Hey home roasters, I have a question for you on a Sunday when Behmor customer service is closed.

I have been using my Behmor 1600 roaster since 2011 and it has always worked great. Today I went to start a roast cycle and the Behmor only turned on and began roasting for about 5 seconds and then just shut off and went blank. I tried again and it wouldn't turn on. After this I unplugged the machine, let it rest and then tried again. Another 3-5 seconds of roasting and then it turned off and went blank.

No circuit breakers were tripped and I tried a couple different outlets. There wasn't anything else in my home pulling a big electrical draw at the time either... just the roaster.

Has the roaster most likely run it's useful life cycle? Are there any components in it that I can replace to get myself up and running again? Would putting the Behmor 1600 PLUS control head on it fix some potential electrical problems?

Any guesses to the problem or suggestions would be appreciated. Hopefully I hear something from Behmor customer support on Monday or Tuesday.

I've had that problem and had it resolved by replacing a circuit board, but not the one that makes it a plus. Behmor has good, clear directions if they determine its a circuit board and you want to replace it yourself.

Might want to do the upgrade at the same time.

Ok, I will definitely look into that. I haven't read much about the 1600 plus. Is that a worthwhile upgrade?

I have had to replace circuit boards and electrical bits on some of my home appliances over the past year or two (oven, mixer, dryer, etc). They start acting wonky like off/on, etc so that wouldn't be a surprise.

Whether it is worth the money to replace the board is your call. IDK how much it costs but if you're wanting to upgrade now might be the time unless you haven't been struck with upgradeitis and were OK with using your machine for a while longer.

You got 4 years out of a $350 machine, appx $7.22 per month. Depending on what you bought greens were what, $7 - $8 per lb, and if you were a min 2 lb/mo your homeroast coffee was $10 to $11/lb. Decent shop coffee is $20/lb. So not only have you paid for it in savings at $960, you've probably fully depreciated the roaster. That $960 nearly pays for a Hottop, Huky, or something similar. And if you drink more coffee than that, well, you're even more ahead.

shadyatbest wrote:Ok, I will definitely look into that. I haven't read much about the 1600 plus. Is that a worthwhile upgrade?

I would say yes. The added manual controls make it much nicer to use and leave the auto functions in place. Maybe replace the thermocouples while at it. Parts are very reasonable for the Behmor.

I had to replace the circuit board on mine a few months ago. If I recall correctly the price/shipping was under $30. Replacement is tedious due to the number of connections but the directions Behmor provides are easy to follow. I have had no issues after replacing it. It's also a good time to clean out the control area in the roaster as well since the board is out of the way.

As far as the upgrade is concerned I love mine. So much more control over the roast against the original controller. You might give some thought to holding out and possibly moving straight up to the "Connected" upgrade. It should be hitting the market in the next couple months. It depends on how bad you want to be an early adopter though.

After I posted the question about upgrading I started reading about the connected upgrade. I think that is where it's at. I'll wait until that comes out and become an early adopter!