Immersion Heater Broken

BUDFORCE

Hi,

I got one of these back in December last year I think.

http://www.home-brew-online.com/equipment-c40/electrim-75-immersion-heater-p721

It has worked flawlessly until about 3 - 4 days ago when I noticed my brew had gone cold. This has happened before as I run it on an RCD and when we get a power cut it trips the RCD.

I am not sure if it was a power cut that made it go cold but the heater has been on for about 3-4 days now and the temperature is just hovering at 14c (according to the lcd strips, the outside of the PFV feels cold to the touch), the red light is on, to indicate it is heating, which leads me to believe its not very well. It normally keeps it around 22c and its not particularly cold in the garage at the moment. Last time I had the power cut it warmed the beer back up to temperature within about 6 hours or so.

Good news is, I think my brew was pretty much done by the time it went cold, so I think it should be ok to bottle and I will then be able to take the heater out and test it in a glass of water or something to see if its working and be able to give it a better inspection.

Anyway, I notice these are out of stock, do you know if/when they will be back? Will the price be the same as currently advertised? I am tempted to get another one and that is quite a good price, even if I can fix mine, or get it replaced etc may be prudent to have a backup.

I seem to remember these comming with a manufacturer warranty so I'm gonna email them and see what they say. I'll keep you posted.

HBO_Staff

Hi Budforce, sorry to hear you may have an issue with the heater, the immersions are very popular and issues are very rare, if you do have a problem us or Peco will of course sort this out for you. There are a couple of possibilities worth considering, sometimes when the temperature drops the heaters can struggle so it can be worth carefully insulating the vessel to help minimise heat loss and it is easier for the heater to keep the brew warm (will save some electric too), with the immersion having a stat it wont overheat either. It is unlikely, but may be worth just checking that the temperature dial has not been knocked or moved.

As you say it would be a good idea to test in water in a controlled environment and see if it has stopped working, we will deal with Peco for you or they are very helpful and will resolve issues directly with customers too, there's not much Peco don't know about their products and can solve issues quickly.

The immersions and all heaters have been popular and we are waiting for new stock, we often sell faster than suppliers can keep up with us so our own high stock levels can occasionally run out unfortunately, they will be back on sale as soon as they arrive in to us and the price will stay the same

BUDFORCE

Ok so,

I emailed them and they said from the description it sounds like the element may have failed.

I've just got home from work and I pulled it out a bit and touched the glass and its completely cold despite the light being on, so guessing that is the case.

Anyway cannot complain about their service at all so far, they replied to my email on the same day, said it is still under warranty and if I send it to them they would fix it and send it back to me straight away.

Really good news as I do really like the heater it works very well the constant temperature due to the thermostat I believe makes a huge difference to the quality of the brew.

HBO_Staff

That's great news you have got a positive response, Peco are very good and issue like this are very rare - we can't remember the last immersion fault we had. If you need any assistance from us with any faults please just let us know, but it sounds as though Peco are looking after you

BUDFORCE

Sent it on Thursday, got a working one back in the post on Saturday.

Fantastic service from Peco.

HBO_Staff

Great news, fantastic it is all sorted so quickly