Foam Insulation

Post by **ddunn** » Mon Jul 19, 2004 9:18 pm

At the bottom of page 12 of Dan Kehn's Buyer's Guide to the S1 he suggests placing 3/4" aluminum-sided solid-core foam insulation on top of the cup warming area of the S1. I like the idea of saving energy and limiting the heating of my house during the summer months, but I am concerned about what impact this might have on the impressive "brain" of the S1. So, I purchased 1" foam insulation, cut it to size making sure to leave the vents up front and in the rear uncovered, covered the foam with aluminum foil and put it in place. I have the 20 amp model and was not running in economy mode. My temp is set to 95C. I placed my Fluke 51 II digital thermometer's type K thermocouple looped around the middle, front vent so that the tip was just above the vent opening. The room temperature was 75 degrees F. Now, granted this is very unscientific, but the difference in the temperature of the front panel is significant. As low as 103 degrees F without the insulation in place and as high as 136 degrees F with it in place. Actually by touch alone I could tell that there was a big difference. So, what, if any, effect will this have on the life of the microprocessor and electronics? That is something I am not qualified to answer. Has anyone asked Chris? Your thoughts?

Post by **barjohn** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 9:57 am

High temperature is one of the major cuases of electronic component failure. Solid state devices are crystal lattices. There are always imperfections in these crystaline structures and heat stresses them. Hence the use of cooling fans in your PC or the one you hear in the S-1. Since the designers of the S-1 did not take into consideration heat build up caused by adding foam insulation to the top of the unit, I wouldn't do it. Insulate the boilers if you want, but don't add additional heat inside to the electronics.

chas · Post by **chas** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 6:31 am

Dan had me review his write-up but it sounds like he added that afterwards. I don't remember that piece of advice. Did he say what this was doing for the owner?

What Chris recommended - and I do - is place a clean dish towel folded in half over the cups on the warming tray. This holds in the heat and gets the cups much warmer without actually making the inside of the machine much hotter since there is still flow around the towel through the holes in the warming tray surface.

Post by **ddunn** » Thu Jul 22, 2004 7:21 am

What this does is dramatically cut down on the cycling of the boilers and therefore the energy used. I tried it for a short time just to test, and the results I reported. The front panel gets way too hot. See http://home.earthlink.net/~dan.coffeege ... guide.html
the last sentence under his comparing the 15 amp to the 20 amp model.