settings later if necessary.
Boilermaker prices are $135 for a bare-terminal unit for hard-wired connection into your existing electrical system to control a dedicated outlet, or $155 with 3-foot, 12 gauge, 120 volt pigtails. Keep in mind that these will work on 240 volts as well and the SSR-100-DA is only used for the sake of reliability. 100 amps at 240 volts is 24,000 watts, which isn’t a realistic scenario. You should use a master Boilermaker with multiple slave units in extreme load situations!
Be sure to subscribe to the Panhandle Ponics YouTube channel to stay current on updates and developments. If you have any questions or suggestions, comment on the videos or shoot me a message from the contact form!