Customers who are using the Digiboil to heat and melt candle wax often run into the dreaded E3 error.
This is marked as a "Boil Dry - Thermal cutout switch activated" error.
There is a temperature sensor that cuts the heating element when it reads too hot. When using a liquid like wort, the only reason the temperature sensor would increase past boiling is if there is actually no liquid in the Digiboil at all. The temperature acts as an indicator for lack of liquid. And that’s why it’s called a Boil Dry error.
When using wax, a more viscous liquid, heat can become trapped a lot more easily. There are a few things we want to check when wax causes this error:
- Is the wax melted yet? If not, the temperature sensor could throw the "boil dry" E3 error.
If the wax was put in cold and in large chunks, the E3 error can commonly happen. The temperature sensor takes a reading every 60 seconds, if the sensor is not surround by liquid (wax, wort, water, etc. depending on the use) then the sensor will likely throw the E3 error. Depending on the wax you use, the temperature of it, we recommend pre-melting wax in another vessel and filling the Digiboil Wax Melter beyond the temperature probe. Once this is done, you'll be able to start adding more wax into the vessel.
- Are they using the temperature controller on the unit?
Wax melts around 165 degrees. There should be no reason to increase the set temperature on the machine much higher than that.
- Are they only using the lesser element? (500W on the 35L model and 1000W on the 65L model. Candle makers shouldn’t be using the 65L version much anyways.)
Putting both elements on can get the heat to increase rapidly, leading to this error.
- Are they stirring their wax very frequently?
Heat can build up at the bottom and the wax won’t move as fast as wort to redistribute it. The heat also won’t conduct as well through the wax. Try asking them to stir more often and see if it resolves the error.
- Can they try to reduce the volume?
More wax means more insulation for the bottom of the unit, where the heating elements are located. If they use less wax the heat will be able to dissipate more quickly.
If you've encountered the DigiBoil E3 error while melting wax for candle making, try to remedy the issue by using some of the steps above. Putting the set temperature at 165F can be a huge help.