QUESTION:

Hi,
I am working on a 2032e brewer for a customer of mine.  I am getting an error 202 (open heater).  As far as I can tell the triacs are okay; at least I'm getting continuity on both.
My question is this: how can I tell for sure if it's the triac(s) or control board output that is bad?  And if it's the control board output, how do I repair it?  do I just need to replace the control board?  any advice you can provide to steer me in the right direction would be extremely helpful. thanks very much.

Regards,

Kenny

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ANSWER:

Kenney,

First off, you are headed in the right direction. Next you said you are getting continuity on both triacs. First ,let me make sure we are talking about the same part.

The triacs are mounted to the bottom of the water tank; each triac has 3 terminals (one small that is the gate wire, and two large that make up the actual heater circuit).

If this is what you are talking about and you are getting continuity between the 2 large terminals then both of your triacs are stuck closed and need to be replaced.

Next is that error code 202 is heater shorted not open heater. So make sure of the error code that you have.

If it is error code 202 then the brewer is possibly heating even thought the brewer is not calling for heat. If this is the case, then turning the main power switch off and checking amperage on the heaters should reveal which heater is on (No heater should be on when power switch is off). If this is what you find, then turn power off (at breaker or unplug) to brewer and disconnect gate wire from triac that goes to the heating element in question and turn the power back on to the brewer.

Take amperage reading again. If there isn't an amp draw, then this is a power board issue. If, on the other hand, you still get amperage, then it is the triac.

I hope this helps you out . If you need any further help, please let me know and we can dig into this deeper.

Shane Blais
Director of Technical Services & Corporate Training