Arrived today and just finished preliminary testing, no leaks! Coupled to boiler via ~1' x 1/4" OD copper tubing already had on hand. (Tomas suggested longer coupling for better cooling and hence better pstat diaphragm life. He actually suggested coiling the tubing but I didn't.) Each tube end required 3 fittings so hence the leak apprehension. (1/4" insert MIP connector fitting, 1/4"M x 1/8"M, and 1/8"F x 1/8"F. Couldn't find a 1/4"M x 1/8"F. Both the boiler and Barksdale 1/8" M) Is indeed toggling 0.05bar heater cycle. But on the Bric' click is going nowhere, the Siemens apparently isn't an SSR but R. It was the major click noise not the Mater! Not that it's that big of deal, can always replace it with an SSR in the future I suppose. A bit of tidying up to do before putting the covers back on. Bye...

Took a few quick pics before buttoning up...

Kewl!! I'm looking forward to your impressions!

I have ordered one myself, along with a pound of Leftist Blend
Looking forward to trying this out!

can you post the specs as to the model of barksdale pstat that you are using? Just really looking to see its details in technical terms.

Ive used barksdale controls in several liquid handling systems, and they come in some high end japanese printing equipment as well. Certainly not steam rated, but from my experience if the company I previously worked for spec'd barksdale then they had no competing japanese component, and while the barksdale components in what I used were pricey, they never failed in my previous applications without some outside (Non internal )interference.

solock wrote:can you post the specs as to the model of barksdale pstat that you are using? Just really looking to see its details in technical terms.

Ive used barksdale controls in several liquid handling systems, and they come in some high end japanese printing equipment as well. Certainly not steam rated, but from my experience if the company I previously worked for spec'd barksdale then they had no competing japanese component, and while the barksdale components in what I used were pricey, they never failed in my previous applications without some outside (Non internal )interference.

'Bout the only specs I can give you are it's called The Little General, switch number MSPS-JJ25-0124 (not quite sure if number correct, going by zooming in one of the original pictures and end numbers not quite clear, not going to open up the Bric' to verify!), adjustment range of 10-24PSI, max installation 100PSI, 15A 125/250v. The ordering "specs" I used were calling GimmeCoffee and saying I want to buy a Barksdale Pstat. They have these custom made for them IIRC. FWIW ran $50.14 including tax and shipping East Coast to West Coast.

Originally set the Barksdale for 1.05-1.1bar heater cycle since Mater was set 1.0-1.1 toggle. Found this to actually run a good 3 to 4f higher which wasn't good for the cheater shot method going strictly by flush volumes I devised for Debi. Lowered to 1.0-1.05bar toggle and still about a degree higher than before with the Mater but close enough since all she'll be making is an americano or faux cap (she just nukes the milk). And she'll only pull a shot if I'm not home to make them for her.

Recently ran a modified WBC Test with the added words "past flash" for the 2sec pre-shot flush. That was with the Mater. Will run again soon with the Barksdale. The limited Scace testing and shot usage since installing yesterday it appears more temp stable but time and testing will tell. I have slightly changed my flush-n-go routine. With the mater I'd first purge the steam wand to force the heater on for a known state. As soon as heater went off (~6sec heater on cycle with Mater) flush to flash for flush-n-go which would kick the heater back on for the start of shot. With the tighter 0.05bar toggle ~3sec idle heater cycle seems unnecessary. Not that it was necessarily necessary before just seemed more consistent!

Hey, the cups so far be good so that's all that really matters anyway!

Forgot the mention change in overshoot. While idle with the Mater's 0.1bar cycle would result in 0.1bar overshoot for 0.2bar total idle pressure band. With the Barksdale's 0.05bar cycle overshoot is now 0.05bar for total band of 0.1bar. This should equate to tighter known starting state. During production with the heater on more than idle 3sec times overshoot returns to 0.1bar.

Edit: I take that back, must have been seeing things last night! Just pulled a shot paying attention to the boiler pressure gauge. Overshoot was always about 0.05bar. Sucker toggles on & off a few times during the shot, attempting to maintain that 0.05bar band, effectively kind of like a 1C PID:-)

That longer copper tubing really does keep the pstat cooler. The tube itself is cool to the touch at the pstat fittings.

Ran a modified WBC test the other day ( modified with 2sec past flash shots). Interestingly results almost identical to the modified WBC I ran with the Mater installed with the intra-shot stability edge to the Mater by about 0.3f tighter average. However, between those tests I'd noticed the volume during test shots was lower than it should be by about a third so took apart and cleaned the Thermofiliter and now was getting proper ~75ml in 25sec. So comparison worthless since was flowing slower with Mater and have elected not to re-install the Mater for a test comparison...though may change my mind for the sake of espresso machine science.

After much iteration - success!
well, sort of...

My second p-stat really crapped out Friday night and wouldn't hold a stable pressure for more than hour so my hand was forced and I had to finally find a way to connect the Barksdale to the tube.

It's looks pretty Rube Goldberg-ish but at least it's operational. I have emailed TerryZ and co. about what fittings they might have to help me with and I am strongly considering buying both a Jager and a Sirai to compare and contrast. I don't have alot of faith in the current setup.

I didn't take any pictures, but since I couldn't get any straight threaded fittings nor any BSP I got some plastic WATTS (John Guest) fittings and pieced together a 4-part adapter. It's surely gonna leak, actually there is already a very slight drip juuuuust starting to form after 2 hours run-time (I can live with it for the moment). The tube is long enough that the plastic doesn't seem too hot, and it's warm (not hot) easy to touch.

I needed to really crank the adjustment down and it's near the end of its ability but my boiler now runs 1.00 - 1.05 bar. It does have a nice quiet click but not much more quiet than the other p-stats.

I will leave this one on and see how it fares over time. Right now I'm just glad it's working

JonR10 wrote:After much iteration - success!
well, sort of...

My second p-stat really crapped out Friday night and wouldn't hold a stable pressure for more than hour so my hand was forced and I had to finally find a way to connect the Barksdale to the tube.

The MATER on my Wega Lyra crapped out early this morning. Luckily, my wife heard it and shut the machine off before the opv blew. I swapped out the defective MATER for a used spare I had lying around, and it's running fine . . . for now. But I want to replace it with a Barksdale.

JonR10 wrote:It's looks pretty Rube Goldberg-ish but at least it's operational. I have emailed TerryZ and co. about what fittings they might have to help me with and I am strongly considering buying both a Jager and a Sirai to compare and contrast. I don't have alot of faith in the current setup.

I didn't take any pictures, but since I couldn't get any straight threaded fittings nor any BSP I got some plastic WATTS (John Guest) fittings and pieced together a 4-part adapter. It's surely gonna leak, actually there is already a very slight drip juuuuust starting to form after 2 hours run-time (I can live with it for the moment). The tube is long enough that the plastic doesn't seem too hot, and it's warm (not hot) easy to touch.

Are you running a Wega Lyra? If so, I presume from your post that the thread on the Wega is NOT the same (1/8 NPT) used on the Barksdale?

Do you know specifically what the threads on the MATER are? It shouldn't be that hard to get an adapter to go from the 1/8 NPT on the Barksdale to the (whatever they are) on the Wega . . . but I've been wrong about espresso machine threads before!

Cheers,

Rick