egads, the chaff!

[lizzy]

roasting away on my little ambex ym2. But I have discovered a potential issue I hope to get advice on. I had been using a shop vac stuck into the exhaust vent to clean the squirrel cage fan. obviously it wasn't getting the chaff. the fan stopped moving air, and I took the fan out and the center of it was packed with chaff!! So the shop vac isn't getting the chaff, and the fan is too difficult to take out all the time. Today I got a small vac with a skinny hose and 45 degree attachment. I can stick my hand in and feel the middle of the fan is free of chaff, but the little cupped blades were also packed with chaff before and I couldn't feel them so well....
anyone have any advice?

 

[Alun_evans]

Lizzy, does the Ambex have a chaff cyclone with it? This should catch most of the chaff rather than having it go up into your extraction system.

 

[lizzy]

the fan I speak of is the fan that blows the chaff and smoke from both the drum and the cooling tray. It is located inside the roaster, a few inches from the vent pipe connection. being a small roaster, there is no chaff collector. I've heard these roasters are 'maintenance intensive' and I now agree! but I still love it! Just wishing for hints on keeping it free of build up.

 

[Alun_evans]

Lets leave this to Topher to answer...he used to only use Ambex roasters, although now I know he has moved into usng Topers. I think he has a 2kg roaster at one stage.

 

[BeanGrinder]

That is the only design draw-back to the YM-2 that I ever found. But with most roasters, cleaning and maintenance is constant.

The YM-2 has only one fan which cools both the roasting chamber and the cooling tray. The push-rod open and close the vent to switch between the two. Larger Ambex roasters have two fans and baffles to assist with chaff collection.

You're on the right track - keep it clean. Ambex can special order a chaff collector for you - about $600 and has no blower...just a catch bucket. It helps, but regardless of what equipment you are using, chaff a curse on coffee of biblical proportions!

-BG

 

[topher]

I would invest in the cyclone....well worth the 600 bux. But as everyone says here..maintenance is constant! I miss the casino! At the casino I had an engineer department that was in charge of sweeping my pipes...sigh now I have to do it myself To be completely honest though, I like doing it myself. If you do it yourself you know that it was done correctly! I loved my ambex 2k...I have a Toper 2 kilo now..I will post a picture next week of the set up..pretty sweet!
8)

 

[lizzy]

thanks for the info. exactly how would the chaff collector help keep the chaff from packing into the center of the fan?

 

[La Crema Coffee]

'Dang, my Ir3: I have to simply take a allen Wrench and remove the fan, and take it to the car wash. Way too easy. I have three of those fans so that there is no down time. Maybe you are making it too much...A 2-5kilo being difficult to clean? AUGH!