BoulderMike wrote:...is there any distinction between commercial "like" machines like the LMLM, and Prosumer like the Synchronika, Bianca, etc.?

If anything, I would expect a La Marzocco to be more tolerant of misuse, not less.

I suspect the advice to leave espresso machines on 24/7 is based on commercial establishments and reducing the risk of downtime, i.e., "if it's not broken, don't fix it" mentality. In a cafe that's only closed 5-6 hours a day, there's little motivation to power the equipment down as it only increases the likelihood of a problem the next morning. For example, if a vacuum breaker fails to close, the steam boiler spews steam and the morning shift baristas freak out. Even if that happens only once in the machine's lifetime, that's real money being lost as the cafe might have to close while the owner/technician sorts things out. If you never power down, the vacuum breaker never cycles opened/closed, so one less thing to go wrong.

On the other hand, in a home environment, the same vacuum breaker failure usually doesn't cause immediate panic and revenue loss. The home barista notices a weird noise, turns off the machine, goes about making pourover, then posts a question in this forum.

Vendors may suggest running an espresso machine 24/7 for the same reason cafe owners do: It reduces the chances of a service call, especially under warranty, which cuts directly into their profit margin. If you search the forums years back, you'll see recommendations from Rancilio to never backflush the Silvia espresso machine; I asked a vendor about that once and he noted calls from new owners who used two tablespoons of powdered espresso cleaner, then reported the grouphead was clogged. Today, nobody would take that advice seriously and even Rancilio removed that recommendation from their owner's manual.

For a fuller treatment of this question, see Powering Off Espresso Machine for my summary list of cost/benefits.

sluflyer06 wrote:So that's 6kWh a day if you leave it on, depending on your electricity costs it could be as cheap as where I live and be about 50 cents a day, or double to triple that.

It would be more in the summer if your house is air conditioned.

I've never understood this reasoning, i.e., I'll leave a heating appliance on because it "saves" electricity? Years ago, Ian had us all scratching our heads in Leaving a Prosumer HX Espresso Machine DOES NOT SAVE ENERGY with a similar claim. Instead of arguing the law of thermodynamics, I measured:

HB wrote:Rather than try to recall my college physics lessons, this evening I measured my Elektra Semiautomatica using the Kill-a-Watt. The cumulative kWh data from a cold start:

1 hour consumed 0.30 kWh
2 hours consumed 0.45 kWh
3 hours consumed 0.60 kWh

Based on the last hour of usage, it consumes around ~0.15 kWh per hour when fully heated, or 3.6 kWh per day (0.15 * 24). If you were so inclined to cycle it four times per day for two hours per cycle, allowing it to cool completely between each cycle, it would consume 1.8 kWh per day (0.45 *4). The additional energy cost of 24/7 operation in this case would be 1.8 kWh (around $0.20 in our area).

I particularly like Jim's comment:

another_jim wrote:The reason I'm happily semi-retired is that I used to buy the energy conservation rights from building owners who thought running their places 24/7 saved them the start up costs. Not surprisingly, this market dried up by the late 80s. I just wished more people like Ian owned 100K square foot plus office buildings now.

Later Ian he realized his conclusion was based on faulty data and changed the thread title to "CAN SAVE ENERGY".