Spresso_Bean wrote:Is there an ideal setting for the pressurestat when viewing the front gauge on the Junior? I thought I read that around 1 bar or less is ideal which is why I dialed it down. The boiler fill probe is down in the boiler as much as possible but I don't have the actual measurement of the probe - I just used it the way it came and adjusted it as far into the boiler as I could so I'd guess it's filling maybe 2/3 of the way up but that's as low as I could get it without trying to find a longer probe. The occlusion, well I'm not sure how to even go about checking for that other than eliminating the other possibilities. Thanks again for any help.
Assuming the FPG is accurate, a well functioning Sirai pstat membrane should have a "deadband" of approximately 0.15 to 0.2 bar; this is not user settable, but if more than 0.2 bar, one should think along the lines of replacing the membrane, an easy repair task. If one is making a lot of milk drinks, the upper part of the deadband could be as high as 1.2bar, but I would not go any higher than 1.25 bar as the quality of the straight shots will deteriorate or you will need to use very large flushes.
If you are making straight shots primarily, then you could set the upper part of the deadband as low as 1.0 bar, but you might want it a little higher if you are going to do any milk frothing.
The autofill probe can become coated with scale, which will cause the boiler to fill to a level higher than the lowest point of the probe, which is where the autofill SHOULD shut off. Using the sight glass level in my old vibe Junior as a guide, when I drain the boiler at the lowest acceptable level (as marked "Min" on the front panel adjacent to the sightglass), I get between 8 and 10 oz. of water through the water wand (do this just after turning the machine off; since yours is connected to the mains, turn off the water so that there is no water leakage past the input solenoid into the boiler which may obscure your measurement). At the mid point I will get about 16, maybe 18 oz. If you are getting more than about 18oz out the water wand when you do this, then your boiler is filling too high.
Note that this is NOT the total amount of water in the boiler at these fill levels; it is simply what will come out passively through the water wand, when the boiler is heated up and pressurized.
ken