Ben, You are probably more correct than I am on this issue. But, the wires inside the Brewtus II have burned out twice now. The last time was an explosive burn out that destroyed the h-connector. It takes about an hour to repair, once you know what is wrong and I don't want to have to do this again.
I had the Instamatic TN311 for about 1.5 years before the problem happened the first time. Two months later it happened again. I live in a large (250 apartments) coop building in Manhattan with many elevators. The electric wiring was last updated in the 1960s. Maybe there is a surge happening in the building when elevator motors start up. Maybe that h-connector (see picture above) is just prone to failure. WLL tech support originally told me to remove it and connect the wires directly. In any case, I am adding a surge protector and a different heavy timer. I also removed the h-cnnector. Maybe the problem will never happen again. Maybe the changes I made will make a difference. Maybe the switch on the Brewtus is better designed than the switch in the Intermatic timer. Maybe the building was hit by lightening. In any case, I hope I never see the problem again. By the way, take a look at the reviews for the TN311 at amazon.com. Several people report that it fails and heats up a lot, but others report that it lasts forever. Maybe there is a sample to sample quality control problem with it. On Jun 5, 11:14 pm, Ben McCafferty <[email protected]> wrote: > Richard, > I have used the same Intermatic TN311 (heavy duty, 15A, 1750 W) for over two > years continuously. > > Even if a spark was the same as a surge (which it's not--a surge is a sudden > rise in voltage, a spark is electricity jumping from one contact to the > other when they get close enough--if memory serves, it takes 20,000 volts to > jump 1 cm or something like that), turning the machine on and off manually > generates a spark also, by your theory, and so should fail also. Again, two > mechanical switches. If anything, the timer takes the wear of sparking away > from the red switch, making the red switch essentially wires/conductors > instead of a switch. > > bmc > "Faith will move mountains, but you'd better bring a shovel....." > > > > > From: Richard W <[email protected]> > > Reply-To: <[email protected]> > > Date: Fri, 5 Jun 2009 15:46:14 -0700 (PDT) > > To: Brewtus <[email protected]> > > Subject: Re: Brewtus II. No Power light. Sunday morning emergency > > > mariowar, > > I suspect that 1st-line is right. > > > Most, but not all, mechanical switches produce a spark when the switch > > is closed. Spark = voltage surge. > > You can often see this by looking at a wall switch in a dark room as > > you flip the switch. This is also why light bulbs burn out just as > > they are switched on. > > > This is the timer I use: > >http://www.amazon.com/Intermatic-TN311C-Heavy-Duty-Grounded-Timer/dp/... > > O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1244240412&sr=8-1 > > > I actually replaced this with a newer one recently because the > > previous one failed. > > First burn out of the Brewtus II was with the older timer. Second was > > about a month after I got the new one. > > > I am going to get a surge protector as a precaution. > > Maybe this one from Belkin would be the simplest and least expensive. > > Maybe the one you linked to. > >http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-SurgeCube-Surge-Protector-1-Outlet/dp/B0... > > ref=rsl_mainw_dpl?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER > > > For those who responded that they never have had problems with > > appliance timers, which brand & model have you used. > > Not all switches are equal in quality when it come to sparks. Maybe > > some timers are better than the one I have. > > > On Jun 5, 4:43 pm, mariowar <[email protected]> wrote: > >> "Timers are just a switch and as such, can't actually produce a > >> surge, > >> Not any more than just flipping the switch on and off or plugging and > >> un-plugging the machine." > > >> Ira, when I read it I found it weird as well, however, they service > >> machines and they should know what they are talking about. > > >> http://www.1st-line.com/cofffact/power_protection.htm > > >> b) if you have a timer on the outlet, you should plug in the timer > >> first, then the surge supresor, and then the espresso machine. We have > >> found in several instances that timers can cause a surge."- Hide quoted > >> text - > > - Show quoted text - --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Brewtus" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/brewtus?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
