Hello everybody, first time posting, long time lurker.

I have an issue that I would to find a solution to. Most of the time while pulling a shot and steaming, my synchronika (reservoir) refills the steam boiler mid steam/pull, which causes a huge pressure drop in my steam boiler. This ruins my steaming process and I typically have to accept the results I've already achieved, or wait for steam pressure to build back up to finish steaming. It only does this 50% of the time, if the machine doesn't refill the boiler while i'm steaming, everything is fine. Anything I can do to prevent/minimize this? Would plumbing the machine fix this? I really would rather not plumb, but if it takes care of this issue I would strongly consider this. That or find another machine to upgrade to. (linea mini, gs/3, slayer)

Thanks for your help.

You could draw some water from the tap to force the steam boiler refill cycle. It's not a bad idea anyway, since that will help keep the mineral buildup down.

I will try that, thanks!

I do something similar. I open the steam wand, which I have to do to purge anyway. I do this long enough so that the heater comes on. Then I try to time my steaming to start just before the PID turns it off. I did something similar with my HX (no PID). But, this technique will still result in a pressure drop; it just won't drop so low. Also, if you've not already done so and yours is an older Synk, get the 2-bar upgrade kit. You'll have plenty of steam.

You can also raise the fill sensor a bit on the right boiler, say 1/8-1/4". May help. Have scale problems?

I've had a Synchronika for over a year and this has never happened to me while pulling a shot or steaming. It may be worth investigating whether there's some other underlying issue.

drH wrote:a huge pressure drop in my steam boiler

Further to my post about how to max the steam on any boiler espresso machine, rereading your post leads me to ask, "what do you mean by huge"? On my 2-bar version Synk, it drops from about 2-bar to about 1.5 bar, and this is with a 4-hole tip. I don't recall what it did with the 2-hole tip, but I presume the pressure drop was a bit less.

I also have the 2-bar Synchronika, but I only have the steam running at about 1.5 bar... (I generally don't drink milk drinks so my wife is the primary user of the steam wand.)

Every now and then (maybe every 3rd or 4th drink?) when she is steaming, the pump will kick on to refill the boiler which seems to drop the steam pressure down to about 1 bar if I recall correctly by my casual observation. But she is still able to continue steaming with generally good results. This is with the stock 2-hole tip.

If you want to avoid that possibility all together, I'd recommend what HB suggested; pull some water from the tap until it forces a fill and then wait for the pressure to go back up and stabilize.

Josh

I had a profitec pro 300 and similar issues. Plus pulling even a little hot water kicked in the pump dropping the pressure and making me wait.
I also felt uncomfortable having the pump run for 20 seconds on the steam boiler then immediately engaging it again to brew for 30+ seconds. It seemed like a workflow that would wear out the pump quickly. Not to mention the annoying sound of the vibe pump running for so long.

drH wrote:It seemed like a workflow that would wear out the pump quickly. Not to mention the annoying sound of the vibe pump running for so long.

Good idea to baby a vibe pump. The OP has a Synk, which has a rotary pump. No problem for him to let it run as needed.