Hi all

I'm looking at my next espresso machine purchase and am exploring the issue of non-burn steam wands.

I spoke to my local espresso machine supplier (distributor for VBM as well), who said that non-burn steam wands have less steaming power, due to the inner teflon tubing. Interestingly, all his machines have been switched to normal steam arms as he feels they produces better microfoam.

What do you guys think about this?

Cheers
Sing

irrelevancy wrote:Hi all

I'm looking at my next espresso machine purchase and am exploring the issue of non-burn steam wands.

I spoke to my local espresso machine supplier (distributor for VBM as well), who said that non-burn steam wands have less steaming power, due to the inner teflon tubing. Interestingly, all his machines have been switched to normal steam arms as he feels they produces better microfoam.

What do you guys think about this?

Cheers
Sing

I have a Quickmill Anita and spent the first few months with normal steam arm, before switching to the no burn steam wand. I noticed no difference at all in power. One thing that I did notice, which seems to be the case with other no-burns I've seen is their shape. I have significantly better microfoam, because of the angle in which I can get the arm of a no burn, versus the normal. This may only be a Anita issue, but the regular steam arm, almost angles back on itself, and I could never seem to get a whirlpool. I actually wanted the no-burn because it was longer, and had an angle which I thought would give me better whirlpool.

Back to your point, I guess the issue could be that one is restricting the amount of steam with the teflon, but in my experience, the amount of steam most prosumer machines need, is less, because the amount of milk generally steamed at once is less. Although, again, I noticed no difference in power.

I may go test this... its been a few months since I've used my Burn arm.

Hope this helps.
Justin

My no-burn has plenty of steam power.

The physics is sound that the smaller diameter pipe will have lower flow rate and/or pressure at the tip (meaning lower velocity out the tip), for the same tip geometry, so you're not being fed a line, at least about that.

I switched to a no-burn arm on my Anita and find that the ease in cleaning, the toggle valve that my wife loves, coupled with the availability of a better tip made up for and exceeded any "loss" due to the smaller feed pipe. For the Anita, I prefer the no-burn arm and tip over the original (c. 2005) stock arm and tip. I believe Chris' Coffee now specifies many of his machines to include the no-burn arm as standard.

I would go out on a limb and say that the tip makes more of a difference than the arm itself, at least for the Anita. Others have different opinions about other machines; some prefer the conventional steam arm over the no-burn one on the GS/3, for example.

Is your dealer local enough to visit? If so, ask if you can try one with a no-burn as well as the ones they are generally shipping.

No-burn arms can be an additional expense for someone specifying a machine that they want to import and sell.