I love the idea of putting the water reservoir in the dishwasher for convenient cleaning.

"Honey, where's the espresso machine reservoir? It was right here in the dishwasher."
"Um, Dear, now don't get mad, see how I made a nice lasagna?"

As long as she puts it back in time for scrambled eggs in the morning.

My opinion is that any tank that is wider than tall will be disliked by your customers. I have
a tank in my current pump machine that slides in and even though it is taller than wide, it still
requires care to not spill. Few if any would object I suspect to plastic, but could you do a
stainless tank in the original side location and have a virtual sightglass onscreen ?

Rich

This^^^ A stainless tank with a sight glass can still be "diswhasherable" (made up word). The BDB has a removable reservoir, but the user's primary interaction with it, is by sight glass, and I have not read a single complaint about it, in several BDB mega-threads.

Fleshing out AZ's concerns about a reservoir that's wider than taller, unless there is a low spot, or sump in the flat-tray design, there will be a tendency for a lot of water left over whenever the "refill" indication comes on... which will have to be conservatively early so the pump doesn't suck air in the boilerless thermoblock design... increasing the chances of a spill if removal and cleaning is in order. Also, unless the pan is sealed to the bottom of the machine, there will be a spill threat whenever one of those times comes up that a bean or stray grinds, or some other kitchen detritus rolls under the machine and you want to move it to clean underneath.

I would fear that these inconveniences might end up outweighing the awesomeness of a dishwasher-able Pyrex baking dish.

You've got a tough row to hoe, mate. I don't envy the decisions you are faced with, but I'm thankful somebody is pushing the boundaries in this inertia-ridden hobby.

-Peter

I think dust would be my major concern. It can be dusty here, but I have lived in much dustier places and expect to again.

T

decent_espresso wrote:The standard way to clean the inside of the machine is the put some detergent into the water tank, but a blind (no holes) basket portafilter in, and run the machine for a while. That same procedure will apply with the DE1 too. There'll be a need for periodic decalcification as well, just like any water heating machine.

That is the standard way to de calcify a machine - not to clean it. Cafiza and other coffee "detergents" are specified for soaking and for backflushing. I am not sure it is even allowed to use it through the pump - and never through any plastic tubing/reservoirs.

Looking at the Cafiza SDS it has pretty strong corrosive components as well as Class 4 Toxic components (possibly the reason it should only be used for cleanable parts - like the 3 way and tube).

decent_espresso wrote:Here's the latest iteration on the manual controls of the DE1.

In this version, we've covered the two side switches (steam and hot water) with a silicone sleeve.

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I'm really liking the current paddle rendering. Also nice idea to add the silicone sleeves. Just wondering, but will there be a conversion kit available to transform the DE1 to the paddle version if one were so inclined to jump on the initial release but really wants the paddle?

Unfortunately, now that we've moved to side switches (instead of an all-in-one-multi-paddle) it's not going to be possible to have an upgrade kit. The new switches for hot water and steam mean that the front splash panel needs to have cut outs, and there need to be switch mounts (and place for them) on the inside. Also, the paddle is going to likely going to need a new group head cover assembly, with a wiring harness going back into the chassis.

So, no, unfortunately we're not going to be able to field upgrade the DE1 into a DE1PRO.

A possibility (I'm thinking "out loud" here) would be that for people who buy the DE1PRO, we send then a DE1 now, and we pay to swap those customers out with the DE1PRO when it comes out.

Hi,
It' s really a interesting machine you're working on here Decent Espresso. I like the fact you're so open to end users opinions in your development process, can't recall I've ever seen that before.

One thought I have about the water tank located beneath the machine
Have you considered the option to add a filter in the water tank? Like the ones you attach to inlet water tubing that are very common for tank machines to prevent scale build-up. Diameter of these are often around 5cm and this would really increase "dead-volume" in the tank to make sure the filter is always under water.

Brengen82 wrote:Have you considered the option to add a filter in the water tank? Like the ones you attach to inlet water tubing that are very common for tank machines to prevent scale build-up. Diameter of these are often around 5cm and this would really increase "dead-volume" in the tank to make sure the filter is always under water.

I have talked to Brita to find out if we could make our tank accept their water filters, because I thought that a charcoal water filter would benefit the espresso machine in a number of ways. They were a bit confused about why I was calling but it turned out that there wasn't a problem if we wanted to do it. However, it would be pretty ugly to have a big plastic filter in the side tank.

Under the machine, where the water tank is now living, the shape isn't right to accommodate a filter, so what I'd recommend is that you use a Brita water pitcher to filter the water that fill the tank with.