Saeco Pot not heating enough

[terryt]

Hi:
I have and old Saeco 10 lbs. pot that just recently will only heat up to about 500. It is very old as it has the Santa Anita address on it.
Any ideals on what is causing this and how to fix it and where to get parts?

Thanks,

Terryt

[jsizemore]

Try bypassing the thermostat and see if it gets hot enough. If it does, then it's in the thermostat or the wiring or connectors. If not, then it's the heating element. I've found replacing the wiring and connectors between the cord, thermostat, and element on old pots gets them to working better. I use high temp connectors and wire for self cleaning ovens works fine. I get them from the appliance parts store.

[williamwaco]

Could be as simple as the power cord plug?

[georgerkahn]

A place I'd check first would be the cord -- 'specially its plug. Often, with older units, the stranded line cord wires will heat up and their resistance increases, which kind of maximizes current flow. IF you have an ammeter, and the experience to use it, check the amperage being drawn with temp at maximum. Watts equals amperes times the voltage, so you should get an idea what's being drawn. I'm not familiar with the SAECO pots; could be the thermostat is out of whack (if there is one; some non-consumer pots had a simple "on-off" bi-metal switch to regulate temp). Again, if it were mine, the quickest, cheapest, and easiest attempt at a cure would be to clip off six to eight inches of line cord and wire a brand new plug. Sometimes it's amazing what this will do. If not the "cure", then I suspect surgery to "fix" thermostat would be next. (I have a Lyman with a broken thermostat, so I bypassed that and control its heat with a PID -- works great) As you're gleaning 500*, the heating element surely works. (One last thing to check, and I'm almost embarrassed to query: Are you certain it's a 120V pot? Many devices do come in the 240V versions...)
GOOD LUCK! (Don't electrocute yourself -- ask a friend for help if you're not sure...)
BEST!
georgerkahn

[bangerjim]

Most times, old bi-metal thermostats have arced and burned the points for years and they do not make good contact any longer. Filing the points can squeeze a little more life out of them, but ultimately it will have to be replaced in-kind or with a controller.

And as said, check the prongs on the plug. Does the plug get hot when the pot is heating? That indicates poor connections! Clean with sandpaper.

good luck.

banger

[wv109323]

I have an old Lyman . The wiring /terminals would get loose from heat. The board that held the cord male prongs burnt up twice. The thermostat gave up the ghost and I went to a PID. In my case the thing would just quit heating sometime when in use. A PID is the way to go.

[Grump]

Found this thread on a quick search after I just opened up an older SAECO 20-lb pot.

Last session, it was not heating to the top. Hot enough at the bottom to cast, but a ring of "ice" lead was "freezing" around the pot a little above the halfway point. Had to crank it up to 800 to finish the 2-hour joyride.

The element on this one is on/in/under a piece of sheet metal wrapped around the pot. It has slipped and fallen down to the bottom of the insulated "chamber" in between the bottom of the pot and the metal bottom plate the feet are attached to. Looks like if that second heat shield plate weren't there, I might have started charring the surface the pot was on.

The way the metal is bent, I could tell it *used to be* as far up as I could slip it, which was almost up against the top flat of the pot. That puts the center of the heating element assembly back at the center (vertically) of the outside of the iron pot and will undoubtedly fix my problem.

I'm lucky--this one has the outer jacket of the furnace screwed in place all the way around, and it's simply "wrapped" around everything else. Took the knob and the thermostat "box" off and the thing just upwraps and exposes the guts all the way around. No sliding a metal tube over the insulation.

Sooo....in the spirit of everyone's problems MUST be exactly the same as mine, I suggest you look at whether your working (halfway or weakly working if this is not also your problem) heating elements are all wrapped around the pot, or if they have slipped down to heat the air/insulation space underneath the iron pot part.

Now I just gotta figure out how I'm going to keep the heating element from slipping down again. Looks like the element assembly might have been strapped in using something similar to that metal strapping used for keeping super-heavy things on a pallet. Too much heat over the years would almost certainly loosen up a simple friction job like that.