Just a quick note to those that haven’t (yet) removed their Exhaust Fan Impeller for cleaning. The Bullet manual is very thin on information about removing and replacing the Exhaust Impeller Fan.
Removal is easy and cleaning is not just a simple soak in some diluted Urnex. Some in-between the blades scrubbing is necessary to get the gunk that traps at the bases of the fan blades. I used what is often referred to as a “straw brush” to get in-between the blades and clean them completely. That kind of brush is about the diameter of a large plastic straw that is commonly sold with drink bottles. It fits between the blades without forcing them to bend or deform.
Replacing the Fan Impeller is as easy as it is to get off with one important word to the wise. Don’t push the Impeller all the way back as far as it will go when you reinstall it. It will touch the surface behind it enough that it will not allow the Impeller to rotate. Instead pull it forward enough such it spins freely, but does not extend beyond the outside flange where the Impeller fits through.
If the Impeller doesn’t spin freely, you will get a “A-01” error which correctly means the Exhaust Fan is not turning. How do I know this…? The odd thing is that the Bullet does not check the Exhaust Fan until the roaster has completely Preheated, the “Charge” statement is issued and it goes into “The Roast has started” mode. I really think the Bullet should check to see that the Exhaust Fan is spinning upon completing the start-up checks before saying “The Bullet is ready”. Clearly if that Exhaust Fan is not able to spin, the Bullet is not ready.
Sweet Marias has a YouTube video on “replacing the impeller fan” - except you won’t be replacing it. There’s a small hex grub screw holding it on so don’t yank it off with big pliers
@bertje1959 - After you remove the chaff collector, you can access the Exhaust Fan Impeller. If you look straight down through the exhaust exit (above the Impeller) and turn the Fan by hand you will see one of the Fan blades that has an access hole cut into it for access to the Set Screw. Looking through that hole in the blade, you will be looking directly at the Set Screw that holds the Impeller to the Fan Motor shaft. Aillio supplies a hex-head tool that will fit that Set Screw.
Turn the Screw counter-clockwise and loosen it just enough that the Impeller is allowed to slide off the Fan Motor shaft. There is no need to fully remove the set screw to remove the Impeller. You may find (as I did on my Bullet) that the Impeller slightly hits the top outside edge of the case frame surrounding it as you try to slide it straight out. I had to finagle mine a bit at that point to get it to slide completely out.
Great information !!! Thank you so much , I was cleaning Bullet yesterday and guess what I ran into that issue , where A01 kept going and going. I initially thought that it was beta update I did on the firmware , but you are so right , the impeller was all the way back. Reading your post truly helped me ! thanks again
@dkrylov2011 - Glad that it helped you. Yes, I find it odd the Bullet doesn’t check the status of the exhaust fan until after “Charge” and “Roasting has Started”. This particular Exhaust Fan problem whether caused by Impeller re-installation or by other exhaust failure reasons should be a basic startup check for a coffee roaster.
@stuartmcknight - Maybe I’m missing it…but other than in open forum, is there a place where Bullet Users can make an enhancement request or report a bug that will get to the attention of Aillio? Jacob occasionally floats in/out of certain discussions of reported bugs, but certainly not all of them. This one is a good example. I have no idea if they have read this thread and the problem I discovered unless they comment.
It would seem like a good idea to have a specific location for raising awareness (to those that can act) for enhancements, bugs, etc. Mostly, I feel that we just talk about things in open-forum here and hope that someone at Aillio notices.
There seem to be a few places - it would be good to have confirmation of the System of Record - I have been using this:
Also as Bruce pointed out, I stumbled into the Trello page, but not sure if that’s just an internal thought process rather than formal suggestion box. There’s also the GitHub repository where bugs can be reported but also tagged as enhancement requests.
@jacob - where’s a good place for us to pop our ideas into somewhere that gets reviewed by your team on a regularish basis ?
@bab & @stuartmcknight - It would seem there isn’t really a formal location for customers to report problems (or bugs) to Aillio. The Trello site and “feature” category here appear to be more “enhancement” related.
I’ve used various sites (Trello, manufacturer owned, GitHub) to communicate with companies about a product. Each web-vehicle can have their own targeted input/output designs that are tuned to certain things. Trello, while interesting in design, nagged me so often with SPAM emails that I had to block them a long time ago. Where possible, I prefer a single, easy access, user friendly web-resource for manufacturer communications. A place where customers can all report and view what is happening with the product.
For Aillio, communicating with them has the feel of being all over the place (web-wise). It gives an appearance of being too spread out to be effectively managed across all of them. We all know that Aillio is a limited crew of resources. Spreading problem reporting, enhancements, etc, across a variety of differing website vehicles makes it harder to follow and respond to them all (for Aillio). It also makes it difficult for the Bullet Users to follow (or even know) where Aillio is speaking to us.
This forum has very little activity with the exception of a couple of people. The Facebook users group is where most of the Bullet owners hang out and it is far more active than this forum. For those that don’t have severe anxiety about Facebook I’d suggest checking in there.
Agreed that Facebook maybe has a higher post ratio and I have seen Jacob there from time to time, but to @PapasCup point, most companies don’t use Facebook as their source of support truth, it would be reasonable to assume Roast.World is it and I too would think it would be in Aillio’s best interest to focus on one, to avoid spreading too thin and possible disinformation if something goes out of date on one or more sites. Many companies now use Zendesk for ticket tracking and maybe Aillio should look at investing in that - it can also be used for support articles etc. I know we find it very helpful at our company to track hot issues and avoid repeating ourselves. If something is being regularly asked, we create an article on it. When a customer starts a new ticket, Zendesk tries to parse suitable entries. I’m not affiliated but know it saves us a lot of time compared to the old web site/email/forum dance…
@stuartmcknight - You captured my thinking exactly. Below are just the websites (that I’m aware of) to know (or report) product related information to Aillio corporate:
Facebook website for Aillio Corporate news and info
Facebook website for Aillio Closed-User Group info
Trello website for Aillio Enhancements
GitHub to check Aillio software updates
RoastWorld website for the above
Aillio appears to be engaging all of those sites to varying levels and pieces of communications. To me, Aillio needs to maintain one website where we can all (at least) know and report on the product, software/firmware, enhancements and problems that Aillio is working.
Maybe even better (as you suggested) use a Zendesk solution to pull it all together for Users to follow. I’m not a supporter of Facebook (corporate), but I don’t lump all the Aillio Facebook Users into my concerns about Facebook’s management practices. I’d prefer to see Aillio product support on a single “apolitical”, all user-friendly website (or solution) where people can comfortably get (and share) product knowledge.
Typically Facebook tends to be a user centric forum for self help rather than an official support channel for most businesses. In the “old days” I guess it would have been Usenet
Dating myself here, but I still remember when a search of the “internet” (at work) could only be done with a “dumb” CRT Terminal and strictly on screen text entry/responses.
And Magellan was the search engine of choice. Yes, I recall that as well. Not sure I want to go back to those antique choices, especially typing numeric URLs. But Facebook is not in my future.
In general, internet security seems essentially non-existent. That’s the price of getting/exchanging info. If I want secure communication, my only real choice is to get off the internet and meet directly with the person I need info from. Not going to happen. Hmmm… I sound like a curmudgeon!!
The odd thing is that the Bullet does not check the Exhaust Fan until the roaster has completely Preheated, the “Charge” statement is issued and it goes into “The Roast has started” mode. I really think the Bullet should check to see that the Exhaust Fan is spinning upon completing the start-up checks before saying “The Bullet is ready”. Clearly if that Exhaust Fan is not able to spin, the Bullet is not ready.
