Today I was given a gift; a used Solis Crema SL70. This is my first espresso machine (depending on if you consider moka pots espresso or not), so I have a lot to learn. Thankfully, Coffee Geek has a review that I've just found. And the manual is on line and technical documentation as well.



The previous owner told me it pulled shots well, but warned me not to use the frother because it will trip the breaker. I'll be looking for answers in the manual and review, but thought I'd pose the question here in case someone is familiar with a common issue with this machine.

Any other tips would be appreciated as well. I'll read the review and manual thoroughly before using as well. From the responses to the review it seems Coffee Geek did a great job.


Thanks,

It's a nice machine, comparable to the Silvia in shot quality; I used to have one.

-- Buy unpressurized baskets for it -- regular saeco baskets work fine.
-- It has the best frother of any single boiler machine ever, so it would be nice if you got that part working.
-- Operate it at the top of the thermostat cycle. That is, run water until the ready light goes off, then wait till it comes back on again. You can grind the coffee and prep the basket while you are doing this. Do this for every shot, there's not enough heat stored to pull two in a row.
-- There is no OPV, so avoid ristrettos: set the grind to get about 1.5 to 2 ounces in 30 seconds, no less.
-- It tastes best thoroughly warmed up, leave it on all day or give it an hour before using. The heater is armored, so there is no danger of damage.

I'm figuring this machine out a little at a time. The switches for the pump and steamer appear to be upside down (up is off, down is on). This threw me off for a bit until I realized the symbols were switched from the one in the manual. Since both the pump and steamer were on the GFI tripped.

The knob on the side seems to do nothing. In reading the manual it appears that it should allow the pump to pump through the wand rather than the filter. But it's not. The water just keeps coming through the filter no matter where the knob is. I can't tell for sure if it's standard righty/tighty valve or should be turned clockwise to go on either. The picture in the manual seems to indicate it's like a regular valve. Perhaps a line is clogged.
Now I'm cleaning the machine out. I've run some Brew Rite cleaner through it and am running clean water through now. The wand is in a cup with cleaner too, hoping to loosen anything inside.

It seems to leak just a bit through the filter before I turn the pump on. But that may be a result of me taking a while to figure it out. We'll see.

[note: edited from earlier post because of operator confusion]

For the basket - I found the Saeco Double Filter Basket Replacement. Do I want to get that, or replace the entire filter unit? I'm assuming a bottomless isn't available for this machine?

another_jim wrote:-- There is no OPV, so avoid ristrettos: set the grind to get about 1.5 to 2 ounces in 30 seconds, no less.

Check this out. Apparently they do have an OPV. However, in my noobiness, I really don't grasp what's happening with the OPV.


The knob wouldn't send water to the wand because the wand was gummed up. Stuck a toothpick up in there and it started gushing. So, it looks like everything is in order except the steamer.

The OPV is set up as a safety device, at around 18 bar and does nothing for the brew process. It can be modified, but it takes considerable experience.

When I say baskets, I mean are baskets; when I say portafilters, I mean portafilters.

Finally, experienced members do not answer questions unless the people asking have done their homework. By looking, you find the answers more quickly, and you don't waste other people's time. There is a lot of material on the SL70 on CG, since it was a popular starter machine among hobbyists about 5 to 10 years ago. I suggest you start reading.

Most of the material on CG is several years old. It's entirely possible that someone with experience with this machine has discovered a naked portafilter, or other option. Here's the basket, in case someone else needs one.


This morning I tried to pull my first shot and witnessed the OPV in operation. I really don't know if I packed the basket too tight (the "tamping" device on the machine makes it hard for my unpracticed hand to gauge), my grind was too fine or there was a pressure issue. It did drip into the cup, but that's all; just a steady drip but never a stream. The overflow ended up with more water by far than the grounds received.

So, right now, I have two main challenges - As it seems that operator error is the major cause of poor espresso, I'm assuming it's me. But if it's the valve being too weak then I'd spin my wheels trying to adjust my technique. Is there a quick test to know? One of the reasons I ask is because a thread on CG claims that the valve is closed in the factory.

I'm guessing that the steamer is likely a technical issue. Hopefully someone has faced this before and can guide me. So far I've found zero information on it though.

