I believe that I was one of the first in Canada to have a GS/3 delivered. My serial number is 54. I received it on June 29, 2007. The rumor that I have been hearing is that the hold up in the USA have to do with underwriters certifiying the various parts of the GS/3, as opposed, in Canada, to certifying the whole machine at once.

The GS/3 has had NSF approval for several months. http://www.esiespresso.com/dept.aspx?d_id=25138 . I have been on the waiting list since June, and the NSF listing has been on this page since then. Who has a link for Underwriter's Lab? My last email from ESI Espresso/Franke on 9/20 stated:

the machine is coming to the US. its just a matter of waiting for the UL approval. what I THINK is that its been such a long time for the approval to happen, it couldn't really be that much longer. but i could totally be wrong, because i don't work for the UL nor have i ever been involved in anything like this. the machine in my opinion is definitely worth waiting for.

Strange as it may seem the web link for the Underwriters Laboratory is ul.com. Once there you can access their on line directory. Using GS3 will not work. You can use La Marzocco SRL and you will get three folders. One is for Canada-which surprisingly does not list the GS3. If you open the USA folder you see several La Marzocco machines. UL apparently groups their listings into folders. You can go further by calling the number during normal working hours. You may get lucky or if it is the norm have a book to read and then I doubt you will get any info on a pending listing. Also, UL sometimes uses independent research labs and if this is this case they won't know until they get the lab report. And if the hold up is a part that La Marzocco does not manufacture then the company that makes the part has to get the UL first. I know of at least 3 machines waiting for their UL because of a heating coil company waiting for their UL. As a side note here the UL has changed its requirements for the way certain heating coils are attached to the boilers.

All I can say try. I have tried my government ties with no success. Also, I know that there are several us on this list who have been on the La Marzocco GS3 waiting list for at least 2 year. So chin up and welcome to the "Waiting Game".

Am I the only one out there who sees a parallel between this whole GS3 waiting game and that awful book many of us (now) middled aged folks were forced to read in high school?

ken

lud wrote: Excerpt from Apr 24, 2007 post:
Expecting delivery of the GS/3 any day now, knock on wood (Distributor told me it landed in Toronto, Canada late last week and its clearing customs--from Italy, not ESI. UL stickers to come later).

Just celebrated my 5 month anniversary with the GS/3 and still very happy. My local distributor has been pretty good at keeping me informed with the latest news. I was just there on Friday to pick up a new filter basket, and they didn't mention that UL had yet been received. The deal was that we were given the option of taking delivery of the unit back in April, sans UL, but we would get the stickers once approved.

Incidentally, I had a bit of a recurring mishap with the steam wand a few months ago.
I was using it one day, and all of a sudden, the wand just went limp, so to speak. My distributor ordered me a replacement part, but in the meantime, I basically had to hold the wand in place everytime I wanted to steam. I couldn't wait, so I opened her up, studied the detailed pdf, and discovered that a washer with external teeth is all that was holding approximately 70lbs of spring pressure (which gives you resistance as you move the steam wand side-to-side, and up and down) in place. What had happened through a bit of use (I steamed maybe 3-4 times a week) was that the external teeth on the washer had partially worn through an internal ridge within the housing that held the spring in place. I was able to fix it myself 3-4 times (where I discovered the spring load) before the internal housing which holds the spring assembly finally bought it (the teeth had now fully worn through the ridge). Low and behold, a few days later, my distributor received the part, came to the house and replaced it. Instead of the washer with teeth, it now uses a much beefier spring washer/C-clamp and its held in place since then (with more frequent use as well). My distributor mentioned that it had happened to someone else as well, but I am guessing the units they are producing now all use the spring washer so hopefully, no else has this problem. If it does happen to you, be rest assured, a solution is at hand.

One thing is, I am getting lazy with home-roasting as of late. Good news on the career front has kept me super busy, and now that Matt has opened up Manic Coffee, Black Cat and Kid-O is just is a short drive away.

altoCalgary wrote: 1. What is a rotary 'vane flutter' profile and how is it detected?

If you taste espresso from a lever machine (with a skilled barista working it of course) there is a character to the mouthfeel that I had only experienced from such machines before tasting espresso from an experimental linear hydraulic pump.
Even the best rotary pumps create "pulse" in pressure. This is, of course, dramatically minimized due to the small diameter plumbing.

altoCalgary wrote: 2. What does 'low water debt' refer to on the GS/3?

To quote Jim on the subject (grin)... "the first 10 second's flow from the group, including the boiling, bubbling water, ... includes all the restrictions in the flow (gicleurs, etc), and is based on not destroying the puck with too much or choking the shot with too little flow. "

altoCalgary wrote: 3. Have you changed any of your thoughts about the GS/3 since doing your review?

Yes.
I had the chance to work with two other early prototype machines and realized that my one was definitely one of the better prototypes (if not the best).
Hand built machines are this way.
There are things about the production version that I like more (some of the fixes made are great) but overall I don't think it's really improved quantitatively.
I'd probably prefer to own that prototype I had to any of the early run of commercial machines (though, of course, my bet would be that the second run will be far superior to the prototypes).

Thanks for taking time to respond to my questions, Chris.

What serial number of the GS/3 represents the transition to the second generation?

Ron

All the fixes mentioned by Teme is implemented in my GS/3 which has # 13x

Kim

Kim,

By serial number 13x, I assume you mean 131, 132, 133... Am I right? If that is the case, at #54, I wonder which fixes I have missed?

Ron

altoCalgary wrote:By serial number 13x, I assume you mean 131, 132, 133... Am I right?

Yup, you are right As an old habit from other gear, I never reveal my serial numbers publicly, though I'm not sure if it matters in this case ...

Kim