DavecUK I ended up having a 20 minute conversation with Johan this morning. He advised that the mounting was warped probably due to the extreme heat and believes there must have been some sort of malfunction. Also possible that the airflow was possibly compromised or restricted, resulting in the machine not getting sufficient airflow to cool everything down - the whole machine felt pretty hot after tripping the mains. He said that the IR tubes should last up to 4000 hours per tube so obviously concerning. I will be sending the machine back to him on Monday (at his cost) and he will test it out further, replace what needs to be replaced, test some more and send it back. He said that one other person had a similar issue, but mine is the worst he has seen. To be honest he came across as being open and transparent - he advised this is a new product for him, that there could be teething problems, and this sort of information will help with potential quality of life updates. He didn’t BS me which I appreciate, and wants to fix any issues.
All of the above is good, but I never want this sort of thing to happen again. It was a scary moment for sure and glad that my instincts kicked in. Having done nearly 1000 roasts on the Kaffelogic, I have never had a single issue.
Regarding the Dalian - that heating element together with the shroud looks seriously robust. The Dalian was one of the roasters I seriously considered getting, however just felt it was a bit too big for my home. I don’t have a garage or an outside shed area that would work for it. If I did, I would have got it without hesitation.
