Turbo Oven life expectancy

[grinderz]

What kind of life expectancy can one expect to get out of a turbo oven? Mine is a Galloping Gourmet 1470 watt model.

The reason I'm asking is that it seems like mine is losing some power after about 6 months of about 2X per week of use. It also it's starting to make a little bearing noise. I did a 16 ounce roast last night which took ~22 minutes to get to second crack. I preheated to 300F by the dial, dumped in the beans, set it to 390F where I left it until a minute or so after 1st crack. Then I bumped it to 425F until second crack.

Should I start looking for a new turbo oven or is this due to the 30F lower ambient temps? Thanks!

[J.Jirehs Roaster]

I don't kno what the life expectancy is but this sale may still be on at an Aldi near you http://www.greencoffeebuyingclub.com/index.php?topic=4752.0

[peter]

Right on Wood-man...

Air leaks and ambient temps will certainly change things.  Grinderz' unit could be near the end of its life cycle, but these thing generally go forever.  I use two SC/TO's at a time to get double the capacity, and cut my roasting time in half, and a rough guess is they both have close to a ton of greens gone through 'em.  I typically roast ~375g batches, and when you add in samples roasted for Club Cabal cuppings, yikes! that's around a 1000 roasts.

Grinderz, if you're not leaking much air, you could think about placing your unit in a box with one side cut out.  Wind is a big enemy of cold-air roasting.

[grinderz]

Thanks guys. I actually set mine up like the pics you've posted of your SC/TO's, Peter. I'll give the box idea a try and see if that helps. If not, I guess I'll go find another Stir Crazy and rig it with a switchable element.

Redneck roasting here in the PNW (sorry, Nuncer  )

[stevea]

What kind of life expectancy can one expect to get out of a turbo oven? Mine is a Galloping Gourmet 1470 watt model.

The reason I'm asking is that it seems like mine is losing some power after about 6 months of about 2X per week of use. It also it's starting to make a little bearing noise. I did a 16 ounce roast last night which took ~22 minutes to get to second crack. I preheated to 300F by the dial, dumped in the beans, set it to 390F where I left it until a minute or so after 1st crack. Then I bumped it to 425F until second crack.

Should I start looking for a new turbo oven or is this due to the 30F lower ambient temps? Thanks!

Hey - you ALWAYS have a spare.   My 1470W GG has about 580 roasts on it.  I'm on my second SC.  My GG has been making horrible screeching noises till it warms up for the past year or more.

Check the power cord - Mine started to fray internally and get hot and I had to open the machine and cut it shorter.   I also shorted the machines thermal cutoff.  The only other thing that comes to mind is that it's very subject to ambient temps.   If you roast in a big box with flaps (half closed) you can catch all the chaff and increase the roast rate quite a bit.  Doing this can dramatically lower the roast times.   I roast in a N.Ohio garage in winter (at freezing) and I can get 8 min faster on the 2nd if I don't take care.  It's impossible to get a fast roast w/o the box in winter (maybe w/ a springform pan spacer).

 

[ButtWhiskers]

Blow your turbo oven out with compressed air every week or two, as well.  Bits of chaff and dust and such will accumulate inside the casing and eventually cause problems to, or even kill, your oven.  This needs to be done more often as the oven gets used more, as condensation of semi-volatile oils builds up as well, and particulates will stick to that.  This is the kind of thing that wears on bearings and causes undue stress to the motor.

[sea330]

I agree cleaning is important. I tear it down clean the contacts on the thermister, they will get a little gummed up over time. I think they use bearing bushings, if that's the case squirt a little wd 40 maybe just needs a little cleaning.I have been using this system a couple of years now never had a problem really suprises me of how reliable this thing is. Good luck Rich 

[peter]

I agree cleaning is important. I tear it down clean the contacts on the thermister, they will get a little gummed up over time. I think they use bearing bushings, if that's the case squirt a little wd 40 maybe just needs a little cleaning.  I have been using this system a couple of years now never had a problem really suprises me of how reliable this thing is. Good luck Rich

Hehehe...  BW wrote his post before you started using your setup.  Nice dead thread revival.  Guess that's better than starting a new one tho'.

They are the EverReady Bunny of roasters tho', aren't they.  Mine's done over a thousand lbs. easy.

[grinderz]

Old thread indeed! My turbo oven is still working fine, BTW. There were two issues that I figured out that were impacting my roast times. The most important was that I need to not have a bunch of other things running on the same 15 amp circuit (like space heaters in the family room). Another was figuring out that the thermostat on my TO runs low.

[Tex]

Do things to your TO.

Remove the tstat & wire the element directly to line current. Split the fan and element circuits so the fan runs 100% of the time. Elements seldom wear out, but carbon builds up on the connections, cheating you of power. Clean them or replace them. Use a variac, or at least a router speed control, to manage power to the element.

[farmroast]

Do things to your TO.

Remove the tstat & wire the element directly to line current. Split the fan and element circuits so the fan runs 100% of the time. Elements seldom wear out, but carbon builds up on the connections, cheating you of power. Clean them or replace them. Use a variac, or at least a router speed control, to manage power to the element.

+1
Well over 1000 roasts on my GG TO! knocking on wood... Last year, I decided to replace the spade connectors to the element with quality new ones as the old ones were losing integrity from many removals for cleaning.