Lifespan of an Electrim Boiler Element

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nigebeer

Lifespan of an Electrim Boiler Element

Post by nigebeer » Fri Nov 27, 2009 11:38 am

Hi All,

I have just finished my fourth AG brew using an Electrim plastic boiler, and was wondering what is the expected lifespan of the boiler element? I am a bit concerned that it could fail during the boil which would be a big problem.

I suppose that the best option would be to buy another element and fit it to the boiler and alternate brews between them, and if one goes down it is not a disaster. :D

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Jim
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Re: Lifespan of an Electrim Boiler Element

Post by Jim » Fri Nov 27, 2009 11:45 am

Mine is still operational, though I use it as a mash tun now.

I boiled with the original element for at least 5 years before replacing it with one that didn't cut out all the time. :roll: The secret is cleaning it after every brew; that way it doesn't get encrusted, which causes overheating and premature failure.

When I wen't shiny, I put the original element back in the Electrim.
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crookedeyeboy

Re: Lifespan of an Electrim Boiler Element

Post by crookedeyeboy » Fri Nov 27, 2009 12:08 pm

Got any pictures of your shiny's Jim?

Ill clean the element on mine soon with a mild phosphoric acid solution but it seems ok at the moment.
If youre using some kind of acid treatment in the HLT anyway this helps to prevent scale anyway..

Madbrewer

Re: Lifespan of an Electrim Boiler Element

Post by Madbrewer » Fri Nov 27, 2009 3:04 pm

TBF The element doesn't take long to get firred up if like me your water is very hard. I recon I had less than a year on my new one wich went pop last brew day two weeks ago. The idea of carrying a spare - is a good one. Luckily I did have a spare and swapped them over and the boil just took another 40 mins longer to complete. To fix it - I got the mildly abrasive dremel disk on my dremel and brushed off the limescale really quick at a minimal speed setting. I expect it will be fine again now. What I 'should' have done is used wire wool to get it back to shiney after evey brew. I just find it time consuming to do so and hard to get to all the nooks and crannied. I guess my de-firring regime was less effective than I thought. Am planning on replacing my boiler soon with a budget kettle element & new bucket. But effectively after a de-scale both the original and new elements work and the Electrim boilers lasted me since 1994. I Wish I knew how many brews it had done. Somewhere between 80 and 100 I would imagine.

nigebeer

Re: Lifespan of an Electrim Boiler Element

Post by nigebeer » Fri Nov 27, 2009 3:47 pm

Thanks for your comments, that's re-assuring that the elements last that long, although I clean it after every brew to be fair it does not really need it, because I treat the water with the AMS there is no scale. I have noticed that it is dis-coloured, a sort of coppery tinge, probably the nickel plating gone.

Looking ahead I could do with something a bit bigger as my 5 gallon brews are always threatening to boil over, what would any of you reccomend?

Madbrewer

Re: Lifespan of an Electrim Boiler Element

Post by Madbrewer » Wed Dec 02, 2009 4:46 pm

nigebeer wrote:Thanks for your comments, that's re-assuring that the elements last that long, although I clean it after every brew to be fair it does not really need it, because I treat the water with the AMS there is no scale. I have noticed that it is dis-coloured, a sort of coppery tinge, probably the nickel plating gone.

Looking ahead I could do with something a bit bigger as my 5 gallon brews are always threatening to boil over, what would any of you reccomend?
Have you got a thermostat to stop it roaring away too much? Otherwise build one in a bigger bin like the Mango Chutney ones I've seen mentioned on this forum.

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