Thanks, Linny.

If anyone's steam tip does not have an o-ring between it and the steam wand you may have some steam squirting through since it won't be an air-tight seal. If your machine did not come with an o-ring for the steam wand like there is on the hot water tap then I suggest you ask Salvatore to send you one or run to the hardware store and get a small box for about $1. I believe the o-rings I bought have an inner diameter of 1/4 inch or maybe less (they stretch). You can find these in the sink repair area. You can always unscrew the water tap head and measure that o-ring to find the correct size. I was having a lot of trouble getting microfoam until I installed the o-ring. I noticed one day, with sunlight streaming through the kitchen window, that when I opened the steam knob and looked at it from the side I could see steam shooting sideways from between the tip and wand. This was making extra bubbles on the surface of my milk.

Even a little teflon tape works, but it can get gunky and it's hard to wrap it neatly around such a small thread-area.

Can you folks tell me what kind of grinders you use and on what setting with your One? I have an old Pavoni burr that I am sure has lost its ability to change grinds. Ugh.
I need a new one but don't want to spend more than $300. Is this possible?

Oh and I sent in me machine back to Salvatore b/c I was having irregular pump fills. Got it back (with a new reservoir cap) and so far so good. Today, the pump went too long again. I will refill with filtered tap water rather than spring water and see what happens.

I think it was Vince who said the pressure for the steam valve was too high. Does this explain my difficulty in achieving microfoam? I only have one tip for my steam valve too. Am I missing one?

Zoomchick,
The pressurestat is at the rear of the machine. There is a little yellow dot on top, if you remove that you will see a metal adjustment piece like a screw head. Use a wide flat screwdriver to turn it. There is a marking right there that shows which direction to turn to go up or down. You want to give it one full turn in the down direction, that should lower it .1 bar.

If you need a new grinder, and you probably will, the least expensive one I could recommend is one of the Ascaso grinders at 1st-Line.com or a Rancilio Rocky. The Ascaso is under $300.

The One Black should come with two tips. One has two holes and one is cone shaped and has one hole. The one hole tip is actually more difficult to get microfoam with for newbies. You may have issues getting microfoam if your steam wand doesn't have an o-ring between the tip and the stem. I wrote about the issue in one of my previous posts not too far back in this thread.

You may just be keeping the water tap open too long. The OB needs 90 seconds to recover for each cup that comes out of the water tap, i.e., the auto-fill will not kick in until 90 seconds or so after you close the valve. If you try to get more liquid than a cup or so then it's starts getting a little weird. I don't understand the mechanics of why, but Wendy confirmed to me that was normal.

As for the tips, Vince and I disagree a bit about that. IMO the cone tip is superior in every way. Rookie or not. I could always get foam with the other tip, but I could never get good foam. I almost always get good stuff with the little tip. And the shipped pressure is fine for me. I don't need or want to alter the pstat.

IMO grinders are way more important than the espresso maker. I have a Mazzer SJ and a MACAP7 at home. Both are great. $900 for both of them. one used. one closeout. I won't go back to lesser grinders, nor am I fit to advise on them.

Looks like I need to ask Wendy for the one-hole tip and an o-ring. I just unscrewed the factory tip (2-hole) and no o-ring and there was a floss-like white material that came off easily coated with some old, browned milk. Now I know....
I will look into other grinders too.
I have been so disappointed b/c I still haven't gotten the beautiful vortex pull I used to get with my Pavoni Europiccola.

After backflushing today, I let some water run out of the brew head and it flowed in 4-6 drip spots, not one steady stream. Is this normal? Reservoir is full and pressure is at 1.2.

zoomchick,

Is what you are experiencing similar to a problem I reported here?

Apparently the pump had an air lock. I drained the reservoir as Dan had suggested but didn't find anything out of the ordinary. After refilling the tank I operated the pump without a pf in place. The air in the inlet moved quickly through and water flowed as it had prior to the no-flow condition. The problem has not reoccurred.

Bests,
Mickey

Mickey,
That sounds eerily similar. Thing is, it was sent back to Salvatore (thus emptied of water), and it's still happening though at a much slower rate. I hate intermittancy.

This is what it looks like. A bit anemic. It's obviously more pronounced when I use my naked pf.
With the naked and double, no crema. I believe this is due to my inferior grinder. By next week this should change. I think I will go for the Baratza Vario. (crosses fingers)



Just curious, Mickey, what number is your OB? Mine is 139.

zoomchick wrote:After backflushing today, I let some water run out of the brew head and it flowed in 4-6 drip spots, not one steady stream. Is this normal? Reservoir is full and pressure is at 1.2.

Looks fine to me. How water beads as it leaves an unpressurized screen might change due to all sorts of reasons. Temp, particles on or in the screen, etc... I bet your machine is fine.

Tricie,

I have #151.

As for rattles, the most annoying noise during pump operation, to me, is the open contact pstat, i.e. at pressure. As time permits I'm going to look at decoupling the pstat from the chassis. I also think that the buzzing while the contacts are closed can't be good for the current carrying set (of three.)

I'm running at 1.1 with Black Cat...just fwiw.

Oh, and I only received the two hole tip. With both open all I could make (as a total beginner) was very hot milk... After plugging one of the holes, I can at least make something resembling microfoam.

Bests,
Mickey