StillSmart

this is aimed at more at yhb,but others can comment
just won a 27L/28L electric burco boiler lookalike (no name or id label)at a bargain price £4.99
im going to be using this for electric still,now il have to either disconnect
the thermostat or by pass it,has anyone got a wiring diagram on what wires to
make this happened,i did see a thread on HD site with pictures of the wires
but ive just spent 2.5 hours of searching and reading threads on there and cant
find it now

just an update

after filling the boiler upto the max mark to see how much it holds (about 27L/28L)i decided to give it a vinegar/water run,turned the thermostat upto
maximum and let it boil,after about a hour i went to check on it and the kitchen
was like a turkish sauna lol,so i switched it off and it got me wondering
i got my thermometer out and put it inside the boiler, the temp of the water
was well over 100 deg C,and i thought the thermostat didnt click in just kept on boiling,could i getaway without by-passing the thermo and use a power
controller to control the boil and setting the boiler to maximum boil

now to clean up the kitchen before the missis wakes up from doing a nightshift

Can you post a picture or diagram? The reason I ask is that some of the newer models have both a thermostat and a 95 deg C cut out sensor. There are various wiring options as some folks keep the thermostat but remove the cut out etc etc.

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Nice score with the boiler, it was worth the wait.

If it has not got the anti-boil device that Myles describes then, Yes it would probably work with the thermostat turned up to max and you could use a power controller to control the rate of boil.

When I modded mine, I did not want to leave anything to chance or have the possiblity of tuning the thermostat accidentally , so I removed everything I did not need.

Here is a thread from a Brewing Forum with pictures,
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewt ... =23&t=4641 but it would be nice to have pics of your boiler to be certain.

When I modified mine, I tracked down the two cables that went to the terminals on the element, these cables are also recognisable as they have heat resisting insulation on them and not flex cables. I kept these cables and discarded all the other cwires and electrical bits and bobs.

When you connect up your power supply to the boiler, don't forget the Earth !!!

If you are in the slightest doubt about modifying the boiler, then get an electrician to have a look at it.

thanks guys

brian my boiler looks simaler to yours before you modded it (i think)
yeah it was worth the wait,countless of hours searching fleabay and gumtree
haggling here and there,its certainly paid of to hang back a bit for the right time and money for me im happy with this,i sorted the courier which cost me £5.95
as i was gonna drive there only about 50mins drive to selby from where i am,and £4.99 for the boiler im happy as a pig in sh*t
now ive found out that its got a small leak,for which ive located where its comming from,seems to commin from where the element is it might need a new seal
but i got to figure out how the false bottom is fixed so i can get to the element
ive tried to lift it,tried to spin it round,but i noticed they could be two grub screws on top of the false bottom

here are the pixs

It looks good.

The false bottom on mine is kept in place with a spring clip. In the centre of the boiler there is a small post with a notch in it, onto which the false bottom clips. The grub screws that you are seeing maybe holding the clip to the false bottom. I need to give the false bottom a good tug to get it off.

The wiring looks familiar, I would bet that the two wires that you are looking for are the two yellow ones with the braided sleeving. You can check it out by putting a resistance meter across them and it should give you the resistance of element, for a 2.5 kw element it would be 23 ohm or for the 3 kw version 19.2 ohm.

On most, if not all Burcos, The thermostat does not come into play when the boiler is set to max.

Use a power controller and enjoy.

ive not found my multimeter to test the element resistance
but the two goldie brown wires are more ridgid then the wires comming from
the mains,one of the element wire is connected to the blue wire on the thermo,the other element wire is connected on its own on the thermo,and the green wire is going to earth,i might just try it on a power controller,when i get the main part ssr-25va relay,from china(it be on a slow boat)

ive managed to get the false bottom off by giving it a tug,managed to nip element screw a bit more,seems to stop leaking for time being

gonna be callin at the local scrapyard next week,see if they got any ss kegs
and try and scrounge the top off one with the ferrule already in place
(just hoping they got a plasme cutter to cut the keg)