hi: have been pulling shots on a new GS3 paddle. it's great, but i'm finding a lot of condensation on the inside of the grouphead cap. is this normal? seems to be problematic given there are wires in there. so am a little worried.

thanks in advance to anyone who can comment.

-sam

If it's new, why are you opening it up at all?

marshall: the instructions said i had to bleed the air out of the system before running it. that means taking the plastic cap off and loosening a 5mm allen bolt with the supplied wrench. just doing as the manual said. the tech guy at chris coffee said to do this as well. after the first run, i notice some water droplets through the cap vent (since i'd been looking at it). took the cap off again to find a bunch of condensation inside. this has happened 3 times so far (which is every run). also, when warming up, the drain into the drip pan spits a lot of steam and water droplets. not sure if this is a problem, but was wondering just the same. thx, -sam

After you bled the air out, did you tighten it up again?

yes. absolutely tight. there's a hexagonal piston that rises when you shift the paddle to on. perhaps the steam is coming out of there? i will check tomorrow morning with AM coffee rounds.

samster wrote:marshall: the instructions said i had to bleed the air out of the system before running it. that means taking the plastic cap off and loosening a 5mm allen bolt with the supplied wrench. just doing as the manual said. the tech guy at chris coffee said to do this as well. after the first run, i notice some water droplets through the cap vent (since i'd been looking at it). took the cap off again to find a bunch of condensation inside. this has happened 3 times so far (which is every run). also, when warming up, the drain into the drip pan spits a lot of steam and water droplets. not sure if this is a problem, but was wondering just the same. thx, -sam

There are two obvious things that this could be:

(1) The 5mm Allen bolt was not tightened down enough, and each time the boiler pressurizes you get some water coming out which then vaporizes due in part due to how hot the top of the group gets;

(2) The paddle valve will itself leak from the top when pressurizing if its O-Ring seals are not working properly. This is considered a "normal maintenance" item after 6-9 months service in home use. This becomes noticeable first by leakage through the valve at the top of the group when the group is pressurizing. Ultimately, the old O-rings need to be removed and new, lubricated ones put in their place. As a new machine, this should not be happening now, but it certainly is within the realm of possibility.

Both of these problems can be diagnosed by removing the top plastic cap the next time you turn the machine on, then watching what happens as the machine gets up to temperature and pressurizes.

My opinion is that especially because of #2, that this machine may not be well suited to operation on a timer.

As to the last issue, you are describing the normal behavior of the over pressure valve that exits into the drip tray on the right side of the machine as you face it. This valve is adjustable per the instructions in the manual. It should be adjusted so that the boiler pressure does not exceed 12 bar on the front panel gauge. You can use a wrench to adjust this valve appropriately so that the boiler pressurizes correctly but does not exceed 12 bar. If the valve is set too high, then you lose some of the safety margin on the boiler. If set too low, below the desired shot extraction pressure (around 9 bar) then you will not be able to extract espresso with standard pressures.

ken

marshall and ken: thanks to both. warming up the machine with the cap off, i can see water seeping out of the bleed nut. but it's as tight as it can be.

i will let the machine cool and re tighten in the morning. but really, it's as tight as it can be so not sure where this will lead.

thanks again,
-sam

Try taking the copper washer off and either replace it with a new one, I think that my machine came with a couple of spares, or anneal the current washer as below.

http://www.motorcycle.co.uk/reference-m...shers.aspx

Regards
Eric

Get a Silvia and spend the $5,000 difference on a cruise.

problem fixed. loosened and then retightened when cold. not sure why it works now but will keep fingers crossed. despite what i claimed above, it obviously wasn't as tight as it could be.

will pass on the cruise.