larry0223 Senior Member Joined: 14 May 2003 Posts: 25 Location: London, UK Expertise: Intermediate
Espresso: Francis Francis! X1 Grinder: Dualit
Posted Wed Mar 3, 2004, 12:29pm Subject: X1 Explosion.
Just thought I'd share this.
I noticed about 3 months ago my X1 wasn't cooling down properly, and the on light was flickering even with it switched off. It only did this for a day, so I figured the problem had cured itself after that.
Big Mistake
The other night I was descaling the machine. I had it off and was just letting the solution work whilst having a nice shave (one of those sunday evening, have a shave, clean you espresso up, general tidy up evenings).. when I heard a pop. I went to have a look at the machine. Bit of a flicker on the on light. So I turn the switch to on. At which point a big spark jumps out from under the grouphead and the whole machine smells of burning. One more trip to the repair shop to have the internals replaced methinks
I know, i know. I let myself in for it, buying a FrancisFrancis!.. but god damn it still looks good (and it even had a walk on part on Sex and the City, I noticed)
jim_schulman Senior Member Joined: 19 Dec 2001 Posts: 3,772 Location: Chicago Expertise: I live coffee
Posted Wed Mar 3, 2004, 1:24pm Subject: Re: X1 Explosion.
The first part is familiar: it's a solid state relay, SCR, or triac failing. They tend to fail to a flicker state, and since the on/off switch is on the low voltage controls side, it runs the machine even while turned off. So, it's best to unplug the machine when it happens, and replace the component. I'm surprised about the second part; there's a safety stat on the boiler and fusible links on the electronics to prevent overheating or shorts.
larry0223 Senior Member Joined: 14 May 2003 Posts: 25 Location: London, UK Expertise: Intermediate
Espresso: Francis Francis! X1 Grinder: Dualit
Posted Thu Mar 4, 2004, 7:54am Subject: Re: X1 Explosion.
Thanks for the info on the switch etc. My dad's a qualified electritian and reckons that the most likely cause would be some sort of an internal leak which managed to bypass the fuses. Lets face it. "Leaking X1" not exactly a huge news story. Luckily those things have a 2yr warranty
Posted Sat Sep 1, 2007, 6:09pm Subject: Re: X1 Explosion.
jim_schulman Said:
The first part is familiar: it's a solid state relay, SCR, or triac failing. They tend to fail to a flicker state, and since the on/off switch is on the low voltage controls side, it runs the machine even while turned off. So, it's best to unplug the machine when it happens, and replace the component.
Jim, I know this is old but it showed up on a CG search...
This morning I did the usual turn on the machine and head to the shower. When I checked it later, it was warm but the heater was off and pressure 0. So it had worked for a bit before it failed. In my wiggling of wires and poking and prodding one of the things I noticed was the heater light glowing when the switch was off, though not at all consistantly - very flaky junction!.
Got back this evening and yes, the SSR isn't gating any more - I get a nice 127 across the secondary when I turn on the switch. This SSR has a little light on top to say when it's on, and that's on (probably only means that there's my usually excessive line voltage across the primary). So I'll replace the SSR later this evening.
But I was surprised that this was happening to both the Francis in the thread, and my Tea - same method of wiring I guess... (?)
Definitely great that articles like this get written!!!!!!!
jim_schulman Senior Member Joined: 19 Dec 2001 Posts: 3,772 Location: Chicago Expertise: I live coffee
Posted Sun Sep 2, 2007, 8:32am Subject: Re: X1 Explosion.
The common factor may be heat. I don't know how the electronics are mounted on the X1, but I went through three SSRs on the Tea. The factory installed one was just glued to the base (this may have changed). My first try at heatsinking it against the base survived two months. My next try has worked 24/7 for a few years.
SSRs fail in completely odd ways, some of them fail on.
On the Tea I had (may have been changed), the On/OFF switch on the front is only rated at 10 amps. So the wiring from the SSR goes directly to the mains and cannot be switched at all. In other words, you actually need to unplug the machine to really shut it down. The 10 amp theme is continued on the wiring, so while you're at it; you should replace the cord with 12 gauge, and all the wires from there to the heating element with 14 gauge.
Posted Sun Sep 2, 2007, 9:36am Subject: Re: X1 Explosion.
jim_schulman Said:
The common factor may be heat. I don't know how the electronics are mounted on the X1, but I went through three SSRs on the Tea. The factory installed one was just glued to the base (this may have changed). My first try at heatsinking it against the base survived two months. My next try has worked 24/7 for a few years.
Yes - this one had tons of mineral crud between it and the case, so no question that heat did it in. My present attempt is using arctic silver3, but that is temp as it is a DC drive so I'm using a little plug-in power pack to drive it until I can get an ac driven one - thought I had one on hand but later realized that it's being used for my PIDed roaster. LOL I'll use arctic silver adhesive (epoxy) to fasten down the final one - this only mounts with one screw hole and I do not look forward to drilling another hole through that thick case!
SSRs fail in completely odd ways, some of them fail on.
On the Tea I had (may have been changed), the On/OFF switch on the front is only rated at 10 amps. So the wiring from the SSR goes directly to the mains and cannot be switched at all. In other words, you actually need to unplug the machine to really shut it down. The 10 amp theme is continued on the wiring, so while you're at it; you should replace the cord with 12 gauge, and all the wires from there to the heating element with 14 gauge.
Yes. I can see some cracks on the [no bigger than] wireing, and definitely should be 14ga, though the cord seems to be cool so it is probably 14 now. But, yes, that's on the to-do list!
Been thinking some more on this and realizing that the SSR could fail any time, even with power off and me gone, and overheat the boiler and blow the safety making a mess and burning out the heater element.
In a very real sense I was very lucky that the SSR flaked to open rather than to closed.
At one point in my playing, the pressure rose to very near 2 and the temp-fuse did not blow. - it rose VERY quickly.
Consequently I'm now unplugging my machine when I'm not using it. This seems a pain. Maybe folks are relying on the temp-fuse to save it? Maybe I'll wire in and additional resetable tstat...?
I ran my machine 24/7 when I was home and unplugged it when I was away. Ironicaly, both the SSRs and pstats I replaced always failed during the the heat up after it had been switched off a while. On my Elektra, it's the opposite, things tend to go wrong after it's been running a few days. I use an appliance timer, which cuts off power to the machine
Wow, things that turn themselves on give me the willies: I have enough trouble to get a good night sleep. I would hardwire an On/Off switch to cut power to the whole unit. I don't supose there is any CE or UL compliance here.
Gary, What I have done so far is plug the machine into a strip hung up on the wall that also has a light on it. I switch the strip on only when using the machine. The light tells me it's on. I double checked to make sure the strip's switch actually switches the hot side. There's no voltage in the machine when the strip is switched off.
Jim, I have rewired (14ga) the cold side up to the heater element, so far. I use crimp connectors (also soldered) and occasional head shrink tubing where needed. The wiring is actually in darn good shape, considering it's 4yr age, except right around the end of the boiler where the heater connections are - quite possibly from having been unplugged and plugged a good many times. (of course it gets a tad warm because it's 16ga.)
I put my finger on my 20A temporary SSR and it seems to run VERY cool. Don't understand that.
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