Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Popper Heat Issue

This is topic Popper Heat Issue in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://ft-forum.com/ft/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=002364

Posted by Connor Kirkwood (Member # 5371) on 05-09-2010, 04:27 PM:

Hey all.

Just noticed a cold spot on the "cornditioner" of our Cretor's Diplomat popcorn popper. It's isolated to one quadrant of the warming surface. Anyone had this happen? Can I expect the rest of the warming mechanism to crap out soon? Any quick fix ideas that anyone can share?

Posted by Jerome Holmes (Member # 5013) on 05-09-2010, 05:14 PM:

The "cornditioner" button on ours heats the surface of the popping shelf, not the popper itself. Are you talking about the coils that heat the kettle to pop, or a heater that keeps the popcorn warm?

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 05-09-2010, 05:14 PM:

The Cornditioner is basically an open coil heater in front of a fan. It sits on the outside of the chute where popcorn crumbs fall under the popcorn shelf and blows in through a hole in the chute.

You should be able to take the entire unit off by removing the 3 wing nuts down inside the chute where popcorn crumbs fall. It's very possible the screen over the fan has a build up of oil which is blocking air flow or there might be popcorn crumbs inside the fan. Either way, taking it apart and cleaning may fix your problem.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 05-09-2010, 05:26 PM:

With those "Cornditioner" units, the big thing is to keep the air input of the squirel cage fan cleaned at all times.

The blower wheel really gets nasty full of crud, thus one needs to take that blower wheel out of the cage and give it a thorough cleaning by soaking in degreaser and scrubbing it down to make it look new again.

If you have the older Diplomat that uses a screw-in-a-socket "glow coil" and with the blower wheel all full of crud,all of the heat will reside in the heating area and not blow out throughout the entire grid area very well.

You also need to clean the cage out that the glow coil resides in.

Good luck - Monte

Posted by Connor Kirkwood (Member # 5371) on 05-09-2010, 05:47 PM:

Thanks, Justin. We'll give that a shot.

Posted by Bruce McGee (Member # 131) on 05-13-2010, 06:21 PM:

I clean the blower wheels on all of our poppers and cornditioners, and warming bins twice a year. Amazing what comes off of the fans... Are we breathing this air?

Posted by Connor Kirkwood (Member # 5371) on 05-16-2010, 07:06 PM:

So I took off the panel and cleaned all around the blower, to no avail. We continued to have the cold spot on the warmer. A few days later, the entire warmer failed, so our popcorn is sitting on a cold metal grate. No good.

Seems like I might have to call a technician. I'd inspect further, but I'm not sure which part of the unit I'm supposed to disassemble and clean. Anyone dealt with this kind of fan before?

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 05-26-2010, 08:05 PM:

quote: Connor Kirkwood
Seems like I might have to call a technician. I'd inspect further, but I'm not sure which part of the unit I'm supposed to disassemble and clean. Anyone dealt with this kind of fan before?

Unplug the unit, first off.

The blower assembly is attached by the three bolts that holds up the blower cage, which you'll have to access the bolts by taking off the end plate where the ceramic socket you see there at the end of the heater box.

Then, you take an allen wrench, or it might be a T-10 or 15 TORX screwdriver blade to loosen the set screw on the blower wheel.

Then you can take the blower wheel off and give it a good cleaning and also clean the wheel housing.

Also, while you got that motor off, it could use a good oiling. There are two small open areas on each end of the motor where you put a few drops of projector oil (or sewing machine oil-something light..) in each of these holes.

While you got the blower off, then you can clean out the inside of the heating element area.

Good luck - monte

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 05-27-2010, 06:25 AM:

Easy to call Cretors (800-228-1885) to determine who the dealer is in your area. He is required to have technicians available to repair units as a condition of his dealership.

IF you supply the model number, voltage, and serial number, you could purchase whatever parts you need. Very good service support. There is, however, a minimum order amount. Any Cretors dealer could help. Hadden is such a dealer. Louis

Posted by Richard Hamilton (Member # 321) on 05-27-2010, 11:06 AM:

Could be a bad thermal switch also. I'm not familiar with that model Cretors, but I've replaced quite a few thermal switches in different warmers.

Rick

Posted by Tony Bandiera Jr (Member # 2365) on 05-27-2010, 01:16 PM:

In line with what Rick just said, Connor are you SURE the blower is even working at all or turning at full speed? If it's not, that would explain the cold spot and now the total failure of heat.

You're gonna need a new screw-in element at least, and if the blower can't be cleaned and oiled as Monte instructed you'll need to replace the blower as well.

Posted by Bruce McGee (Member # 131) on 05-27-2010, 05:09 PM:

We bought our last blower motors from WW Grainger. Since I started cleaning and oiling every 6 months, we havent had a motor fail.

The heat thermostats on all of our cornditioners are 140 degree types.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 05-27-2010, 07:49 PM:

quote: Louis Bornwasser
Easy to call Cretors (800-228-1885)

..and ask for Jerry in the Parts Dept. .. - Monte

Posted by Richard Hamilton (Member # 321) on 06-02-2010, 12:15 PM:

so Conner, Any luck?