Insulating the Elektra A3's boiler

[Bob Barraza]

I recently bought an Elektra A3. I had heard that the 6 liter boiler generated a lot of heat. So, I decided to try to insulate it before I set it up. I ordered the ceramic material previously posted on this site (http://www.infraredheaters.com/insulati.htm). It was a bit intimidating, but with some patience, the process wasn't too bad.

Removing the cover revealed the copper octopus.



I took rough measurements of the width and diameter and cut out some newspaper patterns. From there I started taking more measurements for the fittings and making trial placements on the boiler.




The complete pattern set turned out looking like this:



The insulation material is pliable, but fairly rigid. It was not too difficult to cut with regular scissors, but fine detailed cuts were not possible. Fortunately, since the material is pliable, it can be stretched and compressed a bit to make it fit nicely.




I used 28 gauge copper wire to 'stitch' the pieces together. Although not a professional fit, the final results are quite effective. The sides of the machine are barely above room temperature, and the cup warmer is only warm towards the front of the machine, keeping the cups at about 130 deg. F. The insulation helps retain heat when the machine is turned off, reducing the recovery time when turned back on.

In hindsight, the only thing that I would do differently is to wear latex gloves while handling the insulating material. It is quite brittle, leaving sharp debris that handles and feels like crushed glass. It took a couple of days of wiping the counter before all remnants disappeared.

[mhoy]

I just took a look at the 1/2" melamine foam that I ordered from McMaster-Carr. OMG is this stuff going to be nice to use. The late BradS brought this up in more-on-boiler-insulation-t4293.html, he was right on the money with it. It's going to be a dream to work with. Kinda like a thick mouse pad without the shiny stuff on the front.

It looks like a 24" x 48" will be enough to do 3 Elektra boiler (if I don't make a mistake cutting). Material + shipping to my place it was about $32. So about $11 for each system (assuming local pickup). The payback on this electricity should be pretty darn quick.
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Mark

[mhoy]

Even easier than I thought to work with. A sharp pair of scissors will cut this like butter. Layed out my template, and I used a beer bottle cap to cut rounds for all the smaller cutouts. I then hunted around the cupboards for something that approximated the other circles I wanted to cut. Voila, from template to cutout in 5 minutes. I chose to put join of the sheet near the bottom, this left me with a joint from a couple of the circles on the top since I didn't want to undo any of the copper lines. There is cut from the edge to the two circles, up to the next one and then a final cut (hard to see) to the HX cutout. The other three smaller circles that are in a row fit nicely over the fill, pressure and vacuum probes.




Now carefully wiggle the sheet around the boiler, it does tear fairly easily.




Now grab something that won't burn and can handle high temperature to keep it in place. I used some of the inner wires from Cat5 cable. You'll need 4 wires about 2 1/2 feet long. Keep the foam in place with these wires.



=-=-
Mark

[mhoy]

Look around for something that fits into over the foam at the end, a small plate of mine pretty close, I cut a circle about 6 1/2 inches around. Gently place it in the end of the opening, it should stay in place. (A little over exposed, sorry about that, it's dark out and the automatic flash is a bit close).




Now for the end with the heating element I decided to not get too close the over temperature cut-off. I cut out a 1/2 circle and placed it. I then tore off pieces until I had some space around the cut-off.




Voila, done. Plenty of extra left, looks like easily enough for two more Elektra boilers.




This write up took almost as much time as insulating the boiler.
=-=-
Mark

[SylvainMtl]

Nice and clean!

I could use some of your leftover material.

Sylvain

[shadowfax]

So, Mark, what was your boiler cycle time before and after? I used melamine to augment the insulation on my Vetrano, as I felt like having the top uninsulated was retarded. I ended up saving about 25-35% on the boiler cycle time, as I recall.

[mhoy]

Alas, I don't actually use my Elektra yet. It doesn't fit under my counter. I'll either remove some bracketing stuff on the cupboard or more likely remount the stainless cover lower on Elektra. Once it does, I'll run write down my power usage via the killawatt meter I have attached.

Mark

[shadowfax]

... you know you want to just take out the cabinets!

[cannonfodder]

Saws-all, that will fix them cabinets.

