prairiedog Senior Member Joined: 9 Dec 2012 Posts: 5 Location: AZ Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Sun Dec 9, 2012, 6:11pm Subject: How long should a roaster last?
How long should a roaster last? I've had my Gene Cafe for over five years now. I probably average 2-3 roasts a week. Someone once told me not to expect more than two years from any non-professional roaster. I've passed that up by a long shot. What is your experience on longevity?
DavecUK Senior Member Joined: 21 Sep 2005 Posts: 940 Location: UK Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Sun Dec 9, 2012, 8:17pm Subject: Re: How long should a roaster last?
Early Gene cafes into the UK had problems, but from about April 2007 the Gene was re-launched in the UK and has been very reliable. Mine is 5 years old and I have friends with gene cafe roasters of similar age that regulary do 3+ roasts a week. The main problem with the Genes prior to Apr 2007 in the UK was to a smaller extent the firmware, but to a much larger extent the fact that the UK vendor at the time was importing models with 230V heating elements. Although the UK is a "nominal" 230V, nothing really changed and our supply is really still 240V and can rise as high as 252V. This meant they were running real hot and heating elements had a fairly short life. The current heating elements are sized for a VERY large number of roasts.
I think in the US though you might be getting 110V elements, which is perhaps less than ideal unless you run the dimmer mod, and in that case a 100V element would be optimal....limiting the power consumed to around 1180W max, unless it's really really cold ambient temps..
The other thing that can seriously extend the life of all components in a Gene is the dimmer mod I came up with. Spares are easy to get hold of and inexpensive. I have a large selection of spares, but have never had to use them. I think I even have a spare motor and fan! I also don't advocate cleaning the roast chamber too often...once per year perhaps and then only really the glass.
So yeah much m,ore reliable than I ever dreamt it would be considering it's plastic....many of these 5 year old roasters look almost new!
prairiedog Senior Member Joined: 9 Dec 2012 Posts: 5 Location: AZ Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Wed Dec 12, 2012, 12:04pm Subject: Re: How long should a roaster last?
Have you had any problems with it not going through the complete cool down cycle as it aged? I've noticed that I sometimes get an error message and the machine stops part way through the cool down cycle. I have to then quickly pull the hot cylinder and pour the beans out on a plate to cool. This only occurs on the second or third roasts (starting temperature ~120F instead of typical 80F). But I don't remember this occurring when it was new.
DavecUK Senior Member Joined: 21 Sep 2005 Posts: 940 Location: UK Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Wed Dec 12, 2012, 5:25pm Subject: Re: How long should a roaster last?
Try cleaning the temp sensors, particularily the left hand one. If that doesn't work, you might want to replace the sensor and see if that helps. If it's not working properly a lot of people can be unaware of this as the overheat sensor within the heater box area simly cuts in and out and controls the roast (not that well). People then often report uneven roasting, and sometimes longer, with much reduced heating element life.
If you hear "element switching", when the roaster is not up to the preset temperature, then that will be the overheat sensor cutting in......and indicative of a bigger problem e.g. airflow, weaking fan, very chaffy bean, overloading, exit sensor reading incorrectly etc..
prairiedog Senior Member Joined: 9 Dec 2012 Posts: 5 Location: AZ Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Wed Dec 12, 2012, 5:29pm Subject: Re: How long should a roaster last?
Thanks. I'll check that this weekend. I've never had any problem with the roast itself, only the cool down cycle, and then only on the second or third roast.
Posted Sat Dec 29, 2012, 2:00pm Subject: Re: How long should a roaster last?
While I have been roasting a pound every week for 10 years I am getting disgusted because this bxxxx refuses to die on me.
No matter what catalytic of noncatalytic roaster they bring to the market, no matter how Swiss or Teutonic the name, they all suffer from oil deposits and eventually break down, not my faithful. I wipe her clean with auto glass cleaner and she keeps rewarding me.
Ethiopia Sidamo in wall mounted dogfood storage with kitchen scale permanently mounted on top, the entire process is 30 min max.
oldgearhead Senior Member Joined: 25 Jan 2010 Posts: 355 Location: Go Colts! Expertise: I like coffee
Grinder: Virtuoso by Baratza Drip: Chemex,Dilongi DCM900 Roaster: 1/2K Fluid-bed
Posted Wed Jan 2, 2013, 6:44pm Subject: Re: How long should a roaster last?
I built my one-pound, heat-reclaiming, 120V, fluid-bed roaster around one proven heating element: the Master Appliance 750°F/1450 watt. Going strong for 18 month now, and I have a spare.
krivera1 Senior Member Joined: 21 Sep 2011 Posts: 15 Location: El Paso Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Jura F9, Nuova Simonelli... Grinder: Mahlkonig K30 Vario WCT Roaster: Gene Cafe
Posted Sat Jan 5, 2013, 10:45am Subject: Re: How long should a roaster last?
I've had my GeneCafe a little over 6 years now (US model). I've had to do repairs a couple of times to it to keep it running, but nothing terribly major (it's not like the device is rocket science).
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