Breville Dual Boiler, five+ years on - Page 60

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pcrussell50 (original poster)
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#591: Post by pcrussell50 (original poster) »

Couple of thoughts, Kev...

1) If it runs right up to 10.5 bar with a blind, (the pulsating is normal, as the spring in the OPV loads and unloads under pressure), I find it hard to believe it's the pump
BUT... nevertheless...
2) A new pump is pretty cheap on Amazon and (I paid $27 delivered, Prime). They are not some proprietary Breville pump. (Breville actually has very little proprietary stuff), just a standard Italian Ulka X5 form factor vibe pump like you have in all the prosumer Italian machines. It's probably a 40 minute job to replace the pump including cleanup and putting your tools away, if you've never done it before and are taking your time. Standard tools. No gymnastics. So changing pumps is a pretty cheap experiment to try if your intuition is leading you that way.
3) Maybe remove and open up the OPV and put a tiny dab of food safe silicone grease on the plunger to make sure it slides free and easy without sticking
4) A dark horse would be the solenoid. That's a little more expensive. $40 plus shipping from replacement parts. ETA: Holy crap! Looks like it's gone up to $63!?!? La Marzocco might be starting to get jealous over that even with their outrageous parts prices.

I'm at a loss for any other ideas. Try someone else's grinder? One of my friends is a friendly guy, who would make friends with some local shop barista and arrange to bring his BDB over after hours for some "fun". (He has done the Slayer mod and likes to impress others with it's capability) :wink: I'm not the sort to do that, but just saying in case you are...

-Peter
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Moka 1 Cup
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#592: Post by Moka 1 Cup »

Few days ago I mentioned that there is a leak from the steam wand of my BES920XL. Nothing major but I am planning on sending it for service.
I have also mentioned that recently the "De-Scale!" message showed up on my screen. I did a full reset, the message disappeared then it came back. I did the reset again, the message disappears and it's now back on the screen (during warming up).
Now there is third thing going on and I am not sure if this is something that was happening before, I think it is new. From time to time I get water leaking from one of the holes around the group head. I'm attaching a picture. The water seems to come out only for that hole. Not a lot of it. Just some drops but enough to notice it.
I'm not sure if all these three things are related.
The machine was received brand new in July 2019. We make 6-8 espressos per day, we steam milk 2-3 times day. We use Pavlis water only.
Again, this machine will go to service soon, so I'm posting it here just for the sake of discussion.

(BTW, if anybody wonders, the scratches on the handle of the portafilter are due to the fact that we use a Decent stand).



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pcrussell50 (original poster)
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#593: Post by pcrussell50 (original poster) »

A leak inside the machine: worn out o-ring is the usual culprit. But also could have happened from spillage when filling the reservoir from the front flapper if you poured too quickly.

What are the first four digits of your serial number? And is your machine under warranty? From the pic, it looks like an older model because I don't see the four screws around the group rim indicating the late 2017-newer design. Early-mid-2018 they went to a largely o-ringless design. Not that's a big deal because they are dead simple to replace as needed. The reason I ask about the warranty is, since the issues you are having are relatively easy fixes. So if you are paying the $350, fixed repair fee they are more likely to fix than replace your machine with a new one.

-Peter
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DaveB
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#594: Post by DaveB »

pcrussell50 wrote:The reason I ask about the warranty is, since the issues you are having are relatively easy fixes. So if you are paying the $350, fixed repair fee they are more likely to fix than replace your machine with a new one.
Assuming Monte purchased the machine as new, he shouldn't be paying any repair fees till after July 2021.
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#595: Post by Moka 1 Cup »

Thank you.
I can confirm it's covered by warranty. This is a replacement that they send me brand new in July, to replace the machine I had purchased in March last year (problem reported here: Breville Dual Boiler, five+ years on ).
I already have the shipping label and the box they sent me after I called for the leak from the steam wand. I will ship it sometime next week.
I assume they will repair it.
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pcrussell50 (original poster)
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#596: Post by pcrussell50 (original poster) »

Can you grab the first four digits of the serial number? It's on the bottom of the machine... and also imprinted into the chassis where the reservoir sits. You have to pull out the reservoir to read it.

-Peter
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#597: Post by Moka 1 Cup »

Here it is: 1914
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pcrussell50 (original poster)
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#598: Post by pcrussell50 (original poster) »

Re ^^^

That means yours was built in 2019, 14th week. So you are well within the era of minimal o-ring use and the easy change group collar.

So you're good there. And you're under warranty. Definitely hit them with the list of your gripes. They do respond over time resulting in the updates we see and that you have.

Leaky o-rings and hard to change group collars, over time, have resulted in those things being rectified.

-Peter
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DaveB
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#599: Post by DaveB »

pcrussell50 wrote:Leaky o-rings and hard to change group collars, over time, have resulted in those things being rectified.
Hopefully the notorious, leak-prone steam valves will eventually be improved as well. 8)

FWIW, the new replacement machine I received the other day is from the 38th week of 2019.
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pcrussell50 (original poster)
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#600: Post by pcrussell50 (original poster) replying to DaveB »

That would be an interesting solution. A lot of the more expensive machines use solenoids or other more complex ($$$) schemes. You could have a solenoid valve upstream that holds back the steam pressure from pressuring the existing flow valve. That would greatly increase the time before drips could occur. Would probably be an extra hundred dollars in hardware cost. Not sure how much extra they would have to charge in engineering test development costs, if any. For me, and I'd be OK keeping it like it is. But then again I've already bought my BDB, so down the road if I ever hit problem that's not a routine fix, and they want to replace mine with a solenoid version, I wouldn't protest too loudly.

It also wouldn't be too hard to add your own solenoid valve either. I might look into it at some point. But truth be told, I'm mostly happy just servicing the existing valve every other year or so. In fact, I've had an ancient valve from an old -900 for the last year in my two years old -920. Still leak free.

-Peter
LMWDP #553

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