Chinese urn boil cutout fix?

[jackdaw]

Hoping to find a fix to my Chinese urn cutting out at 100C + during my 90 min boil for BIAB.
Doesnt always happen, but when it does, temp need to drop to about 93C before it fires again
I've tried floating a tin pie plate - no good
Opening up the garage to let air over the boil - mixed results
Pedestal fan blowing over wort - mixed results.

The urn is an exposed element and has a probe mounted to the underside of the base.

Ideas I've been considering -
Placing a piece of silicon between the probe and the base.
I know this will make the thermostat useless but pre adding grain, I'm there to monitor when the temp hits my mash temp.
With a rolling boil and the lid off, temp peaks at around 104C before cutout.
On cooler days the boil doesnt cut out and the wort temp is 102-104C
I figure with the urn running flat out the temp wont get above 105ishC for the 90 min boil?

Otherwise...
Add an STC-1000 bypassing the shitty urn thermostat.
Obviously adding a relay to the STC-1000 like this:


Thoughts?

Cheers, Reg

 

[jackdaw]

Ant thoughts on either of these 2 "fixes"
or throw the urn out and get a birko/crown? :unsure:

 

[takai]

I wired the element direct, bypassing the useless thermostat, and then put an eBay pid inline with the setup, and was done.

Far and away the best solution, and better temp control than a birko/crown.

 

[QldKev]

Have a read of these,
http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/35456-fix-for-crown-urn-boiling-issues/
http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/46798-crown-urn-element-mod/

make sure you read them to the end to see the potential pitfall. obviously these mods are at your own risk