Thanks for this reply! Very kind of you. What you are saying makes sense. I need to get a multimeter to try that part of what you said.
In the meantime, I looked for a reset button on both boilers and did not see anything that looks the part. Can you describe anything further about what I should be looking for? I'm wondering if the Brewtus I did not have that feature, but I'd sure be glad if it does. Thanks again for your suggestions. Marcus On Tuesday, May 28, 2013 3:44:16 PM UTC-5, winnipegger65 wrote: > > Hi Marcus, > > I see you posted this a while ago so perhaps you've already got this > figured out. I'm reading your note and it sounds similar to a problem I had > on my Brewtus IV-R a while ago. I thought it was either the temperature > sensor or the PID and I replaced them both. That did not help. With me, the > problem seemed to 'fix itself' which would have been great *before* I spend > the money on the new parts. > I'm wondering if your problem could be simply the reset button on your > brew boiler. Both boilers have a small button or peg which can get tripped > to prevent over heating. Perhaps pushing that peg is all you need to do. > > The other thing to consider is if your brew boiler is getting power. That > is easier than you think to check. All you need is a multimeter. Pull off > the leads which go to the brew boiler and stick the probes of your > multimeter into those leads. Then turn on your Brewtus and see if power is > getting there. If power is indeed getting there, then the problem might be > a faulty heater. That would make sense if power is getting to the brew > boiler but it is not heating. That's as far as I got with my problems but > when I put the leads back on the brew boiler, everything magically started > working again. Nice! > > On Saturday, March 9, 2013 11:35:29 AM UTC-6, Marcus Mininger wrote: >> >> I have a Brewtus 1 that I bought second hand. Have used it for a couple >> years with good service. A couple months ago when I was cleaning it >> (backflushing w/ detergent, etc.), the temperature readout for the water >> boiler started slowly dropping, a degree or so each minute or so (from 93C >> to 92 to 91, etc.). I ran some more water through and tried backflushing >> with only water to rinse any extra detergent, in case what I had been doing >> (which was standard procedure that I have always done) was causing a >> problem. Any water I ran or backflushed would only cause the temp to drop >> more quickly. It appeared that the water in that boiler was no longer >> heating. However, two things stayed normal: (a) the light on the PID >> read-out for the water boiler was on where it indicates that that boiler is >> heating, and (b) the steam boiler pressure stayed at normal levels, cycling >> on and off as needed, and even when I opened up the steam wand for a full >> minute, it held good pressure and output the whole way. Evidently, the >> steam boiler was working fine while the PID was telling the water boiler to >> work but it was not heating. I tried shutting off and turning back on to >> reset the electronics w/ the PID readout, etc., but this didn't change >> anything. Eventually, I finished the standard cleaning/rinsing process as >> best I could (with diminishing temperatures) and turned it off for the >> day. >> >> A day later I powered the machine back on from cold to let it heat up, >> and the temp of the water boiler did not rise but the steam boiler came up >> to normal pressure. Then I tried pulling some water through the group head >> by activating the pump. This caused the water boiler temp to increase by a >> degree or 2 each time until it had come up 10 degrees or so. However, it >> was obviously not fixing the basic problem and the water boiler was still >> nowhere near the needed temp. My guess is that pulling water out of the >> water boiler probably just resulted in pulling some water from the steam >> boiler into the water boiler, thereby raising the water boiler temp >> "artificially" somewhat. I left the machine on for several hours, but the >> water boiler never increased any more on its own. >> >> At that point, I wasn't sure what to try further to be of any help, so I >> powered it off. Work has been very busy for me since, so the machine has >> just sat there for a couple of months since then, and I am not mechanically >> inclined enough to know how to troubleshoot the problem. >> >> Today I powered the machine on just to see, and the same thing happened: >> water temp did not rise at all, but steam pressure is up to normal. >> >> What should do to identify and fix this problem? >> >> Thanks, >> Macus >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Brewtus" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/brewtus?hl=en. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
