Hey all;

This is really weird. Sunday I did my routine cleaning and maintenance, which includes a chemical cleaning(Urnex Cafiza) backflush, clean pour over tank, Check boiler water hardness and recharge in tank softener.

Everything seemed fine, but now I noticed I don't get a water dance when I go to do the cooling flush before I pull a shot? The boiler pressure is the same (.9 to 1.1 bar)? and I let her warm up for OVER an hour at least.

The only thing I did notice is the water coming out of the dispersion screen is more "dispersed" than it had been in the past when doing a cooling flush. I used to get pretty much a cone as you would when you pull a naked shot, but now I get many many separate streams coming out of the screen?

Any Ideas?

Thanks
- Craig

A quick check, if you open your steam valve, does the boiler pressure drop like a rock? I am wondering if your vacuum breaker is stuck closed. That will give you false pressure in the boiler and the machine will never come to full temperature unless you bleed off that pressure.

Thanks..

I am at work right now, but I will check that AS SOON as I get home?

What does my "Vacuum Breaker" do?

-Craig

CyclingCraig wrote:What does my "Vacuum Breaker" do?

The vacuum breaker is sometimes referred to as an anti-depression valve. In a copper boiler (or similar thin-walled boiler), anti-depression is quite fitting as it keeps the boiler from collapsing or depressing as the contents of the boiler cool.

The valve should open by it's own weight when the boiler cools, allowing air to enter the boiler, preventing a vacuum condition. When the boiler heats up, steam pressure closes the valve, but not until some steam escapes first, so that the headspace of the boiler is saturated steam only.

In this pic, its in a silver metal cup to the right of the hi-limit reset.

from Chris Coffee FAQ page

Good answer, thanks Jeff. I'll contribute a photo of two vacuum breakers commonly found in espresso machines:


From Vapor lock

OK.. Here is what happens.

I open the steam wand valve and the pressure drops to about .7 Bar quickly, but then almost immediately the heating element comes on and the pressure gauge rebounds FAST stays steady at around 1 to 1.1 bar.

Is that Good?

Does she dance now?

Ehhh.. She's Kinda dancing... but not like she used to...

What do you guys think?

Here is a water dance from Anita. This was taken after a FULL warmup 2+ hours, then I pulled a shot, waited about 20 minutes and shot this:


Here is a video of Steam Performance after purging the wand and a couple of minutes after the above video:


Is the pressure supposed to drop so fast? When you see the pressure start coming back up, that is when the Heating element came on.

The steam looks fine to me. It's hard to judge the flush for certain without seeing the screen, but it did look a bit feeble. Have you checked for scale?


See Sputtering e61 & HX scale build-up - Cured! for more details

Here is another video of the water dance without the PF in, looking right at the dispersion screen? Still seems feeble right?



I also checked the vacuum breaker and it seems fine.. after I let it cool for a little I pushed the pin sticking out of it lightly and it went right down and I got a stream of steam?

Thanks