Bob, the boiler is indeed quite massive at ~6L, but it has a heating element that seems to draw about 18 amps. I haven't noticed that it takes all that long to heat up. IIRC, it's up to temp in <20 min, but takes somewhat longer to get to "steady state," where flushing and brewing are predictable, something like an hour. This is similar to a standard E61 machine, I think. I haven't investigated it much yet, but I expect the grouphead thermometer will make it easier to cheat good early shots out of the machine after 30 minutes or so. It's on a very heavy duty A/C timer; this time of year, it turns on in the morning and off in the evening. As the heat hits Houston and I actually turn on the A/C, I have no doubt I will turn it on somewhat less often then.

Thanks for all the kind comments on the machine. Hotrodding this espresso machine has definitely become a fun little hobby. Sometimes I wish I could be Paul Pratt.

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It takes a good hour to get to operating temperature. To get to what I call equilibrium, where every part that is going to get hot has gotten hot and is not longer sucking heat, the frame, bodywork, all the tubing, thermally stable, an hour and a half. You can speed heat by doing several flushes and venting steam every 10 or so min. I just leave my machine on 24/7 and descale twice a year, spring and fall.

Dang, Sylvain... Those are ridiculously tall!

I've fitted mine today, and it's a really interesting feeling. Adding an inch and a half really helps that "commercial" feeling of having an elevated group. It also, indeed, helps the "cleanability" of the space beneath the machine.

Anyway, here they are. The one on the left is the one for the front left leg, and it's slightly shorter than the rest. These are solid Aluminum, cut on a lathe with a 5 degree taper They're about 2.75" tall, more like 2.9" total with the feet.



My friend cut out a recess in the base of the foot and tapped it for Mazzer grinder feet--something I can replace easily, and something I think will last a good long time:



Here's how the new setup looks with the legs:



I really liked the original Elektra design for the legs, and I wanted to stay true to it, but adding a little bit more height to the legs. I am really, really pleased with the outcome.

So much nicer than the plastic chromed Elektra feet. Nicely done on the tapper.

Mark

Hi Nicholas,

looking good!:)

I was rather disappointed with the plastic legs as I thought they were metal. Still I haven't got skilled friends like you so I will have to live with the original ones.

Regards,
dsc.

The legs on my A3 are stainless, and stock. Must have been an older version thing.

Must be, Dave. I thought I had read that they were "chromed" plastic in Dan's Bench Post, but it turns out I am wrong on that count--it's not specific. I seem to remember tapping on the chrome legs of the display model at my local Williams-Sonoma and realizing that they were plastic, but I am not even sure about this now. I must have read it in one of the restoration threads.

It would be interesting to confirm that this is some kind of older version thing, or what. I know it can be a little confusing. In my searches for parts, etc. I have found all kinds of little variations between the late 90s/early 2000s versions and the newer ones. The big differences are obviously that the newer ones have hose connections rather than pipes going to the pump, which I assume is for vibration dampening, much better-built portafilters, solenoid valve cover, and mesh drip tray rather than stamped stainless. Obviously the older ones came with ~1.5" black rubber feet; Newer ones have the option of 3/4" short black rubber feet or the nice 2.5" chromed plastic/metal (?) legs. If you guys feel like pulling a foot and taking a picture and posting it with the year of your Elektra, I am sure posterity will appreciate your help clarifying this. Tom, yours is from ~2005, right?

Hi Nicholas,

yeah mine is 2004 or 2005 and I do have cheap crappy plastic feet. It looks like Elektra switched to full SS ones quite recently according to what Dave said.

The pump hoses on my are 80% stainless braided rubber hoses and 20% copper pipes with compression fittings at their ends. The one that goes from the outlet of the pump to the rest of the machine has a male thread on one end which goes through a hole in the back rack on which the pstat and some tubes sit. The copper pipes with compression fittings that attach to the pump are bent into a U shape to eliminate 180deg bends on the hose.

Regards,
dsc.

Strike that. I unscrewed one of the legs on my machine and it is chromed plastic. I must have been thinking of the VBM, it has steel feet. Man that machine is heavy. Hold the front end up with one hand while you unscrew a leg, look at it, then screw it back on. Doesn't help that the studs are a mile long.

Nicholas, you think it looks good now, wait until you get these in the mail




I love having a wood shop.

*snap*

This just keeps getting more and more awesome. I'm really looking forward to seeing this thing completed.

Thanks, Dave!

Well, here goes a requested update for Tom and Mark... photos of my pump outboarding.



It's a little complicated. I use filtered water at the tap next to the machine, so that adds a bit to it. However, I've done some work toward simplifying the setup, and I think that it's more or less paid off. Here's a quick explanation of how this works: In the center, you can see the inlet from the mains. It elbows, and there's a gate valve (main shutoff for the setup) and enters the top fitting of the softener. Softened water exits the bottom fitting, and enters the carbon filter. From there, it goes through the regulator, and over to the main junction on the right: Accumulator, sink line, and pump inlet. That tee right after the pressure regulator serves to bleed pressure into a container when I shut things off, and also serves as an inlet for a water tank when I want to descale the machine.

