I recently received an Alex, am impressed with the machine design, but am puzzled at the steaming performance. Comments everywhere I have read indicate this is a "steaming machine".

The first couple of steaming sessions seemed to meet expectations, then it seemed, the steaming was slow. Good microfoam, but slow and not the volume increase I am used to. Per my tests, given the two hole tip on the Alex, my 2 year old stock Silvia can steam almost as fast.

Here is the test - 360ml of water from 5C to 65C as done in a bellabarista(UK) test. The european model evaluated had a slightly higher wattage steam tank with a different tip, set at 1.4bar heated the water in 36 sec. The Alex set at 1.2 bar (settles to 1 bar during steaming) - 88 sec (!?). Huh? Then disassembly and reassembly of the wand, tip and valve to verify no blockage. There was none visable. Then adjust Alex to 1.4 bar (settles to 1.25 bar), time was 75 sec.

So for a sanity test, went over to Miss Silvia and ran the same experiment. Surfing up to 282F so the boiler stayed on, the time to raise the temperature from 5C to 65C was 83 sec, as fast as the Alex set at 1.2bar. Very puzzling, but may just be due to the tip smaller hole size. The fact that the steam pressure goes from 1.2 bar to 1 or 1.4 bar to 1.25 when steaming should indicate whether there is some other blockage, but I do not have a reference. Perhaps the US tip limits the flow(?) If the UK model tip is the only difference, whew, that is quite a difference. Makes me wonder if anything else is contrbuting. Temps were measured with a Fluke 51 and type K fine wire probe.

I believe the two tips, with the US version on the left, look like the picture (borrowed picture, thx Dave)

Any comments would be welcome.
That said, the machines espresso capabilities are very impressive.

The steam tip on the left looks similar to the one that comes stock on the Quickmill Anita. In my opinion, it unduly restricts steam power and makes steaming take too long, not to mention making it harder to generate a whirlpool in the milk. I replaced the stock tip and wand on my Anita with a four-hole tip with small .9mm holes, making it much faster and easier to generate microfoam. Steaming times went from about 60 seconds to steam 6 ounces of milk to about 30 seconds.

http://www.chriscoffee.com/products/home/repairpartssection3/new4holesteamtip

Note that you'll need to replace both the steam arm and tip to make this work, so it's not a cheap fix compared to upgrading just the tip. But I think the results are well worth it.

I replaced the stock tip and wand on my Anita with a four-hole tip with small .9mm holes, making it much faster

I am getting a larger tip that should confirm what you describe. Fortunately there are various tip options for this arm. I am curious if others with this machine and tip have similar findings. The microfoam is actually beautiful, thick as I want, and very silky. I expected, based on forum comments very high energy steam (and it may be all in the tip). Hoping I can egg someone into running a similar test on their Alex, but in any case the new tip will definitely stir things up a bit .
Thanks,
Floyd

I just tried a no tip test based on a suggestion from Martin from across the pond. This was to help determine the constricting factor. Steam pressure set at 1.4bar. The time was 24 seconds to heat the water from 5C to 65C, with the pressure settling to 0.5 bar. Then ran the test again, 22 seconds, with pressure settling to 0.3 bar with the valve wide open. That is very fast, and points to the tip as the constraint, with my pressure drop a bit greater than Martins UK model with the higher wattage heater (1400 vs 1200w), not a surprising difference. I think there was 1.5 turns of the steam wand knob the first time vs 2 full turns to (full open) the second.

The lightbulb comes on, and now to re-run the test with the original US stock small hole tip. Opening the valve all the way (2 full turns) the time was 62 seconds and pressure settled at 1.1 bar!

That is 17% faster than my 75 sec test with setting at 1.4bar and pressure dropping to 1.25 bar, and 30% faster than the original test of 88sec with a 1.2 bar setting. The hidden key variable .....steam valve lazy wrist twistie....

Conclusion - when I ran the original test I probably opened the valve a 1.5 turns thinking that was plenty (Silvia hangover), but it obviously makes a difference to go to a wide open 2 turns....Both in the time & pressure drop (no surprise there).

This machine steams, if you just let it! It is amazing how those little things can cloud data. I will be getting a bigger tip though, because I like the roiling of the milk and speed!

Floyd