Too Much Coffee

Does anyone know where I can get a new 230V heating element for an IMEX CR100 - my current one has just, erm, disintegrated.

Any contact details most welcome

Thanks

Try here http://www.imex-hcc.com/main.htm this is the manufacturer, I got a new element for mine from them. In the end they didn't charge me, but it wouldn't have been that expensive anyway.

Many thanks, I've e-mailed them and will let you know the outcome. I couldn't bear to revert to buying roasted beans!

Contacted the site Saturday by e-mail, they've responded and I have one on order, 3-4 day delivery, USD 30.00 including shipping. Not too bad, at least I will be up & running again this week. Very impressive service.

You will find the new elements have the thermostat removed, and the thermal fuse has been moved to reduce the likelyhood of spurious failure in a dark roast. This seems to cure most of the issues that have plagued the Imex.

You say the thermostat is removed, doesn't it need one? :confused:

As there is a thermal fuse, there is no safety issue. The thermostat was there as a re-settable over temperature measure, but it was pooerly placed, and would often cut out before the desired roast level was reached.

Arrived this morning, I'll try replacing the old one tonight and see how it goes. I might be able to get some dark roasts from what you were saying about the thermostat - it didn't seem to make any difference whether I set the timer to 8 minutes or up to 11 minutes, pretty well the same roast. According to the instructions 11 minutes is enough to incinerate them!

You should be able to go darker without the thermostat cutting the heat off all the time. The other trick is to block the output vents slightly, which makes more hot air re-circulate, allowing hotter temperatures to be reached. I used some silver foil on the inside of the vertical vents in mine to block about 1/4 of the vent area. Mine workes fine like this for what must have been 50-100 roasts, and it still works now (though I don't use it any more). There is a small risk that you will overheat the thermal fuse though so be aware of that.

Hmmm, not exactly straightforward, is it? It would be more appropriate for the instructions to just say 'dismantle the whole thing then reassemble taking care not to lose any bits inside the motor.'

Got it working though, it's a good job you mentioned about the thermostat because there is a definite difference between the two, the new one just has the thermal fuse as you say. I would have been panicking that they had sent the wrong part, otherwise.

Still not getting as hot as I think it should, I'll try the foil in the vent I think, but with a little experimentation.

Thanks for your input.

Are the timers on these prone to becoming faulty - I've been using this since replacing the heater element and today the heater doesn't work, the fan is on as if it's on the cool cycle. I've had a tentative look inside and all the wires seem to be ok, the connections to the timer are still ok, but the heater won't work. Any ideas?

Check the contiuity through the heater, could be the thermal fuse gone, shouldn't be, but worth a check.

Yes, it's the thermal fuse. I've bypassed it for the moment, not very scientific I know, but at least it's working again. Must remember not to leave it unsupervised!

Do you know if the fuse will be available separately either from Imex or even Maplin Electronics or RS Components, or a new heater requried (again!). Or just run it like it is, seems to work ok.

Muzorewa wrote:Yes, it's the thermal fuse. I've bypassed it for the moment, not very scientific I know, but at least it's working again. Must remember not to leave it unsupervised!

Do you know if the fuse will be available separately either from Imex or even Maplin Electronics or RS Components, or a new heater requried (again!). Or just run it like it is, seems to work ok.

You can get these from places like RS or Farnell. I bought a couple when one went on my Imex motor.

If the fuse has gone then the area around the heater is getting too hot. I did 50+ roasts with my new heater element with no problems. If you cover too much of the exhaust vents then too much hot air gets drawn back down into the heater area which will cause the temp to go above what the thermal fuse will take. The thermal fuse is now quite a high temperature compared to the early Imexes, so I would suspect that the temperature is getting close to being dangerous inside yours.

What's puzzling me is that I haven't covered the vents at all, it's running completely standard, in fact it still struggles to get anywhere near a dark roast. I wonder whether the thermal fuse may just have been faulty - I don't know how they work or what accuracy they have.

From RS, do you happen to know the part number or rating of the fuses to get?