Burco wiring advice

[mcgrath]

So I picked up this  broken burco for €20. I have one with no handles and no lid, this came with both so I was happy to buy it as a lid for a burco is €30+.  Anyway, I took a look inside to see if it is salvageable, put up some pics to see if anyone knows where I should start checking. There seems to be a lot of corrosion. Anyway, if anyone knows about these things maybe you can shed some light. Don't worry, I'm not going to plug it in anytime soon..
Thanks..

[DEMPSEY]

If you don't plug  it in how do you know its broken

[mcgrath]

Coz the disconnected and burnt looking wires made me think I shouldn't.  Maybe it doesn't come across in pics..

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

The following comes with the normal safety risks, if you are not sure of what you are doing seek expert advice, Electricity can kill....
The blue cable is showing signs of heating due to a loose connection. Cut the cable back past the burnt section, where it is flexible and not brittle. Connect a new spade connector with a crimper (available from motor factors, maplin etc) Give the male part of the connection a good cleaning with a small wire brush or emery paper. Reconnect the spade connection and make sure it's a tight connection by squeezing it with a pliers if necessary. Make sure that all other connections are tight. If you have access to a multimeter check on the resistance setting for continuity, starting with the brown wire where it connects to the switch, then check the operation of the switch. With the switch in the ON position check continuity between the brown cable and both sides of the the thermostat, then following the cables to both sides of the element the element. The element should show some resistance depending upon the rating. But somewhere in the region if about 18 ohms would be normal. Check for continuity between the element and earth, which should be infinity.
If the continuity checks out ok put some water into the burco and give it a test run, making sure that you have plugged into a socket protected by an earth leakage circuit breaker. ie if your house wiring is old and doesn't have one of these ELCBs in the fuse-board, then don't test run it on your system, take it to another location which does have earth leakage protection.

[mcgrath]

Thanks for the reply Sorcerers Apprentice, I'll get the bits I need and give it a go next week. Hopefully it was just the bad connection thats the problem and no parts are damaged..
Cheers..

[LordEoin]

It looks like the TCO is probably faulty (white round thing in the center with the burnt wire, disconnected blue wire and discoloration around it).
Fill it, check for leaks.
If it's solid then plug it in the blue wire to the TCO, and plug the burco in on the far end of an extension lead.plug it in from a distance and don't go near it unless it's disconnected from the mains.
If it does nothing, then the TCO is probably broken and the replacement part will cost SFA.
Otherwise just scavenge the parts you need and forget about it.

[mcgrath]

Thanks guys,
I had a go at fixing this today. I just replaced any terminals that looked corroded and cleaned everything up.
Its working perfectly now. The power light isn't coming on but it is boiling no problem and can be controlled by the dial. Its cutting out when boil is achieved for a few minutes as expected. I won't adjust that just yet until I get more confident in it. Gonna use it for strike water for now then all going well use it as a boiler probably.

[auralabuse]

You can probably get a replacement light in espares.co.uk if your bothered

[mcgrath]

You can probably get a replacement light in espares.co.uk if your bothered

Salvaged an LED from a coffee machine that broke a couple of weeks ago. So its all working now.. Figured out how to get a rolling boil out of it too. Easy to do as its all spade terminals...

[auralabuse]

Nice

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

Well done

[mcgrath]

Cheers Lads.  I'm lucky theres no parts to be replaced, although, having worked on it now most of the safety stuff can be bi-passed if necessary, I just wouldn't sell it on if I did that. As it is only the rod that presses the reset button is goosed. The reset button actually goes in if you turn it upsidedown, so thats no big deal. I wouldn't be lifting it to press the reset button if it was full anyway.  Glad this worked out. I just have to source a lid and handles for my other one somewhere else now..