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Question: I did love my Gene Cafe UNTILL the heater went out. The heaters don't last very long. Ordered another and it went out. Do you have the same problem?
Document: I did love my Gene Cafe UNTILL the heater went out. The heaters don't last very long. I ordered and put in the first replacement element and again it lasted for only a short period of time. But while it lasted it was a great roaster. But now mine is failing again. I find I can no longer order the heater element. I have to send the entire roaster to some service center and they really up the price for the heater element.
It's also nice to have full control of the temperature. With the gene caf&eacute; you can crank it up to 482 degrees to quickly get the roast started then back the temperature down to ease into whichever roast you want.My only issue with this roaster is that the heating element didn't last as long as it's supposed to. My instruction manual says it should last for over 900 batches. Mine only made it to 200 something before I had to purchase and install a new heating element.
(That's what I did and I direct it outside out my window. I use a dryer vent hose). I really wish that the cooling cycle was better, especially when you are roasting on the hottest setting, but it will do the job. Or you can do what I did. I went and got a fan and a metal colander. I set the fan on top and turn it on high for about 15 minutes. All in all, the Gene Cafe is a great roaster.
We got our Gene Coffee roaster at Xmas. Love the machine, and the coffee. Last week we were roasting beans (we put the roaster out on the patio because it sets off our smoke detectors every time we roast in the house!) While roasting a batch of beans the drum got stuck, it was almost done roasting the beans, so it was only maybe 5 minutes that the drum was stuck.
All coffee roasters produce smoke, and the Gene is no exception. Make sure you get the "Gene Cafe Large Chaff Collector" attachment. The last time I looked this was being sold with the roaster through many online sellers. It can also be purchased separately. This allows for a hose to be attached to vent the smoke. I have a fan on my stove-top. The glass roasting chamber allows for complete visibility at all points of the roast. This lets you get the perfect roast every time.
I've been roasting my own green coffee for almost 10 years now, and I've gone through a lot of roasters. I've been using the Gene Cafe for more than 6 months, and this one is holding up great. It is well designed and manufactured. It has been problem-free and shows little signs of wear. It is very quiet for a home roaster, which for me is a huge plus. The Gene Cafe will roast up to a full half-pound of coffee at one time.
All the home roasters involve making compromises, and this one works best for me. Super easy to use, durable and produces a consistent roast in .5 pound batches. My heater went out at 3 years, and after roasting an estimated 300 pounds of beans. Replacement element cost $55 and instructions available on Internet- a 1 hour job for me. I have never seen a fire- you are warned to keep chaff collector clean, although I often forget.
The knobs let you adjust the time and temperature of the roast at any point. I know the sticker price on this thing is high, but you will save money in the long-run by not having to replace your roaster every year. **REVIEW UPDATE** It is now over a year since I originally wrote this review. Just thought I'd let everybody know the unit is still running great and is problem free.
The drum wouldn't turn so we took the machine apart and found it had melted the unit where the chafe comes out, the back case by the vent, the base where the screws go in, and the gears that turn the drum. Thank goodness we got to the roaster before it went up into flames...and the house too! Love the coffee, but the roaster is a fire hazard!
It was only a few months old at the time, so I was quite distraught. I discovered that there was a rubber stopper of sorts to go on the metal 'sweeper door' that were gone. To this day I don't know if I ended up grinding those stoppers and drinking them or if they were somehow discarded. At any rate, Gene is on to the problem of the stoppers falling out and they include a couple of extras with the instructions.
Answer: We have used ours for 2 years now. So far no problem w/ the heater.  We did have a problem where something got stuck and melted much of the unit. I contacted the manufacturer and they were very good about repairing my unit.  I have actually had a couple of problems, the other was some board went out. Again, they were very good about replacing the board. I have not had a problem in a while, so I don't know if they would still be so good, but we do LOVE our machine!