Shocking behaviour

[nigelnorris]

What's an upgrade from an ACE boiler? I have no interest in an all-in-one system like grainfather - if this one has to go I'll want to replace it with another insulated boiler so I can keep on BIABing. Up to 250 quid sort of budget.

 

[foxbat]

This is worrying. At the very least an electric boiler must have its electrical parts sealed against liquid ingress and all external metal parts must be earthed. It appears that yours fails on both these points and the casing became live.

Are you able to remove any panels that will reveal where the earth wire from the plug goes? It is unfortunately quite common to see cheap Chinese stuff just leave the earth wire dangling as if they didn't know what to do with it which is a potentially deadly mistake!

Making yours safe may be as simple as running a new wire from the cable earth to a loop connector that you could screw into a hole that you drill in the chassis and then sealing up any panel joins where they were too cheap to use rubber gaskets with silicone.

 

[Clint]

...all this advice....the thing is a potential death trap. Either get it "looked at" or scrap it.

 

[nigelnorris]

I'm certainly not about to mess with it's internals, if anything inside looks worn, broken, or burnt it goes on the pavement for the tatters to take away. If I dry it out and Fil's tissue paper stays dry, and if switch it on and there's no explosion, no smoke, and my screwdriver with the little light in it shows the case not to be live, then I'll use it again. I carried on with it yesterday, completed the brew, and I'm still here to type this so odds are it was a one off.

If it fails any of the abovementioned I'll replace it although I've been googling around and can't see much in the way of upgrades for this sort of thing.

 

[Bigcol49]

Wife thought the power had tripped and went and turned it back on whilst I was face deep putting in the new cooker electrics.

Did she check your life insurance policy first? :lol:

Ended up with . . . bruised testicles...

You may get black-balled by the Administrators. :lol:

 

[Fil]

for an upgrade you can look at stockpot or thermopot based kettle/tuns.. Powell, Angel, Maltmiller, and home brewboulder all sell them, buying direct from the German ebay.fr seller is way cheaper tho, and Diy is very doable if you can wire a plug, drill a hole and tighten a nut with a spanner. However from your original post it sounds to me that your spill is the root of the issue. Check out your kettle, make sure its a-ok and you should have many many more successful brews imho..

The ace boiler

looks like it could be susceptible to water ingress around its dial control which could explain the shock you received as a consequence of your spill..

If you can see any evidence of spill ingress around the switch or control, get some wd40 with the lil red tube and do your best to spray/flush out any contaminates from the effected control squirt loads in thru every joint seal you can till it floods out and then spray more.. .. (only as it was a sugary sweet liquid spill, if plain water it just needs to dry out (bag of rice??)

I am not qualified to give electrical advice btw

but if my suspicion is correct the wd40 spray should make the control water resistant in future.. pulling the dial and refitting with a heavy smear of pertoleum jelly will help too.. simpler still DONT spill and if you do have a towel handy to mop up straight away..

 

[foxbat]

I would personally not operate this thing ever again until the case is grounded. The potential for it to become live again will always be there. If you don't feel you can open it up and solve the problem internally then you could just run an earthing strap or a wire from the case to a radiator pipe while you're running it. If it ever becomes accidentally live again it will immediately trip your house RCD instead of trying to kill you.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Can you get a plug in RCD that will handle the amount of juice this needs, better safe than sorry.

.

 

[stevic]

Hi!
I once cut through a mains cable with an angle grinder. Fortunately, it was the feed to the grinder.
Nothing worse than a loud pop, but a definite sixpence and half-crown moment :smile:

Not heard "sixpence and half-crown" for yonks. Well done sir.

 

[nigelnorris]

I've looked and can see nothing, no sign that it is or ever has been damp anywhere other than as designed. Turn it on and and the light comes on, no hideous pain when I touch the case. How odd. Too busy to do anything with it until the weekend anyway now so it's back in its cupboard.

