Repairs

[dikkoo]

I appear to have burnt out heater on my SmartStill, can it be repaired/replaced?
I havwe tried the reset button to no effect.
When assembled the fan does not operate.

Any suggestions?

[Magnu420]

Have you checked fuse in power lead

[dikkoo]

Yes, done that and tried a replacement lead.

When I take bottom cover off, mains tester shows, power at mains socket, but, no power to fan plug

[Easydrinker]

That does sound like a terminal problem,in that the fan is maybe FCUK'D.
On mine the PLUG into the airstill is female,doubling out to a FEMALE SOCKET for the fan.
If you are able to find a male plug to power the fan and it does not work then it seems that you have a problem that I have not heard of before.
Sorry.
Are you sure that there are a good connections in the lead piggybacking power from still to fan? this has always struck me as a short piece of cable and liable to stretching damage.
But what do I know?


Robert.

[Anavrin]

Plug your mains lead directly into your fan connector and see if the fan operates, if it does you know the top half of your kit is ok.

It maybe that the fan is wired in series with the heater element, if so, a broken element will stop power reaching the fan.

However from a design point of view it would not be a good idea to connect them in series, a parallel connection would be more suitable and I assume this is how it's wired.

Maybe there's an internal fuse protecting the fan circuit, if I remember and have time tomorrow morning, I'll have a quick look at mine, it won't take long to suss out how it works.

[chill]

I am pretty sure they are not in series. I once shut down a run by pulling out the fan cord (got distracted / no paying attention). The heater continued to work and the still kept pumping out ethanol vapour. A series wiring might be an advantage for distracted distillers.

[Easydrinker]

My Smart still has sockets of differing sexes for still and fan.
A simple swap is not possible.

Robert.

[Anavrin]

Here a couple of pics showing the wiring, you can see the power (white wire) goes to the safety switch before connecting to the heating element and fan out let, if there's no power measured on your fan outlet then the safety switch must be open circuit, if it won't reset, it may be a faulty safety switch.

[dikkoo]

Thanks to all for help,I am going to try py-passing cutout to see if that works, will also get tester to see if heater element OK (after the rugby!)

[Mr Four Square]

Hi D I'm assuming you aren't a muppet when it comes to working on live equipment.

I couldn't see it in the photo but is there a small silver thermal fuse in the circuit in addition to the thermal overload?

I overheated my T500 and that was the component that blew. Not the mains plug fuse ( I'm assuming you are in the UK) not the resettable thermal overload switch on the base but the thermal fuse. It's a small silver component soldered in line ( series). It's designed to blow before the element does. The element is a solid thing. It takes a fair bit of badness to make it blow.

Use a bell tester to see if the fuse is still working.

If there isn't a thermal fuse ( yeh yeh I know all fuses are thermal ) get someone who knows what they are doing to test the element for you. The answer to that will tell you all you need to know.

[Easydrinker]

Nice post there Mr FS.
Had a similar problem today while mashing.
Finally realised the thermal overload switch (concealed) was tripping out, and not the main 13amp fuse.
No thermal fuse fitted on my appliance, not an Air still in my case.
Due, in my case to a thin film of sugary stuff burning itself to just above said switch, and causing overheating.
Electronics not being my forte, it took awhile to understand the problem.
Maybe I'll go bin diving for some of the perfectly good fuses that I threw away.
Or maybe not.

Robert.

[Mash]

Bang on FS. I don't think it's the element.
If you have a meter. Disconnect the mains. Set meter to ohms and connect it to the element.

[dikkoo]

OK, have tested circuit on heater it is ok, it is the online fuse before the heater element that has blown, I by-passed it and all started to work again.
I am unable to see what fuse I need to replace it, any Ideas?

Short term will solder in by pass, but clearly I need a replacement.

Thank you all again for your input.

Dikkoo

[chill]

Not sure if this is what you are asking, but I think this is the part you need:
http://www.nutriteam.com/water-distille ... embly.html

Chuck

[dikkoo]

Located fuse at Argos £2.99, with crimps.