Hi all,

Have had my A3 for many years, but one thing that has always plagued me is the destruction of the coffee puck by the water flow from the group.

When the machine is cool, I can run the pump, and I get a nice even/gentle stream of water from the holes in the brass disc.

When the machine is HOT however, the water from the dispersion holes is uneven (more water from the back half of the disc/screen) and fast/aggressive...often destroying the integrity of the puck. So when hot, there is a lot more pressure it seems "pushing" the water out, not just pump pressure.

The flow from my machine when hot does NOT look like the "flushing" technique video shown in the Elektra A3 video in the review here on HB.

Any thoughts/suggestions?

First thought is a leak from the boiler into the HX.
When you run the pump, does the boiler pressure change significantly?
Does the hot group flow ever settle down with a long flush?

How clean are the holes? A chemical backflush isn't sufficient. I burn the baked on residue from my dispersion disc and screen every couple of months with a torch and the flushes are WAY more more controlled afterward.

I believe everthing is nice and clean, but I'll give "fire" and some extra mechanical cleaning a try...but like I mentioned, when the machine is cold, the flow from the screen/holes is nice and gentle and each hole in the block produces an even stream through the screen. I would *think* (but I could be mistaken) that would indicate that the flow path is clean. Will advise.

cafeIKE wrote:First thought is a leak from the boiler into the HX. When you run the pump, does the boiler pressure change significantly? Does the hot group flow ever settle down with a long flush?

I'll check that as well. What would you consider "significantly"? I believe that if you run the pump long enough, it does settle down...but I'll confirm that as well.

Your machine is a heat exchanger and at first the water is superheated which causes it to flash boil right as it comes out of the shower screen.

You need to perform a cooling flush before loading your pf!

Yes, I am aware of HX flushing. I am not referring to the "flash" boiling as I start the pump with overheated HX...this is after the flush....unless you flush a LOT of water.

You can audibly hear the HX boiling slow and then quiet...but there is stil a lot or fast/turbulent water from the back 1/2 of the screen.

allon wrote:What pressure is the boiler running at? What you describe sounds like regular HX flushing, if it settles down. How much water do you have to flush before it settles? 4 oz? More?

Boiler is cycling from about .85bar to about 1.1 bar. Perhaps I am just being too stingy on the flush though. I'll do some volume measurements.

keep in mind how big is the elektra boiler,
and that is a machine designed for commercial use (even if is a one group) is a machine that likes to keep working
1,1 although is a good "normal " setting more the machine seat idling more it will heat up
as mention in previous post a cold flush should bring temp back to "normal"
you can also try lowering down the pressurestat and after enough time for the group/boiler to stabilize (at LEAST one hour) see if your flow is less "steamy" without your steam power suffering
you can operate easily that unit (for home use assuming) with the pstat quite a bit lower then 1,1

OK....weirdness going on. I hooked up my Scace thermofilter to check some temperatures, and I am really low. Either something is off, or I'm losing it....I am going to start another thread on my new problem, and I'll continue this later....