Ambex Roaster Question

[jason_jacobson]

Really a question for any roaster, but I thought I'd specify the brand I'm roasting on. I'm fairly new to the industry and have a terribly rookie question. I have my roaster side vented out the wall do to the impossible venting straight out roof. It's a 2002 5K that I bought close to 2 years ago now. I've maintained it through washing of and vacuuming of nearly all internal elements short of tearing out the motors. I'm getting smoldering chaffe on nearly every other roast. it's usually located either on the the collection side opposite of the exit to the blower or in the vent itself a couple of times. I'm assuming this is an airflow issue but I vacuum every other roast and it's still happening. Since I've bought this roaster with no diagram of internal parts, I'm wondering if I'm missing something or if it's at a point that I need to tear out the fans and inspect those for buildup. I've gone a year and more and this issue just started creeping up recently. I just don't want it to continue as it is affecting my roasting profile/ flavor/ and safety! Thanks!

jason

 

[bprotsman]

Yea, I would have to think that's an airflow issue if you have been roasting on it a year and it's just now happening. Would clean your fan, motor, and any airways. Also, open up your ventilation stack and clean that to. I try and clean our stacks once a month as well as get on the roof and make sure there is no blockage. Hope this helps.

 

[jason_jacobson]

I figured it was time for me to tear all that apart and clean it all out. I do try to keep up with my stack cleaning but maybe I'm just not doing it often enough. I'm not terribly high volume but maybe that's not the point. Anyway, it's good to get outside opinions as I'm learning as I go. Thank you for the input!

Jason

 

[coffeejoes]

Hey Jason,
i used to roast on a 10 with the same problem. I would Definately take apart the fans and thoroughly clean. Once trick I used was an air velocity gauge measured at exhaust, keep good records, compare and it will let you know when you are losing airflow. Airflow gauge are cheap, measure before you clean for comparison to the measurement when cleaned. Have you cleaned the top air duct, accessible from the rear or the machine? I used to vac out once a day. Good to scrape it too but not every roasting session. You need to clean the duct on the control panel side accessible trough the square plate. There is also a duct on the opposite side that needs to be cleaned. Easiest way to clean these ducts is to pull drum and access from above. It's a pain in the a** but needed. And finally the granddaddy of all chaff fires on a Ambex, make sure your drum is advanced as far forward as possible to minimize burning chaff from dropping down. This adjustment is easily, after drum is warm, maybe after a batch or two, loosen the lock nut on the front shaft bearing, then move your drum forward until it starts to scrape on the face plate. Back it off till the noise goes away and then lock in place. Happy roasting. See ya in Mpls.
Tim

 

[topher]

Also when adjusting your drum make sure your roaster is heated up. It will expand. Sounds like you need to tear out your motors and scrape the fans. Like coffeejoe said..it is a pain in the ass. After you clean the fans(I do this at a minimum once a month on my 60 K) make sure that where the exhaust exits is not built up with cresol. You have to scrape it because it might look clean but can build up and go unnoticed.

 

[CoffeeJunky]

Also when adjusting your drum make sure your roaster is heated up. It will expand. Sounds like you need to tear out your motors and scrape the fans. Like coffeejoe said..it is a pain in the ass. After you clean the fans(I do this at a minimum once a month on my 60 K) make sure that where the exhaust exits is not built up with cresol. You have to scrape it because it might look clean but can build up and go unnoticed.

This sounds like tons of fun... lol.. I hope this will fix your problem.

 

[jason_jacobson]

Thanks to all. So much good advice! And going to be such a pain in the hind end....(sigh) She'll run like a champ if I do it though and getting to know my own machine seems like a no brainer. Better take inventory of all parts, as I'm that guy that seems to always have a few "spare" parts when I'm done, and try not to destroy the whole thing. Love the air velocity gauge idea! need to do that for sure. And pull fans and scrape away.

Not gonna lie Tim, you just mentioned ducts I didn't even know I had....I do now! I'm actually excited to pull it apart and see what the deal is there.

 

[LBBeans]

How do you take the top off and remove the drum? I have an ambex15. it seems like you have to take the front off and pull the drum out that way.

edit: While doing some searching I found the old Ambex users forum. It looks like it's been inactive for a couple years. Are there any roasters here from that forum? It's too bad the original Ambex site is down. They had a good library of docs for maintenance and roasting. Does anyone have copies of those they'd be willing to share?

 

[jason_jacobson]

the only thing I have is the manual that they sent, which actually was pretty helpful for me. And the site you mentioned may be Ambex Roasters :: Index

there are a few folks that have really great knowledge on here that have commented above on this thread. I didn't quite have to pull the drum, but might as well have as I destroyed my temp probe while trying to remove it. I imagine that was about the dumbest rookie mistake ever, but a great learning experience! But from what I can tell, pulling the drum is not a fun thing and the face does have to come off. Although the guys above could probably tell you better than I.

UPDATE: I pulled motors, fans and re-did all venting to spec. So far it seems much better airflow, and way more piece of mind knowing all the maintenance points I was neglecting that I am now not neglecting. I did end up buying one of those lint eater drill attachments and was able to fish is all the way up to the top air duct. I think it did pretty well and will definitely use it many many times. I have to say the biggest surprise was the amount of grease my main bearings took. And how nasty even the cooling tray bearings were. basically re-packed them as well and cleaned it all from stem to stern. Once I get my new probe in, we should be good as gold!