Hi, my Brewtus III-R has has been a workhorse for the last 12 years. There have been a few failures during that time period (PID, Pressure Stat, and Steam Pressure Gauge) but they really have been straight forward for me to fix. However a new problem started a few days ago that has me scratching my head since I’m not sure of the order of operations the machine goes thorough when switching between Steam Boiler and Brew Boiler heating.
Here’s what’s happening… Machine turns on as normal each morning, tops off water reservoir (it’s plumbed) and then commences the heating cycle - first stem boiler to pressure at 1.3 bar, then brew boiler for a bit, then back to steam boiler when pressure drops to .9 bar, then back to brew boiler, etc… until the brew boiler reaches 204F and PID float commences. Everything seems normal right? But after 60 to 90 minutes of being at temp, the steam boiler pressure falls and the heating element does not kick in at .9 bar, but dropping below that threshold DOES lock out brew boiler PID float, even though the steam boiler isn’t active. Consequently both temps drop until there is no pressure in the steam boiler at all, and the brew temp hits ~150F (this temp seems to vary a bit from 130F at the low end to 165F on the high side) when the whole system comes back to life and the boilers start activating in sequence as they should. Sometimes the brew boiler will make it back to 204F and PID float, but sometimes it only gets into the 190s before the temp death spiral starts again. The only way to restore normal function is to shut down and allow the machine to cool for 20 to 30 minutes. My initial thinking was that the “low” pressure side of the pressure stat failed, hence blocking the call for heat to the steam boiler. But if that’s the case why does the brew boiler stay locked out if it's not sensing low pressure? Also, why does the system function for 60 to 90 minutes before the temp death spiral? My guess is that there is a sensor that fails when the internals of the machine hit a certain temp (e.g. why it only happens when the machine has been on for a time) and I also suspect that it IS the pressure stat BUT, would love to get the wisdom of the crowd involved here before ordering parts, since the brew boiler lock out is making me doubt that. Any ideas Brewtus people? Thanks! Mike -- 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 view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/brewtus/819a0c3d-b064-4858-9624-a821ef2cd223n%40googlegroups.com.
