SideKIC: Cheap sous vide circulator.

[Blues_Cookin]

Chris - yes, I did use a insulated cooler for the 2 lbs. of potatoes. Not an entirely fair container to measure the SideKIC's ability to heat the water temp as it is 16 Qts. However, it did a fine job of maintaining temperature once it got to 85 C. And agreed, spousal approval is key to happiness!

[dcarch]

Some pumps last not too long at higher temperature. They are all intended for fountain/aquarium uses.

Althought I think the unit is safe for general use, it will not be legal unless it is electrically grounded or double insulated for UL approval.

dcarch

[Duncan Werner]

Althought I think the unit is safe for general use, it will not be legal unless it is electrically grounded or double insulated for UL approval.

Well this is very serious. I believe we are fully conformant, but I'll check with our consulting engineer to get an official position.

Some pumps last not too long at higher temperature. They are all intended for fountain/aquarium uses.

Actually these are intended for hot water/coffee machines, so they're rated 105C. (Edit: that's not to say that they will live up to the rating, but that's what they're rated).

Edited February 14, 2012 by Duncan Werner (log)

[Chris Hennes]

Have you tried using an electric kettle to pour some heated water into the pot and then bailing out some of the old water if it threatens to go above the water line? It's an easy way to add some heat to a beer cooler style setup.

In my cooler setup, once the water is at temp the SideKIC has no trouble at all maintaining the temperature, I haven't needed to supplement it. But I'm using a decent cooler with a custom styrofoam lid, so losses are kept to a minimum.

[Duncan Werner]

Althought I think the unit is safe for general use, it will not be legal unless it is electrically grounded or double insulated for UL approval.

So here's where we are with this: I think the machine is safe, but it's likely that our power cord is underspecified. That is, it should be better insulated. Rather than fix that, however, I think we'll follow dcarch's line of thought and fully ground it.

To that end, we're going to put the machine on hold for a week while we can refit some inventory. We'll figure out how to handle the existing machines over the next couple of days.

Let me just reiterate that I think it's safe, but this is the right thing to do so we might as well do it now. Particularly for people who don't have GFCI in their kitchen, it's better that we err on the side of being extra cautious. Thanks to everyone for the kind words here, I'll update when I have some more information.

[Chris Hennes]

Particularly for people who don't have GFCI in their kitchen, it's better that we err on the side of being extra cautious.

Kitchens without GFCI scare the hell out of me. Nice move on adding the grounding line, though, that will be a good change.

[dcarch]

"---So here's where we are with this: I think the machine is safe, ---"

I agree. Let's put things in perspective:

The pump I think is meant for submerged use and so is the heater, therefore the device is logically safe.

However legally, ( I am not a lawyer) I think when you put them together into some kind of new unique use, that may be a different story.

Perhaps instead of a plastic injection molded case, what about a stamped metal case? you can just ground the case?

dcarch

[Chris Hennes]

Perhaps instead of a plastic injection molded case, what about a stamped metal case? you can just ground the case?

Sure, and add $100 to the price tag. Injection molding is much, much cheaper. Fundamentally this device is a glorified coffee maker, grounding the power supply is completely adequate.

[cbread]

Well, just getting over a cold which took me out of the game for a while. Now firing up the SideKic once again.

This time with a bagged piece of beef rather than a food-less trial run. Just a zip lock bag. Seems to be working fine. It will be a while till I could justify a chamber vac.

Once again I'm impressed with how easy it is to use and find my earlier critique a bit too sharp. It seems to run a couple of degrees below my thermometer readings, but it's steady and I can adjust with no difficulty.

The controller unit is easy to comprehend and dead simple. I like it.

The whole thing is reassuringly undramatic to use. Temps seem very stable and consistent all over the cooking vessel.

It's just plain easy to use.

I can't wait to do a long slow tough tasty cut for the first time. Tonight is just a tender quick cooking steak and since it has the oddball title of "Sirloin Junior" at the bucher's I really don't know the proper time so I'm just winging it two hours 135F and then I will sear it.

Off to do veggies...

Edited February 18, 2012 by cbread (log)

[rotuts]

cbread

you are on the right track with the 'beer cooler'

you do not need nor want a chamber sealer

you want a 'sealer' so that with 'pre-heated' water in that cooler you can do 10 or so packets

for the same amount of prep time

and the same amount of energy

Happy Sous Vide !!

[Blues_Cookin]

Bad news to report today. Had a pork shoulder in a insulated 16 qt cooler with an improvised lid starting at 5:30 last night. Held temperature fine all night, but this morning started slowly losing temperature. I figured the drop was equivalent to how fast the cooler would lose temp if there was no heater at all (10 degrees F per hour). Tried resetting it (pressed "Stop", unplugged for a few minutes and then plugged it back in and pressed "Start"). No change in behavior, continued to lose temp.

