I recently found a caravel on Kijiji and went to see it. The seller made me a coffee, I paid and went on my way very happy.

I got home and realised after starting it up that the heating element was blown. The guy set me up, poured boiling water into the kettle before I got there and did not even tell me the element was gone.

Well after getting over the injustice of the whole thing and realising I would have bought it anyway I decided it was a new project. So I searched and searched for elements without success. They apparently are not easily found.

But I got an idea.

Perhaps an iron might work. Searched for compact irons and finally found a 420 watt travel iron that seemed to have the same footprint as the bottom of the kettle.


And with a little fiddling and grinding.

So now the whole thing is back together and is heating up fine, though slow. I will time the heatup with a half full tank and report back in a day or two.

I have a few questions.

1. I rewired the plug to fit a standard 120 us volt and noticed the old plug had a three wires attached to the machine one being the ground (yellow) yet at the end there was only two prongs entering the wall. So was this machine grounded originally?


2. What PID configuration can I use to maintain a constant temperature and how would I put this all together?

3. What is this? It is in line with power to the element/travel iron and sits against the inside vertical wall of the base.


Look forward to any input.

Nice! Glad to hear it is working. IIRC, the original heating element was 600w, so the slower heating time you are seeing is probably to be expected.

I can answer #3 - it is a thermostat. One of my Caravels has one (I think it is the latest version). It worked so poorly that I replaced it with a PID.

I ordered a Mini Gaggia from Spain in late December. If it ever arrives, I will replace the element. I'll document the project, but I don't think it will be a major one. I have a source for bendable elements, I know how to bend them and have the tools.

It's pretty amazing that someone would do something so fraudulent AND make you coffee!! I wonder if perhaps the element blew after you got it. People who make other people coffee are usually not going to cheat them....?

dan

I have a source for bendable elements, I know how to bend them and have the tools.

Could you please provide that source for bendable heating elements? And, what kind of tools will be needed to bend/shape them? Thanks!

happytamper wrote:
I have a few questions.

1. I rewired the plug to fit a standard 120 us volt and noticed the old plug had a three wires attached to the machine one being the ground (yellow) yet at the end there was only two prongs entering the wall. So was this machine grounded originally?
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Probably yes, Italians seem to have a habit of pulling the middle grounding pin to use the old plugs in newer Eurosockets. Yes, that's dangerous. My La Peppina was castrated in the same way.

2. What PID configuration can I use to maintain a constant temperature and how would I put this all together?

A PID connected to a SSR and a temperature probe. It's easy, check the Auberins website and read the manual of one of the temperature controllers.

Hope this helps. And the seller is indeed a douchebag.

very clever repair job. the shape is nearly perfect...

regarding the ground wire: I have found all Caravels have that wire- but not all make use of it. On many it was never connected. So I always wire them correctly.

Concerning the element: you can buy small round 'disk' elements that should be easy to fit. Someone once posted a link to them somewhere on the forum. Not sure if anyone has done it yet. I think they would make a perfect replacement.

Your Caravel is one of the last models: that little switch is indeed your thermostat- only the last Caravels had these- and the later Zerowatt's. It was not as good as the original see/saw thermostat- and I bet it has failed. This is likely the cause of the element blowing... If you could fit a very small, powerful disk element- along with some kind of temp gauge that reads off the bottom of the boiler- you could (theoretically) install a PID right into the base of the Caravel.

This is in response to bending one's own element. I HAVE NOT DONE IT YET, so I can't recommend it from experience, but I hope to be able to do so soon.

Tube bender: There are many available. From cheap to expensive. Here is one example:

http://www.amazon.com/TEKTON-6519-Three-Size-Tubing-Bender/dp/B000NPUKVQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1296451796&sr=8-2

Heating element: There are also many available. Here is a website I'll get mine from:

http://valueheat.com/bendable-tubular-immersion-heating-elements/bendable-tubular-heater-element-0-26-dia-850w-120v.html

Anyone who beats me to it, please let us know how it goes. Anyone who has tried and failed, also PLEASE let us know! My thought is to take a piece of plastic tubing or foam weather seal of the same diameter as the element and use it to lay out the pattern. Tape it to a piece of cardboard in the right configuration and bend. If one can build in some "accordianish" bends that should allow fine tuning to line up the exit points. It really doesn't look like a big deal.

For bending a La Peppina element, it is trickier because it is tightly coiled and has to end up with ends at the right places, but even that, using a mandrel and some plastic tubing to practice with should work fine. I need to call the company and go over the options for the exit points. Using silicon o-rings should work fine. They're rated to 400 degrees.

dan

Well, It looks like I ruined a perfectly good travel iron.

This may be a good fix if you have it on a timer and temperature controller and set it to start an hour before you need it.

As usual I had a good time putting it all together and even managed to make a few shots with this lovely machine. They were small volume and wonderful mouthfeel. I can see how people who prefer espresso to milk drinks would love the Caravel.

So now I am deciding whether to pid the machine and use it. I am sure once the machine is up to temperature the mod can maintain it.

Here is the heat up times with half a tank of water.

Time Temp
Min Cel Far
0 19 67
10 42 108
20 67 151
30 81 178
40 88 192
50 93 199

Maybe someone will find a solution to the element problem that does not involve drilling the kettle or ruining any more appliances. I am tempted to do what Henry did but since I have a few other machines operating I will put this off for a while. I will also find a grounded plug (thanks SC and BC) to make it a bit safer.

Those bendable elements look like a great possibility.

Thanks for the input.

Before I would use an Immersion heating element in a non-immersioned situation, I'd make a phone call to the manufacturer and get their opinion.

Mitchell, why not simply start with boiling water in the Caravel. Then the travel iron should keep it plenty hot. This is how I run my 220 Caravel on 110.