Burco Cygnet 19L thermostat queries Do you use one?

[aamcle]

Afternoon All.

I picked up one of these of the bay to do small BIAB batches it was cheap as the element had apparently failed. I was going to order a new element but decided to check it out.

I popped the plug open and Oh dear a 3 amp fuse, swapped to 13 still not right so I moved the connections about to get power directly to the heating element and it worked fine. Next try was to include the built in thermostat (front knob) and that worked as well this model has a couple of other sensors, boil dry and I think the other is over temperature and one or other of them has gone.

So I'm good to go BUT the thermostat seems to be a bit rough ie ON or OFF no reduction of power so I'm afraid that my boil will also be on or off. I have a 3.8 KW PWM controller I could replace it with and this would give me better control of the elements output.

Is it worth using the PWM?

If you have a Cygnet how are you getting on wiht it?

Many Thanks for your advice.

aamcle

[lord groan]

You're quite right the standard control is a bit rough
I'm not familiar with your particular Burco but all the ones I've seen use a simmerstat (i think that's what they're called) not a thermostat with a temperature probe. Simmerstats have a small bimetallic strip inside which flexes as it warms, this flexing switches the power fully on or fully off, the control knob changes the speed the strip heats at, it isn't the water temperature which controls things, just a circuit inside the simmerstat body.
Lots of people stick with the standard control and just learn where to set it to keep a reasonable boil going, that said, you are quite right that a pwm power controller will give a much more accurate control over the boil. If you do switch over to the pwm get some tried and tested circuit diagrams first because i'm sure i've seen someone post on here or another forum that the heatsink on some of these can be live at 240v, you don't want that touching the boiler body or worse - you!
good luck
lg

[aamcle]

Thanks I'll use the PWM but I've decided that in can go into a case with a socket and I can then plug the Burco into it. If I do it that way I can use it for my big pot or any thing else I need to control.


ATB. Aamcle

[lord groan]

excellent idea, might try that myself when i get the time