Does anybody know about these tea urns

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Aethelstan

Re: Does anybody know about these tea urns

Post by Aethelstan » Tue May 13, 2014 5:43 pm

Ah yes, I see now. In my head it was the other way up :)

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DeadFall
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Re: Does anybody know about these tea urns

Post by DeadFall » Tue May 13, 2014 6:10 pm

Yep, that circular thing the switch is in the middle of is the element.
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Re: Does anybody know about these tea urns

Post by DeadFall » Wed May 14, 2014 2:28 pm

Performed the surgery last night. I pulled the spade connectors off and then snipped them off the wires. I don't have any insulting tape so I guessed that the black covering on the spade connectors was heat shrinkable insulator. So I pulled this off and pushed it down over the wires after I twisted and soldered them and was wrong. Something causes it to shrink, but not the temperatures I was using. So I pulled the button assembly apart and the clear plastic bit that attaches the switch to the plastic rod is perfect for pushing the wires into to help insulate them.

Ran a 5L boil for a good 10-15 minutes this morning with no cut outs, yesterday I saw a cut out at around 5 minutes.
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CestrIan
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Re: Does anybody know about these tea urns

Post by CestrIan » Wed May 14, 2014 5:48 pm

I've got one of these with the thermostat bypassed. tbh they aren't great. the steel is very thin, so it dents easily. It takes ages to get up to temp and it just hasn't got enough umph for a good rolling boil on 23L, so I use it as a HLT. You gets what you pay for.
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FarmerFred

Re: Does anybody know about these tea urns

Post by FarmerFred » Wed May 14, 2014 7:59 pm

Time for a brew next then! Nice work.

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DeadFall
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Re: Does anybody know about these tea urns

Post by DeadFall » Wed May 14, 2014 10:50 pm

CestrIan wrote:I've got one of these with the thermostat bypassed. tbh they aren't great. the steel is very thin, so it dents easily. It takes ages to get up to temp and it just hasn't got enough umph for a good rolling boil on 23L, so I use it as a HLT. You gets what you pay for.
Until it cut out, the boil I had on 25l of water was fairly vigorous, but I think I can get better. Losing energy faster than energy getting put in will be part of the problem with keeping a rolling boil and part of this will be due to the thinness of the walls. I have a spare foil lined sleeping mat that I'm going to wrap around it which should help a fair bit. I also guess that part of the cheapness will be a lack of QC, so different boilers may have different results.

It's cheaper than the alternatives (2nd hand boilers are like hens teeth right now), which has lowered the cost barrier for me. My first AG was going to be in a Lidl jam maker, which has now become my mash tun.
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CestrIan
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Re: Does anybody know about these tea urns

Post by CestrIan » Wed May 14, 2014 11:53 pm

I know what you mean about 2nd hand boilers. I've got a Bartlett boiler which has been a great work horse for years but the element went a couple of weeks ago, the replacement Bartlett element is £50 so I started looking at Ebay for 2nd hand burcos and they are going for £90!! In the end I bought a cheap £8 element off eBay and it works better than my old element much more vigorous boil. If you find the boil is a bit like soup on a simmer you could try changing the element for one off eBay. A 2.5Kw just does not cut the mustard. You need 3KW to get a rolling boil.
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DeadFall
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Re: Does anybody know about these tea urns

Post by DeadFall » Thu May 15, 2014 1:04 pm

CestrIan wrote:I know what you mean about 2nd hand boilers. I've got a Bartlett boiler which has been a great work horse for years but the element went a couple of weeks ago, the replacement Bartlett element is £50 so I started looking at Ebay for 2nd hand burcos and they are going for £90!! In the end I bought a cheap £8 element off eBay and it works better than my old element much more vigorous boil. If you find the boil is a bit like soup on a simmer you could try changing the element for one off eBay. A 2.5Kw just does not cut the mustard. You need 3KW to get a rolling boil.
I'll have to do some research, can I replace the element on this thing? If so how much will it cost? £8 might be a worthwhile upgrade if the boil isn't that great when I finally get going.
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Aethelstan

Re: Does anybody know about these tea urns

Post by Aethelstan » Fri May 16, 2014 1:39 pm

The auction has ended, apparently they sold out :(

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Re: Does anybody know about these tea urns

Post by DeadFall » Fri May 16, 2014 2:24 pm

Aethelstan wrote:The auction has ended, apparently they sold out :(
Just checked and they're still advertising them at the same price?
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Aethelstan

Re: Does anybody know about these tea urns

Post by Aethelstan » Sat May 17, 2014 1:50 pm

Mine still says 'This listing was ended by the seller because the item is no longer available.' I will check back on payday.

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Re: Does anybody know about these tea urns

Post by bigchris » Sun May 18, 2014 12:53 pm

As deadfall said energy going in may be only a little more than eergy going out. You can get a much more vigorous boil with some insulation. I foound a camping mat did very wel and only a few quid, easy to clean just wipes down. Trimmed around the tap and the alaqement socket with a pair of scissors. I go t a very good rolling boil with a 2kw kettle element in 25L, in my shed in the winter. You want to try and get any heat loss only from the top.

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Re: Does anybody know about these tea urns

Post by Digby » Sun May 18, 2014 1:36 pm

I may get one of these as my HLT. Thanks for the heads up. :)

Matt

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Re: Does anybody know about these tea urns

Post by DeadFall » Mon Jun 02, 2014 10:11 am

The thermostat will need to be bypassed on these too. I can maintain a rolling boil with water, but it cuts out with wort. It also has a plastic, multi-bevelled ring around the top which prevents it being emptied completely. I've drilled a series of 5mm holes through this at one point which allows almost full draining.
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Re: Does anybody know about these tea urns

Post by DeadFall » Thu Jun 05, 2014 7:14 pm

I think I've killed my boiler. I bypassed the element by joining the wires together. I put some water in, a few seconds later there was a bang and the fuse blew on the ring I used. The tea-urn won't turn on and it looks like the element may be blown. I'll bypass the emergency fuse and put the thermister back in to the circuit and see if I can get it working again. Should have consulted a sparky and put a resister in there I think.

Worse case scenario I put an element into it via the current tap hole and add a bottom drain. Means I can't brew this weekend.
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