 

[Fil]

Sounds like your spill and miosture ingress was the root of your problem then,(lights going out is a clue hehe) a RCD as suggested above and perhaps a temporary gaffer tape skirt over the controls just in case should see you right for future brews and spills.. IMHO flushing out any contaminates from the switch and dial with wd40 is worthwhile and I would double check continuity between the metal pot and the earth pin on your plug still. That done i would be comfortable brewing with it again..

 

[Dexter101]

Well this is sad to read, I have a brand new Ace Boiler ready and waiting for me on Christmas day...

Is there anything I should be doing to protect myself? Assuming it is generally ok to use them?!

 

[Fil]

plug in via something like this http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/produ...o1Kxd9L31X0rby1QpOQaAvPPEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

and don spill liquor over the controls..

 

[Dexter101]

Thanks, that looks good, planning on brewing in the garage and better safe than frying on my own at the end of the garden...

Bit nervous of first time as at the moment brew on the hob and if it looks like it boiling over can just lift pot off the heat! cold water spray i guess might be useful?!

 

[nigelnorris]

Well this is sad to read, I have a brand new Ace Boiler ready and waiting for me on Christmas day...

Is there anything I should be doing to protect myself? Assuming it is generally ok to use them?!

There's loads of them around and apart from me being careless with mine I've heard literally nothing to suggest that they're not completely safe. Mine's produced a lot of beer since I've owned it, I guarantee that you'll enjoy yours, it's a fabulous way to get into AG brewing.

 

[Gerryjo]

I spilled a small amount of wort while mashing, and then the lights and sockets went out in my kitchen. I went to the cupboard under the stairs and turned the fuse switch thing back on and the kitchen came back to life. I went to turn my ACE boiler on [which had been off the whole time] and got a shock off of it.

I never had a mains shock before, scared the bejesus out of me.

Anyway I turned it back on from a distance, using a wooden spoon, and it seems to getting up to boil ok. Guess I'll just have to remember not to touch any of the metal parts of it in future.

Looks like your boiler is doing what it should causing your live to short to earth therefore activating your RCD on your fuseboard.

The viscosity of HOT boiling liquid has unfortunately gained access through your switch I would assume causing Live/Ground short in which case the correct thing to do would have been disconnect the boiler from the mains prior to resetting your RCD and cleaning any residual wort from electrical contacts that you can access and omitting the possibility of Electric shock!!!!

Remove access panels and dry with a hairdryer if you can and don't power up until you're certain there is no moisture present....

 

[chrisbjones202]

Looks like your boiler is doing what it should causing your live to short to earth therefore activating your RCD on your fuseboard.

The viscosity of HOT boiling liquid has unfortunately gained access through your switch I would assume causing Live/Ground short in which case the correct thing to do would have been disconnect the boiler from the mains prior to resetting your RCD and cleaning any residual wort from electrical contacts that you can access and omitting the possibility of Electric shock!!!!

Remove access panels and dry with a hairdryer if you can and don't power up until you're certain there is no moisture present....

As above, but if some wort has got into the contacts don't use normal wd40 (it will leave a residue which will burn on the switch
contacts). You can get electrical contact cleaner which is basically a flash dry solvent from most diy/motor factors. Leave to dry before use.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

[Gerryjo]

As above, but if some wort has got into the contacts don't use normal wd40 (it will leave a residue which will burn on the switch
contacts). You can get electrical contact cleaner which is basically a flash dry solvent from most diy/motor factors. Leave to dry before use.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

Nice call forgot that bit.....

Sent from my ALE-L21 using Tapatalk

 

[Fil]

As above, but if some wort has got into the contacts don't use normal wd40 (it will leave a residue which will burn on the switch
contacts). You can get electrical contact cleaner which is basically a flash dry solvent from most diy/motor factors. Leave to dry before use.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

:thumb: happy to stand corrected,, must admit i was considering the water repelling qualities which is probably the cause of the residue you describe..