I too use the Intermatic 15A digital timer. Comes on at 6:30 and about an hour later when I'm making the morning espresso Anita is perfect. It also turns off at 8:30 in case I forget. You can press on the front to toggle on/off. The weekend programming can be different than the week day programming. Nifty unit.

Mark

I like the timers, but they are pretty ugly and would be visible against the black slate of our backsplash, so I don't use one (concession to aesthetics & important to my wife).

Frustrated. Morning cappuccinos are tolerable. Espresso is not drinkable. Since it's likely that I'll be able to get the wrenches before I can get some descaler, we'll see what's under the hood.

Just another data point - this same "problem" occurred with Anita this morning and I LOVED IT. About 1/3 of the way through the shot, brew pressure instantly dropped from ~8.5 to 7.0, the vibe pump sounded dead quite (you rotary owners would be jealous as hell) and the cappy was DELICIOUS.

I immediately yanked the cover during the shot and checked/wiggled the tank hoses - no change. Off the top of my head, I suspect that the "problem" is with the mystery valve attached to the snout of the Ulka pump. This valve is designed to (probably amoungst other things) allow the Ulka to initially have full flow. Again, off the top of my head, SOME machines, several years back, had problems creating sufficient suction to initiate flow and the installation of this valve solved that problem.

I do plan on investigating a little more. As a side note, the valve I am speaking of has a plastic housing on Vibiemme and a brass housing on Anita. Various parts catalogs I have seen refer to this valve with slightly different terminology. Pic of valve below and proper credit to CafeIke for email discussions we had about this valve about a year ago.

Bex wrote:I like the timers, but they are pretty ugly and would be visible against the black slate of our backsplash, so I don't use one (concession to asthetics & important to my wife).

Cut off her lattes for a week. She'll come around.
If she needs more convincing, tell her it's 'green'

A bit of masking tape and a tin of flat black krylon would serve up a matching timer in a jiffy.
Or disassemble it and have the shell chromed to match the Vibiemme. A bit of steel wool on the chrome and it'll match MaxH. Where there's a will, there's a way.

erics wrote:Just another data point - this same "problem" occurred with Anita this morning and I LOVED IT. About 1/3 of the way through the shot, brew pressure instantly dropped from ~8.5 to 7.0, the vibe pump sounded dead quite (you rotary owners would be jealous as hell) and the cappy was DELICIOUS.

I immediately yanked the cover during the shot and checked/wiggled the tank hoses - no change. Off the top of my head, I suspect that the "problem" is with the mystery valve attached to the snout of the Ulka pump. This valve is designed to (probably amoungst other things) allow the Ulka to initially have full flow. Again, off the top of my head, SOME machines, several years back, had problems creating sufficient suction to initiate flow and the installation of this valve solved that problem.

I do plan on investigating a little more. As a side note, the valve I am speaking of has a plastic housing on Vibiemme and a brass housing on Anita. Various parts catalogs I have seen refer to this valve with slightly different terminology. Pic of valve below and proper credit to CafeIke for email discussions we had about this valve about a year ago.
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Yes, it's only since pulling & resetting the OPV that the taste quality has been awful. The pressure drops before did not seem to affect taste quality and now I'm wishing I never fooled around with it.

In the long run, the knowledge gained about the machine will stand you in good stead.

erics wrote:... the vibe pump sounded dead quite (you rotary owners would be jealous as hell) and the cappy was DELICIOUS.

Dead quiet and pulling an espresso on an Anita! Boy would I love to replicate this.

Mark

My Anita has the same "problem." Sometimes the pump goes almost dead quiet in the middle of the shot, and the pressure drops by about 1 bar. The silent pump/pressure drop seems to coincide with when the heating element comes on. I think it's a voltage fluctuation issue, but I don't know enough about electrical stuff to be sure. Anyway, it doesn't seem to hurt the espresso, and I kind of like the silence. If only it was this quiet all the time.

Just so the thread stays on track, though - my original problem involved a pressure drop far more than 1 bar. If it had been 1 bar (especially if only when the element kicked in) I would not have been very concerned. The massive drop had me concerned that a part was failing.

And, that issue does appear to be resolved, replaced by this far worse one. I opened the machine up and inspected it again last night, and pulled the OPV screw and replaced it again. No change. The pressure starts at 8 bar (with about 3/4 normal flow), then ramps to the set pressure, and the espresso is terrible.

Ike: I checked and that's not the cap covering the boiler pressure adjustment, as that cap is still in place.

Nothing visually wrong with the plastic valve leading out of the Ulka pump, but there is evidence that a few drops of water boiled away under that valve at some point.

CafeIKE: your instructions refer to installing a Manual Overfill Switch to prevent the boiler from filling during the descale process. I do not know whether that is something I can do. Your instructions suggest that switch simplifies the process - is there a more complex version that doesn't involve messing around with the innards of the machine?