Myth #2: Electricity is a dangerous way to brew.

Wrong! Electric current is very predictable, controllable, and measurable. Cooking with any fuel requires a tremendous amount of energy. If some of that energy ends up in the wrong place, like your body, then that's a pretty big problem. We hope that after reading this, you will realize that we offer a safe product for you to use in your brewing process. You need to take proper safety precautions when cooking, regardless of the source of energy. Propane, for example, can produce carbon monoxide, can explosively accumulate in the event of a leak, and includes all the obvious hazards of an open flame.


Here we will explain the steps that we have taken for you to have a safe brewing process. Also there are a few simple things you need to do. The instruction manual included with your HC-3800 covers more of the safety requirements. It is important to read and understand them thoroughly before using the equipment. If you do not have your instruction manual, then it is available here.


"It is dangerous to mix electricity and water", we are often told. We are in no position to disagree with that statement. Please don't think that we are trying to convince you that mixing them is OK. It is NOT. It is CRITICAL that:

  1. Liquid never contacts an electrically live part in the first place.
  2. If a malfunction happens such that liquid does touch a live part, then the user is protected from electric shock. The most common way is through a GFCI circuit.
  3. An electical malfunction is quickly detected, and power is turned off to prevent further damage and/or injury.

We recommend to use a UL-listed heating element to heat your water and boil your wort. Then you will be more certain that condition (1) above is met. The electric current stays inside of the heating element, which is completely sealed. It's just like cooking on an electric range. You would never worry about touching the pot that you are cooking with, because the heating element is well insulated. Additionally, your HC-3800 controller needs to be mounted away from your kettle, such that water does not boil over onto it, spill onto it, or condense on it. Placing your HC-3800 several feet away should be OK. Mounting the HC-3800 off the ground using the mounting holes would also help prevent water from contacting the unit. Just make sure that a spill won't flow right toward it. We hope you would take the same precautions with a propane setup. It is difficult to stop a boil over if it's boiling over onto your propane shutoff valve!

Now that you have taken the necessary precautions to hopefully keep electrically live parts from getting wet, you still need to worry about what happens during a malfunction or accident. Water, especially wort, is conductive enough to allow a lethal amount of current to flow through your body. We have to make sure that the wayward current follows a path that does NOT include YOU. This is accomplished by connecting all accessable metal parts to the same electrical potential as the earth. That way, anything that you can reach or touch should never be hazardous. Your HC-3800 controller must be connected to a grounded electrical outlet that was installed by a licensed electrician. The "grounded" part is what's important. Additionally, the cord for the heating element that you plug into your HC-3800 controller needs to have a ground wire fastened to your kettle or the chassis of the element. The ground wire should NEVER deliberately carry a current. Connecting a light bulb, heater, or anything else between a live wire and a grounded part is very dangerous. If current is going through the ground, then you are being protected against a dangerous condition, which needs to be corrected. So important is the ground connection that we provide an extra screw on the HC-3800. We recommend to connect it to a well-grounded object such as a copper cold-water pipe. That way, you are still protected just in case the ground wire in your outlet, controller, or heating element fails. Furthermore we recommend to connect the kettle to the same copper pipe. Details of how to do this are included in the instructions.

Great, you have done your best to keep electrical parts dry, and by using a grounded outlet and kettle you have provided a place other than yourself for current to flow through if something goes wrong. There is one more problem that can develop if we continue to allow current to flow through a ground wire undetected. There is a powerful corrosion process that takes place when current flows through a liquid. Electrons don't just move through liquids the way they can through copper. Ions will be moving instead, and these ions will chemically react with the metal they touch. As the corrosion process continues, eventually all of the safety features above will begin to deteriorate, resulting in shock and fire hazards. You may not even know it's happening, so it is important to detect the fault and remove the power. That is exactly what a "Ground-Fault Circuit Interruptor" is for. If the GFCI trips, then it is your indication that a dangerous condition exists, and you must turn off the power switch, unplug your HC-3800, and find and correct the problem. Resist the temptation to bypass the GFCI if you're in the middle of a boil. Just like if you had a big propane leak, it's not worth the risk of running with it. For the technically inclined, a GFCI doesn't look for current in the ground wire. After all, it might be flowing through your extra ground connection to the copper pipe. Instead it measures the current "difference" in the live wires, and if it isn't zero then current is going someplace it doesn't belong.

In summary, we have produced a product that safely controls a heating element. You can ensure your safety by keeping the electronics dry, using a properly grounded outlet installed by a licensed electrician, and by using a GFCI protector or buying your HC-3800 with one included.

This document is provided for informational purposes only and is not advice. There maybe errors or omissions that may lead you to believe something is safe when it is not. Read the user manual thoroughly before using the HC-3800.