Hottop Doh!

[chas]

I'd been thinking for quite a while that my Hottop was acting weird. I took out the filter since it was long overdue for cleaning and/or replacement. I discovered that it was still as clean as new.

At that point, I knew something was wrong and I was pretty sure I knew what. Sure enough during my last disassembly and cleaning, I had reinstalled the fan backwards.

[peter]

You're not mistreating the little cuties I sent you, are you?

[chas]

Peter, I am afraid your beans as well as some from Milowebailey have been getting a little tortured over the last six months. The exhaust fan has obvious flow direction arrows molded into its frame so I am not sure how I managed to screw that up during the last cleaning. In a couple more days I'll be into the first roast since correcting the issue. It will be interesting to see if there is a noticeable flavor difference.

I had noticed recently that some of the beans seemed to be darker on one side than on the other. This is one of the things that clued me in since the HT has always been such an even roaster.

After fixing the issue yesterday the temperature definitely rose quicker and got higher by the end of the roast than it has in months. This makes sense since I was no longer blowing cold air on the end of the drum where the temperature sensor sits! Of course, I can't be sure if the temperature really rose faster and got higher inside the drum or whether the temp sensor was just obtaining a more accurate reading.