I checked the water level which was fine, and also made sure nothing was impeding the water flow, and that was ok as well.

I took the circulator out, let it sit for half an hour, and now have it in a small 2 qt sauce pan with the water at 62 degrees F. In 30 minutes with the heater indicator at full orange, it has only gained 2 degrees.

Any ideas?

[Duncan Werner]

That's terrible, I'm sorry. Honestly I don't know what might have gone wrong - although I don't think there's anything you could have done which would make this happen. It was probably defective hardware. Can I replace it? We have the rev 2 machines ready starting next week. I'd like to have a look at and see why it stopped working.

[dcarch]

I don't suppose you have an “amp clamp” electric meter to measure how much power the unit is drawing.

Typically a resistive electric heating element is either working or not working. In this case, if the water temperature actually was rising in the two-quart sauce pan meant the heater was functional.

What could be the problem?

Possibly the solid state “relay”, which is, as I understand it, a non-ZC triac. The digital control from the electronic logic circuit may not be delivering the correct signal to the triac, causing the heater to underperform.

dcarch

[Duncan Werner]

Typically a resistive electric heating element is either working or not working. In this case, if the water temperature actually was rising in the two-quart sauce pan meant the heater was functional.

If it just rose 2 degrees, that's probably coincidental, I don't think it's working. As you say it's almost certainly the controller. If you power cycle it, there's no state preserved for the PID so that would suggest it's hardware - either a component failure or faulty board connection.

[Blues_Cookin]

Duncan,

I was also thinking the temperature rise could simply be the pot coming up to ambient temp. Should I return it directly to you guys? Would be happy to replace with 2.0 :-)

Thanks

Tom

[Duncan Werner]

Let's talk about it off-list, I'll send you a note.

[dcarch]

To Blues_Cookin, Which electric outlet did you plug in the SideKIC?

Some refrigerators can send a big electric surge/spike when the compressor kicks in because of the motor is an inductive load. That can kill some sensitive electronics.

dcarch

[Duncan Werner]

It's an interesting thought. If we get it back in the lab we can check that out. There aren't many components directly on the line, and there's a MOV on there which should shunt surges, but the best way to know would be to look at the parts individually.

[dcarch]

"----and there's a MOV on there which should shunt surges, ---"

That's a good power supply circuit design.

dcarch

[cbread]

MOV???? You electronics guys...

I have to ask, what's a MOV?

[Duncan Werner]

Sorry about that, veering off topic a little bit. It's a varistor; specifically a metal-oxide varistor.

Basically, it does nothing as long as the voltage is below a certain level. If the voltage gets too high, it starts to conduct. The idea is that if there's a voltage spike, current goes through the varistor before reaching any parts which could be damaged by the high voltage.

[Chris Hennes]

For the record, I've been beating on mine since it arrived and it's still running fine. Still makes noise, but for short-time or high-temp cooks it doesn't matter. I've got big plans for it over this next week, so fingers crossed!

[kayb]

I received my SideKIC in the mail this past week, and put it to work today.

Strip steaks, from my CSA grass-fed beef vendor.

My set-up:

Custom-cut styrofoam lid, per Chris Hennes:

I like my steak just to the medium side of medium rare, so I set the controller to 137.5. Way too done. I'll roll it back to maybe 130 or 132 next time.

In any event, I was quite pleased with my SideKIC, particularly as a sous vide newbie. It was simple to use, and did what it said it would do. I have ribs in the fridge vac-packed with dry rub, that'll go in the cooker tomorrow for 48 hours; ribs on a weeknight will be a novelty! I'm pleased, glad I bought it, and looking forward to exploring the world of sous vide.

Edited February 20, 2012 by kayb (log)

[Chris Hennes]

Yes, I think that particularly for a grass-fed steak you will want a lower temperature. Be sure to check out the tremendous index of the original Sous Vide topic that Chris Amirault put together. There is a ton of great advice for sous vide cooking in there.

[stardiff]

I also received my SideKIC last week and finally brought it out for real yesterday (after a 3 hour test session the day it arrived). Arranged in a 5 quart cooler, a sirloin for 2.5 hours at 58C and finished with a blowtorch was both the easiest and best steak I've made. Perhaps a bit overdone as my unit seems to run a degree or so hot (58 yielded what I would consider "medium") but next time I will go 56-57C and it should be perfect.

As another relative sous vide newcomer, this is certainly something I have been waiting for. Is it a long-term solution or meant for heavy use? Probably not, but it will allow for a lot of experimentation and if an upgrade after a year or two proves necessary, I will have no regrets. Going to try salmon next and then probably a long-haul tough cut.

Apologies for posting another note basically saying "it works," but for a new device to be delivered quickly and to work consistently well for many discerning users is impressive. Very happy so far and will update if anything changes.