I received a replacement heating element free of charge from HasBean.co.uk (where I bought the roaster). I made another roast with the standard profile and immediately things looked better. The roast was close to normal profile. I stopped it just 5 seconds after start of second crack. I let it sit for a few days and then ran it through the machine. It tasted worse than you can possibly imagine.

Made a second batch the day after. I didn't pay enough attention and missed the start of second crack but stopped it 20-30 seconds into what I would call a rolling second crack. Let the roast rest for 48 hours and tried it just now. It tasted pretty decent. There were only a few drops of oil showing after these 48 hours though, I would have expected a much darker roast. I noticed the heating element wasn't perfectly aligned with the drum and suspect that this might be the reason?

How do you bend the heating element away from the drum (I can't seem to get it past the metals yield point, it just goes back into the same old position as before)?

You must remove the element - check the Hottop website for instructions on how to do this (it involved several steps which are clearly outlined on the website.) Once the element is removed then you can adjust the position by very slightly bending the feet that attach the element to the inside of the chamber. Rotate the drum by hand a few time after you adjust it to be sure it will clear the drum. I just finished replacing mine and had to adjust mine due to it rubbing against the drum. Here is the link: http://www.hottopusa.com/heat.html.

- Matt

I aligned the heating element properly but unfortunately I am back to poor results. The next 2-3 roasts after the decent one were terrible and on a declining trend. It just doesn't seem like the machine is delivering sufficient heat!

After my last post I received a new temperature sensor from Hottop. After installing it I was back to great roasts again. At least for 5 batches, then the drum suddenly stopped rotating in the middle of a roast. The machine had rested at least 7 hours in between each roast. A few emails back and forth and a new motor was provided by Hottop, also free of charge.

Since installing the new heating element, temp sensor and motor I have made another ~30 batches with excellent results. Then last night and again today I made two poor batches. The roast times are drifting and I notice the same symptoms that I saw with the faulty temperature sensor. I intend to change it later today (I received two when I last replaced it so I have a spare).

My question is... Are you guys experiencing the same thing? I only seem to go a few months without having to fix this thing and it is getting annoying.

My 3rd hand Hottop 2003 rumbles along fine, I have a mains voltage supply which varies a lot. In winter I often monitor the voltage so I know how it will affect the roasts. If I am getting 215v or less the coffee will bake.
Do you roast outdoors? Is there any way your greens could have absorbed moisture?

I found the HT's tendancy to shut the element down when I wanted more heat very frustrating, the stock sensor did its "load me" beep at ET130c when measured properly.

Mine is now full manual control with vast improvement in results.

My first sensor went bad after a couple of weeks but the replacement has been going strong for the past 3 years. It sounds like you go pretty dark with your roasts so you might be getting quite a bit of tar building up on the sensor. That will definitely affect the readings. I don't clean mine often but when I do it makes a difference in the readings.

There are a couple of things that I always monitor during roasts - the first is a bean temp probe that gives me a consistent reading of the bean mass temperature. The other is the current draw on the AC line. You want to avoid having the program shut down the heating elements - if that is happening you can get a dip in the actual bean temp due to the slow response of the built in sensor. A program that worked fine under some conditions can start hitting the program limits as the sensor gets dirty, filters age and the ambient temperature changes. The filter in the top is really bad because the material shrinks up leaving a clear path out of the top. I finally replaced mine with some high temp stuff that seems stable (but I won't recommend it since I can't vouch for its suitability for food environments).

Judging your roasts by the resulting flavor is the ultimate test but provides no indication of what might actually be going wrong. There are a lot of variables but understanding how much power is going into the system and the resultant bean temperature gives you a pretty good indication of how the Hottop is working and what might be wrong.

Rick

I never had to replace a temp sensor, and no motor replacements either. it does happen with the motors, but more with the early ones, and those which are not adjusted well and/or dealing with friction that puts additional load on the gearbox. The tip about keeping the sensor clean may be a good one.

You problems seem electronic (heating element, AND sensor, AND motor...?). Electrical noise, surges, ?? I would be getting paranoid at this point. Maybe a god surge suppressor might be in order, but beyond that, I don't know. Maybe make sure all the spade connectors are tight on the various terminals, particularly on the sensor. They are aluminum and tend to get loose after being removed from their terminals.