Note that in the original post quoted below Simon is seeing a .8 bar steam boiler pressure drop from 2 bar during a shot. What's the P'stat deadband? .2 bar? The 1600w element should be kicking in around 1.8bar yet the pressure continues to drop to 1.2b. All this from the small amount of water required for a shot that is entering the HX? Does every Mini owner see a .8 bar drop during a shot or does the steam boiler recover once the P'stat kicks in?

Simon345 wrote:Noticing something during a brew cycle without any steaming or use of the hot water tap: the manometer for the steam boiler drops significantly, ie from 2 bar down to maybe 1.2 bar by the end of the end of the brew. Being a dual boiler, why would this be? Is this consistent with the behavior for other owners?

Apologies I should have been more precise in my wording. I originally saw a slight manometer drop when making a shot, so tested a more extreme case to prove to myself whether running water through the group head had an effect on the steam boiler because I didn't think it should. Volume of water flush over the 15 seconds without pf loaded might be in the order of 4 ounces. With a loaded pf the drop is much more gradual and does recover quickly

Have had some time now to play with the temp adjustment. Thoughts:

1. I would have preferred a simple display that indicates target temp, along with 2 buttons to increase and decrease temp. I dont think that necessarily makes me a lesser person. The click wheel is clumsy, simple as that. The idea of a manual click wheel to control a digital PID screams out at me that the marketing department insisted on having enough annoyances in the 'cheap' $4,500 model that a portion of users would still aspire to purchase the GS3.

2. The wheel feels cheap when its rotated, particularly when it reaches the end of its travel in either direction and seems to spring back to the touch instead of coming to a solid stop. At this price point in the prestige equipment market the ability to make coffee isn't enough, the machine should comprehensively 'feel' like a $4,500 machine.

3. There should be an update to the user manual that describes clearly how to adjust temp

4. The only number on my temp wheel is 96c which was at the 6 o'clock position when the machine was first delivered. From there, there are just un-labelled notches in the direction of red or blue. Would certainly prefer if it has to be a wheel, that at least each degree Celsius is marked. This makes going back to a known good temp for a given coffee way too clumsy. You cant easily just go back to 92c with a batch of beans because that worked for the beans last time. You have to remember that it was 16 clicks or whatever into the blue zone from the 96 marker. Thats just silly.

5. The temp does seem to change quickly. Set as far as it would go into the blue, and waiting a couple of mins the shot was sour and lemony. Set as far as it would go and all the way into the red after just a couple of mins the group head was hissing steam during a flush to reflect the approx 102c it was set to.

I do like the overall machine though. Apart from a some complaints re: the approach to temp adjustment, the machine feels very solid. The fit and finish is great. The steam is as amazing as I had heard pre-purchase, and the coffee is very tasty.

^^^This^^^ was very useful.

For those of us that are spoiled by machines with, "what you set is what you get", digital temperature control.... Not that I could do it myself, but it ought to be fairly easy to wire up a digital display and temp controller, a-la the Cyncra, to replace the clunky rotary temp adjuster. Make it small and put it on a long enough cable bundle and you can hide it out of sight.

Something about a "paddle" on a machine that does not have true paddle mechanism inside it, bugs me. If all it is, is a switch, give me a switch... button or toggle, doesn't matter.

Looking at SCG's LMLM page, it said that it's 120v. Is it available in 220? 220v, with 220v boiler management, would be the kind of upgrade I'm after, as well as plumb-in.

-Peter

Sorry for just dropping in but here's more clarification on what the Linea Mini's thermal stability is.

It's been beaten to death....Dan spent an entire weekend with the LMLM and the empirical data he discovered suggests the standard deviation on the thermal stability was .7, which is pretty much as good as you will find. Add to that commercial grade construction on the internals and better steam performance of machines costing three times as much and you have IMO one of the top two or three home machines in the industry. I can literally produce the best micro foam I have ever seen in five seconds, and bring the machine up to temperature in less than 10 minutes. You won't find a better tuned machine in it's class. Naysayers come and go, and are quick to suggest that it's hideous, difficult to work on, display lights are too bright, lacks a digital read out/PID etc. What these same naysayers can't argue however, is that there is a better performing machine on the market anywhere.

pcrussell50 wrote: Something about a "paddle" on a machine that does not have true paddle mechanism inside it, bugs me. If all it is, is a switch, give me a switch... button or toggle, doesn't matter.

-Peter

The only ones that are not "switches" are mechanical ones like the GS3 MP. Synesso's paddles for instance are just two direction switches.

Even tho I would prefer the manual paddle with its options I have no issue going with a paddle switch. I personally do not like the look of most buttons and rocker switches, they remind me of cheep machines in low end cafes. I think the machine looks cleaner and less like a Linea EE because of the paddle.

thecatch83 wrote:It's been beaten to death....Dan spent an entire weekend with the LMLM and the empirical data he discovered suggests the standard deviation on the thermal stability was .7, which is pretty much as good as you will find. Add to that commercial grade construction on the internals and better steam performance of machines costing three times as much and you have IMO one of the top two or three home machines in the industry. I can literally produce the best micro foam I have ever seen in five seconds, and bring the machine up to temperature in less than 10 minutes. You won't find a better tuned machine in it's class. Naysayers come and go, and are quick to suggest that it's hideous, difficult to work on, display lights are too bright, lacks a digital read out/PID etc. What these same naysayers can't argue however, is that there is a better performing machine on the market anywhere.

+1

Well said.

thecatch83 wrote:It's been beaten to death....Dan spent an entire weekend with the LMLM and the empirical data he discovered suggests the standard deviation on the thermal stability was .7, which is pretty much as good as you will find. Add to that commercial grade construction on the internals and better steam performance of machines costing three times as much and you have IMO one of the top two or three home machines in the industry. I can literally produce the best micro foam I have ever seen in five seconds, and bring the machine up to temperature in less than 10 minutes. You won't find a better tuned machine in it's class. Naysayers come and go, and are quick to suggest that it's hideous, difficult to work on, display lights are too bright, lacks a digital read out/PID etc. What these same naysayers can't argue however, is that there is a better performing machine on the market anywhere.

Not saying you're wrong... but sometimes performance isn't everything. Sometimes (especially in a home-environment) it's the experience ("the whole package") as well. If it's hideous, difficult to work on and lacking things some people find important, it's a HUGE deal, regardless of its performance.

With that said, you can't please everyone, that's just the way it is. Some people like this, some people like that.

Hello, I have for some time issues with my Linea Mini. Maybe you guys are able to help. My routine includes a flush after I pulled a shot to clean the shower screen. Sometimes when I flush, the water seems to be way too hot. You can see that in the video below:

https://youtu.be/gf5u1zeChYA

I thought that maybe the pressure in the integrated brew group was too high and I lowered it by adjusting the expansion valve. But that didn't change anything.

What are your experiences on that?

Best