[TriEmbed] Coffee roaster sanity check

[Brian]

On 1/1/20 8:27 PM, Craig Cook via TriEmbed wrote:
> 
> After about a year of using of the roaster the beans get over roasted
> (shortly after that the unit fails and the heater coil breaks). 

How many popcorn makers have you been through on this project? :-)

> I
> suspect it is due to the fan motor getting worn out and not cooling
> the chamber. If I can graph the data for each roast I should see a
> trend over a few months. I suspect the roasting time will start
> getting longer when the fan gets worn out.
> 
> Using the SSR should extend the unit's life.
> 
> If I get all of this working after the next unit failure I may be
> able to predict when I need to order a spare popcorn maker.
> 

The fan shouldn't just be wearing out.  Assuming that roasting coffee 
takes longer than popping popcorn (I honestly have no idea about the 
times and temperatures involved), the heater might just be overheating a 
little bit each time, gradually weakening itself until it breaks.  Also 
bear in mind that your $30-or-so popcorn popper simply isn't built for 
longevity.  All those heat cycles might be doing things like loosening 
the rivets that make the electrical connections.  Whatever additional 
strain is involved in roasting coffee instead of popping popcorn just 
leads to a normal sort of failure a bit faster.

That said, I'm prepared to be wrong on my hypothesis!  I'll be 
interested in the data you gather, once you get to that point.

Cheers,
-Brian