For now, the pump is mounted by zip-tie to several layers of melamine foam wrapped in a plastic bag, and held against that rubber mat. It rocks around a little on startup, but there's actually surprisingly little of that. It works very well for a temporary setup. In a few weeks I am hoping to make my own mounts for the pump--I can't find a place that will sell me a motor mount without a motor, alas. Another detail: you can see that my check valve is installed right prior to the pump. Stefano is sending me a brass check valve that is intended to go on the pump's outlet. This will be good, because the pressure on the line actually hovers at 7-8 bars when the pump is off, and I'd rather avoid having that pressure on the pump's sealing bearings all the time.



As for wiring, I ran wires from the brain box out to the control side of a SSR, which you can see mounted above. I wired an extension cord to the load line of that SSR and connected it to the original plug assembly of the pump. That works pretty nicely, one plug to disconnect the pump. For now I have mounted the SSR to the wall of the cabinet, but I am planning on putting that all in a project box and wiring it with no exposed wire. I mounted it to the wall to keep it out of any water, of course.



Up inside the machine, I hooked up the braided hose line to the main inlet junction for the machine. I got a 1/4" F BSPT to 3/8 M BSPT adaptor to do this, and it worked relatively without a hitch, other than some stupid leaks on the boiler inlet valve assembly... I actually ripped out some threads on the junction (far up it) trying to tighten down the nut that's used to set the thing, so I replaced it with copious amounts of Teflon tape. This looks a little tacky, but I'm OK with it for now.



Pretty simple inside the machine, eh? I bet it's ventilating a lot better, too. It's really nice to have the pump put far away from this environment. Hopefully that will extend its life. You can also see my zip-ties holding the hose and pump wiring together in the photo above.

I guess that's it for now... comments welcome.

Hi Nicholas,

and you said it looks bad:) good job, even though it's not completed.

I would love to be able to mount stuff to the inside of the cupboard, but as it is not mine I can't do that. Instead I used adhesive cable tie bases which hold the power cable 60cm above the bottom of the cabinet which is more than enough for protection.

That's some bad news with those threads on that junction, but I know that threaded joints can be tricky. I recently bought some Loctite 542 thread sealant to get rid of teflon tape for good and hopefully will have clean nice leak-free threaded joints on the pump.

Regards,
dsc.

I like how much space you have in there. Have you installed the new handles yet?

Mark

shadowfax wrote:the pressure on the line actually hovers at 7-8 bars when the pump is off, and I'd rather avoid having that pressure on the pump's sealing bearings all the time.

I initially was thinking that was due to the line locking up after a pump cycle occurs, but I'm not sure. Does the line from the pump to the solenoid always have that much pressure after the pump shuts off? That's a lot of pressure on that hose!

Honestly, it didn't do that before I outboarded the pump. I had suspected it had to do with the ~1/60 s switching delay on the SSR I added, as well as the increased volume of water "after the pump" (in the hose), but these ideas seem less and less reasonable the more I think about them. Perhaps it's that the hose flexes much more than copper pipe does, and it holds the pressure longer than can be relieved between the pump shutoff and the closing of the solenoid valve. I assume it also has something to do with thermal expansion, since the line is fully open to the heat exchanger. I was actually seeing it drift up over 12 bars the first night, but then I took apart and descaled my thermal expansion valve (aka the OPV that shouldn't open during brewing), which I forgot to do when I originally descaled everything else. Now it tops out at 8 bars at idle now.

Anyway, I have seen very similar behavior to this on a Synesso (pump pressure remaining high after a shot pulls), so I am not hugely worried about it. I believe these braided hoses are rated for quite high operating pressures.

Sounds compelling. I was mostly curious as I have somewhat the same problem on my GS3. The brew boiler gauge will sometimes crawl above 12bar, even though the expansion valve is set correct - well set correctly as far as I can tell. I was told to set it at initial power up on a cold boiler, and as the machine warms up.

I wonder if a short delay on closing the solenoid after the pump shuts off would relieve the pressure. I know those lines can hold some pressure, but if that line blew, the place would be flooded.

Sounds like your GS3 has the same anomaly that I witnessed on my friend's Synesso. I think delaying solenoid shutoff could help, but that's easier said than done, and it would suck to get backflow of coffee water into the water line (the risk of delaying the shutoff). If I were you, I would try adjusting the OPV down when heated up. Even if it does open a little bit during brewing, it's easy enough to turn it back up, and the flow rate of a rotary pump is so high that even if the valve does open up it will still be able to hold the brew pressure.

As for lines blowing: that is extremely rare, and I believe it's more related to crappy fittings shearing than anything else. What's much more likely is springing a small, slow leak. You could end up with a big puddle, but the chances of flooding your house are pretty low. If you're concerned, you should look for one of those systems that shuts off the water supply if it detects a leak. IIRC, there's a thread on HB about it.

I already have a leak detector. To be honest, I was just trying to show concern about the line bursting. Granted it's pretty unlikely, but it's also worth our few words discussing it. I usually see those types of lines burst at the joint between the fitting and the tube itself, as you said.

Wouldn't the check valve keep the water from flowing backwards? I would assume the pressure after the pump stops would continue to flow forward, through the solenoid, and out the OPV, or just overfilling the boiler slightly given it's a HX.

I was going to mess with that expansion valve this weekend. As it sits, it's not impacting the spro, so it's been a low priority.