Lidl Boiler

[koomber]

The Lidl boiler is probably the only reason I could afford to try getting in to All Grain.

All Hail the MIGHTY Lidl Boiler

[oldbloke]

Finally got round to doing a second calibration run, full this time. Slower of course, and the temps are all low just like last time, so burning-in hasn't helped.
Guess I'll have to get that dial off and do the tweak.

[bobster]

Couldn't find any at my local lidl....(.sobs)

[crafty john]

Are they still selling them I bought mine ages ago, I couldn't be arsed tweaking it so I use it for a HLT or for it's intended purpose, preserving. You wouldn't believe the things you can put in jars, turn on the boiler and hey presto you can eat it months later. It might be interesting to start a preserving thread, what do you all think folks?

[oldbloke]

Did the tweak today, a bit less than the 45degrees, and it seems to have worked. Temps are correct at top end of marked bands, except it's running high in the 30s. And it struggles to maintain a boil of a full 5 gallons with the lid off.
I am wondering though if there's something funny about the earthing, coz just a minute or two after I switched it off the breaker on the kitchen ring tripped... Probably coincidence.

[beermonsta]

It might be interesting to start a preserving thread, what do you all think folks?

At 10 pages long and over 6000 views I think this thread is well preserved

[koomber]

Every time this thread pops out on my recent activity radar, I always feel bad for the people who got one and gave up.

[NOZ]

I got myself a second one last week, used it as a HLT.

I leave the lid propped up with my stirring spoon and always get a good rolling boil aswell as releasing the steam.
Brewed a Sierra nevada PA this weekend and from a full boiler i was left with 18 litres..... 10 litre loss to hops and deadspace, bit gutted as it was a good 6 hour brewday.
Im thinking i need a bigger boiler or use less hops!

You cant grumble for £29.99 tho!

[oldbloke]

Well the kitchen ring main breaker tripping wasn't a coincidence, it did it again today.
I'd just finished boiling up a batch of Duncan's Four star recipe, switched the thing off, and the breaker tripped.
I think it's weird it does it when you switch it off, runs quite happily until then!
The ring main was completely replaced and certified when we had a kitchen refit just 2 years ago, so I don't think that's likely to be faulty, and there's not a great deal of load on it.
Weird.
Have emailed the makers, and will dig out the receipt tomorrow.
Got a promise of an old 20ltr Swan boiler anyway.

[oldbloke]

Couldn't find the recipt, so had nowt to lose...
Took the base off to see if when I did the tweak I'd moved a wire next to another wire, or something. No. Great fun getting it back together.
Chucked a few litres in it to see if it still worked or if I'd broken it, hadn't broken it.
Got it nice and hot, switched off at the wall... no problem.
So, my guess is it only trips the breaker if you turn the thermo down well below the temp it's at, as I did yesterday, and switch off. The thermostat generates a voltage coz the content is higher than the setting, and this has to go somewhere: if you've switched off it'll get sent to earth, and trips your breaker.

[beermonsta]

So, my guess is it only trips the breaker if you turn the thermo down well below the temp it's at, as I did yesterday, and switch off. The thermostat generates a voltage coz the content is higher than the setting, and this has to go somewhere: if you've switched off it'll get sent to earth, and trips your breaker.

interesting guess! - The thermostate cannot "generate" any of it's own voltage (current) that comes from the incoming mains supply. Nor should any of the power ever reach earth or get sent to earth - if it did so then this would mean the mains electricity is shorting to earth somewhere and causing the RCD to trip (in which case the applience is dangerous) - but this is unlikely seeing as it rund fine until you turn the main switch off.

As you have said that by turning the thermostate down below the temperature of the liquid, and then switching off at plug this doesn't cause the RCD to trip this would indicate that the problem is with the wall switch not the boiler. It is possible that when you switch off at the mains, the power is arcing across the switch temporarily (I see it when my clothes iron is demanding power and I switch off at the wall switch and see a little spark behind the switch) this loss of electricity to the arc (which generates heat/light) can be detected as an imbalance between the positive and neutral and cause the RCD to trip.
I would recommend trying to replace the sockets with a higher quality branded on like a MK, Crabtree or Marbo to see if this fixes the problem.

For a simple test plug another high powered applience (such as a heater, iron, kettle) into the same socket, turn the device on and then turn the switch off on the socket to see if the RCD trips agian - if so then you know what to do!

[oldbloke]

Ah, I thought there might be a capacitor in the thermostat circuitry somewhere that needed to dump its charge, or something like that. Maybe even the Peltier effect!

To be clear:
Today: leave thermostat control alone, switch off at wall: fine
Yesterday: turn thermostat down, then switch off: trip

Not sure what I did first time it tripped. There seemed to be a delay then, and maybe a bit yesterday, before the trip.

The ring /ought/to be OK, it was only put in 2 yrs ago, certified blah blah
I'll try your test sometime soon - this computer's on the same ring...
If it looks like the socket/ring, I do know a local sparks.
If the house is OK, maybe my fiddling with the boiler today fixed it, or maybe it'll happen randomly...