Got up this morning, fired up Clarabelle, read a little email while she warmed up, pulled my first shot of the day and went to get dressed. Came back a few minutes later to the recognizeable smell of hot electronic components and Clarabelle at a full boil. Went to drop the thermostat and it wouldn't go off. Tried the on/off switch and it didn't do anything. So I figure there's most likely a problem with the microswitch in the thermostat assembly. Does anybody here have experience working on the old Caravel thermostats and have any hints about what I should be looking for when I take things apart later tonight? I've been intending to PID her for a little tighter control over temp since the dead zone on the thermostat is about 20°F (11°C), but I'd rather not have to do it just now.

There is some info in this thread:

http://www.home-barista.com/lever...avel-t2370-40.html

I had seen that, but was hoping that somebody might have more info/experience messing with it. I'll be sitting at the table tonight with Clarabelle in pieces in front of me, hoping I can get her back into some semblance of working order before I need coffee tomorrow morning.

GVDub wrote:Tried the on/off switch and it didn't do anything. So I figure there's most likely a problem with the microswitch in the thermostat assembly. (...)

It is really strange that the on/off switch didn't work... in my model it was able to override the thermostat (now the pid).

Good luck getting it fixed. Although there may be a 'silver lining' if it pushes you to get the pid installed

Regards, Henry

hbuchtel wrote:It is really strange that the on/off switch didn't work... in my model it was able to override the thermostat (now the pid).

Good luck getting it fixed. Although there may be a 'silver lining' if it pushes you to get the pid installed

Regards, Henry

My microswitch was toast - burnt toast. When I pulled off the bottom and looked, one of the wires detached and the switch crumbled into a gray powder before my eyes. I intend to drop an email to Doug to see if perchance he has parts, but otherwise, it's going to be PID time, which is an expense I was hoping to put off another month. Ursula may come home from work for a bit.

GVDub wrote: Ursula may come home from work for a bit.

I knew having an extra women would be a good thing.

I just hope this doesn't end up being like my friend who used to drive a Rover TC2000. He had to keep 4 of them just to have one on the road running at any given time.

Out of curiosity, were you running ClaraB on 110 or 220? Could be some date here to glean from your misfortune. You could likely bypass the entire thermostat and just wire direct to the element with the pilot light circuit intact. I think there are a lot of Caravelers,, or are they Carvaliers?, who just go to boil and then turn off the machine to let the temp drift down to a good 94 or so for the shot. The thermostat has such a wide range to begin with that it seems more or less useless for any actual temp control, it just keeps the kettle hot enough.....actually the thermostat just confuses the issue for me, I prefer to go to boil, and turn off the machine to drift down to what seems like the right temp by timing of the dose fixings etc, but then again I don't demand great great great on a 3 shot succession but OK, good, better, getting there, OK, had better, WOW, is fine with us. As long as there is one WOW in the day we are more or less happy.
And even a WOW every other day puts us ahead of the curve. But by the way, not a lot of spare parts for those old babes.

Running on 220, with a 1000 watt step-up xformer. I've tied the two wires that were connected to the microswitch together, so it's now just on when I flip the switch on the xformer. Didn't figure there were a lot of spare parts, but it never hurts to ask.

I've been getting consistent wows with Clarabelle, even with the normal temp fluctuations. Adding a PID for temp control will make it even better, and possible to start getting tighter on the shots once I get used to it (that blend works best at 201.2°F? No problem, just tweak the set point). I've got most of the hardware I need (project box, SSR, panel mount power sockets, bits of wire), and I just need to decide on which controller I want to get and find the right immersible probe. If it works well for Clarabelle, I'll do one for Ursula, too.

Glad to hear Clarabelle is at least up and working again George.

It sounds like the thermostat seized from the heat and then of course the situation got progressively worse.

Strangely enough although the VAM and Carvelle behave very differently (with the base of the former getting hotter) the thermostats - despite their different positions - behave in a similar way. Like Doug posts I generally use boiling as my cue and will make the thermostat kick in early (by pressing on it) until I get slight bubbling, which gives me pretty consistent pulls - as you yourself are getting. So I don't think not having the thermostat is going to make any difference to shot quality, though it will affect convenience.

I've found it nice to be fairly relaxed about the whole heat regimen thing with the VAMavelles, just leaving them on and wandering over when the urge strikes, but I think I may be more cautious now and learn from your experience...

Cheers

Mike