I bought a Breville Dual Boiler in 2020 and have had a good experience with it except for reliability. We make between 4-6 shots a day, and have used it for hot water for Americanos. I just bought a kettle to take the hot water work load off the BDB.

Over the almost 2 years of ownership, it has been replaced twice under warranty for leaking water/steam in the machine. I am using filtered water from a BWT pitcher to minimize scale.

The next time my BDB starts leaking or breaks, I need to decide what to do since Breville repairs are so expensive. I don't really know how to repair the BDB next time it breaks. I can't decide if I should try and learn how to make the repairs, or if I should buy a different machine that has better reliability? It seems like the BDB should be holding up better than the ~10 months or so it has been doing.

Over the yrs I've had no problem tackling any projects to fix/maintain things my way to save money/downtime, etc., but at the end of the day I like having things that will perform 100% when I need them to and do so indefinitely. Yes any espresso machine/grinder/roaster will need cleaning, a part now and then, but there's no way I'd tolerate the typical issues commonly mentioned with the BDB. Surely some owners have minimal issues for years, but I've read of LOTS of complaints with the same problems popping up and you'd think by now the 'engineers' at Breville would step it up a bit. They are clearly all about selling the bells/whistles and the compromise is there... To each their own, but no way I'd have one of those machines as the build quality/longevity is just too cheap for my moderate-heavy use and I'd look elsewhere.

I hear you. My BDB has been a solid performer over 6+ years but not without its issues. I certainly agree with the previous poster that Breville engineers need to get their act together to stop the leaking issues that haunt this machine. Is this problem easily fixable...yes. Over my time with the machine, I have replaced every 007 o-ring with AFLAS and not the standard silicone. Sure these o-rings cost 3X the price of silicone but the fix has been once and done. Could Breville use this material...sure, but for the number of BDB machines they manufacture that increase in cost might be prohibitive. As for what to do moving forward if you don't like the aspect of DIY (though really easy on this machine), the choice of a replacement machine that does everything it can do moves you up the price ladder considerably. The Sanremo YOU looks great, but its US introduction has been pushed back to 2023 and I suspect it will price out at somewhere around $6K. The AV Prima One another $6K machine is available (read the post on this machine here...its problems are noteworthy too). LM GS3 manual, Dalla Corte Mina, and probably others. They all require maintenance but maybe not with the annoying issues that come with the BDB (mostly water leaks).

Better luck on your journey moving forward.

Thanks for the reply. Is something like the Rocket Appartamento not any better?

BaristaBob wrote:I hear you. My BDB has been a solid performer over 6+ years but not without its issues. I certainly agree with the previous poster that Breville engineers need to get their act together to stop the leaking issues that haunt this machine. Is this problem easily fixable...yes. Over my time with the machine, I have replaced every 007 o-ring with AFLAS and not the standard silicone. Sure these o-rings cost 3X the price of silicone but the fix has been once and done. Could Breville use this material...sure, but for the number of BDB machines they manufacture that increase in cost might be prohibitive. As for what to do moving forward if you don't like the aspect of DIY (though really easy on this machine), the choice of a replacement machine that does everything it can do moves you up the price ladder considerably. The Sanremo YOU looks great, but its US introduction has been pushed back to 2023 and I suspect it will price out at somewhere around $6K. The AV Prima One another $6K machine is available (read the post on this machine here...its problems are noteworthy too). LM GS3 manual, Dalla Corte Mina, and probably others. They all require maintenance but maybe not with the annoying issues that come with the BDB (mostly water leaks).

Better luck on your journey moving forward.

Is it worth preemptively replacing the o-rings on a new machine? Do you get these on Amazon?

I think this question would get differing answers, but in my opinion no. It's a good idea to pop the top maybe once a month anyway just to look the machine over for anything suspicious. I thought about it, but in the end I did them one by one. The first was within the first year, then an occasional replacement, and the last o-ring about a month ago (the nasty, hard to get to, on the side of the steam boiler one). I believe you can find AFLAS o-rings on Amazon or through Granger.

Have fun on the journey.