Kanthal heater basics?

[WoodsieLord]

Hello there,

I'm trying to make a simple kettle heater of sorts. That is, a somewhat heavy, flat base with the coil, that get's hot so you rest a kettle on top.
I'm bad at describing things and I don't speak english as I would like.

I never used kanthal before and I'm not exactly sure how to use the online calculators at all. I found out today that "vapers" use this wire so I think the calculators I found are related to that purpose.

I made the base on clay (soon to be cooked) at a pottery workshop and I was advised to get 1mm kanthal wire for my "home-brewed coil". I already got 10m kanthal wire A1, 1mm think, round. It was actually pretty affordable, thankfully.

I don't know how many Ohms should I go for. I know the size of the coil (more or less) as I know the cavity's dimensions (more or less). But I don't know if I should be considering how many turns should I do?

The only thing I tried was measuring continuity with my multimeter and it seems shorted out. Never used kanthal before. Don't know what I was expecting but I thought it would be highly resistant.



This is the base I'm making in clay. I thought of a single coil that would fit the space.


Any clues you can give me ?
Thanks in advance!


EDIT: Forgot to mention that I would prefer to use it with mains ( 230V AC ). And that I don't want to put a kettle on top, so I don't want the coil to be able to boil the hell out of the water ASAP. On the contrary I would like the coil to bring the them up more gently than a kettle

 

[snoobler]

V = Voltage
I = current
R = resistance
P = power

Ohms law:
V = I * R
R = V / I (Ohms law solved for R)

Power equation:
P = I * V
I = P / V (Power equation solved for I)

Ohms Law solved for R using I from the power equation:
R = V / (P / V) = V ^ 2 / P

Assume:
V = 230VAC
P = 500W (about 1/2 the power of a typical hot plate)

R = 230 ^ 2 / 500 = 105.8 Ω

 

[snoobler]

Heavy on math, short on explanation.

Essentially, you need a resistance based on:

R = 52,900/ W where W is the desired watts.

I wouldn't be surprised if 500W produces hotter than you desire. You can always start with lower wattage/higher resistance and cut the wire to bring the heat up.