I've inserted a couple of links above as I discover new things about this machine. Hopefully it'll help someone. I also found that someone else has had issues with popping a GFI when attempting to steam.

Thanks for the help Jim. Still reading....

I like the SL-70, and agree with everything Jim says about it. A great starter machine. See my PID mod: http://coffeegeek.com/forums/espresso/m...ods/483402

The switches working backward is a bit troubling, and I wonder if that's related to the steam knob tripping the GFI. One of the brilliant innovations Solis made on this machine was putting a microswitch on the steam knob so that when you start steaming, the heating element goes on, helping to maintain constant steam pressure. Most other SBDU units will run out of steam pressure because when the boiler reaches steam temperature, the heating element switches off, and by the time the thermostat gets to the bottom of the dead band, the steam pressure is nil.

So, I would suspect that the apparent miswiring in the switches might be related to the microswitch tripping the GFI. I do not have my SL-70 available for opening up to look though, so you may need to puzzle it out for yourself, assuming you're modestly experienced in electrical stuff. Look at the wiring in the photo on this post: http://coffeegeek.com/forums/espresso/machines/473139#473139 and see if it matches up with yours. Another possibility is that the wire running from the microswitch to the heating element is shorting, perhaps as the result of damaged insulation...

Hi Dana,

Thank you for the info. I may have been a bit unclear. The symbols on my faceplate are accurate. Down is on and up is off. The manual has it opposite, which is more intuitive for me. Rather that stop and ponder the symbols at first, I just went along with the positions in the manual. But they are clearly working correctly and according to the symbols on my machine. Somewhere along the line Solis must have changed it, at lest for a short time period?

Once I cleared the wand of whatever had been crusted in it I got water to come out. It seems to have a pretty even flow now when I turn the knob (now I know which way it goes too. ). And turning the knob doesn't affect the GFI. The GFI trips when I turn the steam switch on, but not right away. It lasts a few minutes first. I'll test this tonight and see exactly how long it lasts before tripping. Perhaps there's a thermal issue or thermostat that's tripping it? Lacking the technical knowledge of the machine at this point, I'm not sure what to investigate, so I'm reading and reading and reading. There's a link above to where one guy replaced the boiler and it fixed the GFI problem, just a couple pages before your post in that Solis thread of Kristi's. I'm really hoping that's not the issue.

I'm just getting to your post right now (page 25) in the Solis thread on CG. I'll devour your PID right away as well. Thanks!

Dana, cool mod. Thanks for documenting it.

Tonight I was going to see how long it took for the GFI to trip. After preparing a timer I made sure the machine was nice and hot, flicked the steamer switch on and waited... and waited... and waited, then the light went on. I turned the knob and voilà, steam. Why?

Now, I seem to remember reading that it's good to put the steaming wand in a cup of cleaner before turning on the steamer because it will suck the cleaner into the wand. Does this mean that the steamer pulls air in through the wand for making steam? If so, it is possible that a wand that's so gunked with stuff that it won't spray (not even a dribble) might cause some sort of heating or overload when the steamer can't pull air in? Could this cause the GFI to trip? It does seem that the knob and now the steamer all started working simply from removing the crud from inside the wand.

Now to the main problem, the feller standing in front of the machine who aspires to pull good shots. As I noted above, the machine choked. I ground the beans in my Spong at a setting that's pretty fine, but works fine in my moka pot. It might not be ideal for the moka pot from what I'm learning about coffee though. So I may be grinding too fine to make espressos?
I also tamped it good with the built in tamper, so may have over-tamped. I've tamped a few shots with a tamper, but I compensated for the awkardness of pushing up from underneath by placing my hand on top of the machine. I could easily have compressed it too much, though I tried not to be too forceful.
Finally, the OPV: In reading the CG thread Kristi put together the claim is that the machines come with the OPV locked. Since I did get flow from the OPV I'm wondering if it's been adjusted. If so, should I assume it's been adjusted correctly?

With the above considerations, what would be the most logical step in learning to pull a good shot? Am I better off starting with coarser grounds, tamping more lightly or something I haven't considered?

According to Kristi's thread on CG, it looks like there's another filter option too, found here. If I understand correctly, the bottom can be hole sawed out without compromising the integrity of the portafilter, making a naked portafilter. Is it safe to assume that the same baskets fit this unit?