Quickmill Andreja Premium with fluctuating AC voltage to element
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kgataveckas
- Posts: 5
- Joined: 9 years ago
Good day.
I have a recurring intermittent issue with an older Andreja Premium where the AC voltage across the element fluctuates. There can be times where the element is completely shut off (mV) and then switch on to heating but the voltage is not remaining constant. I'm getting voltage readings from as low as 20 volts to the expected 110 volts. It is quite random but frequent. When it does finally heat up enough to activate the vacuum breaker the voltage stabilizes somewhat and the pressure builds up normally. It then goes through the regular cycle of activating and deactivating the element based on the pressure approx. 1 bar. There has been much changed on this already including the control box and the wiring appears to check OK. When I do wiggle the wiring and test connections there is nothing obvious that will lower or raise the voltage.
If anyone has seen this or has any further advice it's greatly appreciated.
I have a recurring intermittent issue with an older Andreja Premium where the AC voltage across the element fluctuates. There can be times where the element is completely shut off (mV) and then switch on to heating but the voltage is not remaining constant. I'm getting voltage readings from as low as 20 volts to the expected 110 volts. It is quite random but frequent. When it does finally heat up enough to activate the vacuum breaker the voltage stabilizes somewhat and the pressure builds up normally. It then goes through the regular cycle of activating and deactivating the element based on the pressure approx. 1 bar. There has been much changed on this already including the control box and the wiring appears to check OK. When I do wiggle the wiring and test connections there is nothing obvious that will lower or raise the voltage.
If anyone has seen this or has any further advice it's greatly appreciated.
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kgataveckas (original poster)
- Posts: 5
- Joined: 9 years ago
I have found the issue with this. Rummaging around in the shop I was able to locate an old wiring harness with components of another old Quick Mill so I decided to swap out the SSR and lo and behold, I have a solid 109+ volts to the element when turned on.
For any people out there who run into this issue I hope it will help out.
For any people out there who run into this issue I hope it will help out.
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D'Laine
- Posts: 68
- Joined: 11 years ago
Sounds like at least two problems.
The meter which you use to measure voltage: when you state mV, I assume the tool has dropped its range to milliVolts? yes?
This indicates a digital meter which can self correct for voltage ranges but can fool the user into thinking that something else is really happening.
Lock the range to 200, 320 or 400 volts and see what you read. A fixed range.
Don't read across the element but rather from the hot leg to ground or neutral.
Not familiar with the Andreja, but is it PID or SSR controlled? Those electronic controllers will send all kinds of weird power pulses to the heater.
If you start the pump, pressurize and fill the boiler when cold, and then start the heating cycle, do you have enough hot water to make espresso?
Yes? then it seems all is well.
Maybe some scale in the boiler and on the heater element?
Also strange things happen when a sealed boiler is started up in a vacuum. See two lines up.
D.
The meter which you use to measure voltage: when you state mV, I assume the tool has dropped its range to milliVolts? yes?
This indicates a digital meter which can self correct for voltage ranges but can fool the user into thinking that something else is really happening.
Lock the range to 200, 320 or 400 volts and see what you read. A fixed range.
Don't read across the element but rather from the hot leg to ground or neutral.
Not familiar with the Andreja, but is it PID or SSR controlled? Those electronic controllers will send all kinds of weird power pulses to the heater.
If you start the pump, pressurize and fill the boiler when cold, and then start the heating cycle, do you have enough hot water to make espresso?
Yes? then it seems all is well.
Maybe some scale in the boiler and on the heater element?
Also strange things happen when a sealed boiler is started up in a vacuum. See two lines up.
D.