Nice job on the insulation. I used a wool/fiber blanket to insulate my boiler. I left the heater side open.

[mhoy]

Saws-all, that will fix them cabinets.

It would also fix me.

Next weekend should be the time for testing her out.

Mark

[mhoy]

I'll be sending the remaining foam to Sylvain and dsc. The post office didn't have the shipping boxes I was planning on using when I checked on Saturday.

Mark

[Richard]

. . . 1/2" melamine foam that I ordered from McMaster-Carr.

The MSDS for this product contains the following statement: "On exposure to high thermal load, HCN can be evolved as well as CO."

"High thermal load" is not defined within the four corners of the MSDS, though it does further identify the product as a "Rated Class 1 building material" with "Ignition temperature +1074° F."

Chemicals and concentrations of them hazardous to health are outside my field of expertise, but I read from sites like this that hydrogen cyanide (HCN) is among one of the most hazardous compounds to ecosystems and human health. And of course, hydrogen cyanide is also known as Zyklon B, used in gas chambers by the Nazis.

Is this a concern for a product we might put in our kitchens in close proximity to heat and electricity?

[mhoy]

Good questions on the safety aspects. I would imagine that if the safety systems in the espresso machine fail and the system manages to ignite the foam then the smoke is a hazard. Along with the smoke from the wiring and other plastic parts of the system.

The low smoke and flame properties of melamine foam are very beneficial toward safety concerns

Sylvain/dsc: The US Post has a box headed your way.

BTW: The 'Magic Eraser' is made of this stuff, I've got a bit left over and I'm going to try it out.
=--=-
Mark

[k7qz]

I'm about to show my ignorance of CAD with this post but looking at the cut-outs that people have made with their insulating material, I wonder how hard it would be to make a template of the cut-out and put it into a PDF file that future Elektra "insulators" could download here? It would then be a simple matter for them to print it out, place it on their "fabric" of choice, mark the outline and cut out the pattern. Seems to me it would make a 1 1/2 hour job (2 1/2 hours and a couple of Black Butte Porters in my case!) into a 15 minute breeze as most of my time was spent trying to get a template cut out that I was happy with. Not to imply that I'm always looking for an easier way to do something or anything like that...

[HB]

Good idea! For a low-tech solution, scan the template you cut out.

[k7qz]

Mine's already done Dan but if I have the opportunity I could try and peel the insulation off to scan it in for new Elektra owners. I used ceramic thermal blanket from the local sheet metal shop and the stuff is a little messy, so I was hoping not to have to mess with it. But... perhaps the next HBer fortunate enough to have an A3/T1 could scan in his/her template here before wiring the insulation in place for the benefit of future users??? Just throwing this one out for the next willing insulator to keep in the back of his mind. Hint, hint...

[mhoy]

OK, I'll measure up my rather crude template. This will help out dsc and Sylvain who should be receiving the foam in the near future.

BTW: When I say crude, I mean it, the first posts in this thread with the newspaper are a thing of beauty when compared to my template. I guess the end results are what counts.

Mark

[mhoy]

OK, I'll measure up my rather crude template. This will help out dsc and Sylvain who should be receiving the foam in the near future.

I can not find the template I used. I think it may have been discarded in our recycling as kid art...sorry. Trust me though, it's really easy to do.

Mark

[dsc]

Hi guys,

I did the insulation today and it was a pain in the ass to get around some of the tubes. Of course I've cut off around 5cm of the larger sheet that Mark's sent me and in the I was 5cm short at the bottom of the boiler. To top that I've also screwed up the heater piece by cutting out a hole in the middle of the round foam element and than realising that the heater as actually not placed in the centre. I've managed to use some spare foam to cover it up so it doesn't look so bad. The worst part is around the HX at the bottom were the ends of the 'blanket' simply don't touch and there's a 1.5cm gap near the HX. I hope the whole thing is still gonna work as the top is finished quite nice, almost completely covered.

I agree that the foam tears really easily and you have to watch out when placing the thing on the boiler, especially with all the pipes going around you have to manoeuvre quite a lot.

Regards,
dsc.

[mhoy]

My foam was a bit long on the bottom. It's still a whole lot better now than before so don't sweat it.

Mark