I am considering upgrading from my Bezzera BZ10 to Lelit Bianca.

Considering the fact that nowadays 1 KWh of current costs € 0,75 (Price tripled over the last year in the Netherlands) I am questioning myself what the aditional costs will be for the Bianca, compared to BZ10. They're totally different beasts. The BZ10 has one 1.5 HX boiler with a heated grouphead (BZ). Which takes care of quite fast heatup times.

Bianca has apart from a 1.5L boiler a 0.8 brewboiler too. Both insulated where the BZ10 boiler is not.

My question: Has anyone of you Bianca owners actually measured the real life power consumption of the Bianca?
Let's say: Nr. of KWh used in one hour after cold start and in two hours after cold start?

I'll give you the times from my Bianca V1.

Step 1: Coffee boiler - 3 min, from 25C to 93C
Step 2: Steam boiler - 10 min to reach 1.6Bar

Another 10-12 min warm-up until ready for coffee.
Your HX is comparable or slower than those 13min as it has a lower W heating element (1200 vs 1400)

In real life I think we are splitting hairs here. Once the boilers are hot there is almost 0 difference between a HX and DB unless you keep it running 24/7.

Not Bianca, but about 15 years ago, I measured a PID Vibiemme HX and original Vibiemme DB once warm. IIRC, the draw was about equal to a 60 or 70 watt incandescent bulb. @ € 0,75/KWh ≈ € 0.05/hr

Heat up is about 10 minutes @ full power on 120V or € 0.13

All e61s are going to take 45-60 minutes before they are fully warmed up and thermally stable enough to use.

Bianca has been measured to be sufficiently heated in around 20 mins. There are posts about it in the bianca thread. it overheats the boiler to heat the group more quickly.

I'm sure it can deliver the initial heat faster but for true thermal stability while pulling shots there is no substitute for and extra 20-30 minutes for the heat to FULLY saturate the exposed grouphead.

IRC somebody scaced and graphed it. maybe it was on that German forum, but from what i recall there was no improvement after the 20 mins.

somebody feel free to post a link that confirms or refutes, but that is what i remember.

thnx for the replies so far. It seems I confused somewhat by emphasizing on the heat up speed.

But where I am really after is what the actual cost of use would be electricity wise.

In the Netherlands (230V) 1 KWh is € 0,75 nowadays. So assuming there will be full power necessary for speed up and both boilers heat up at 1200 W each but not parallel would take 20 minutes = 1/3 * 1200/1000 * € 0,75 = € 0.30. Just for starting this baby up.

Note: the only info I found is that Bianca has 2400W here in the Netherlands but I have assumed that for this math I should use 1200W since the two heaters seem not to work parallel but in series.

My 1400W BZ10 on the other hands will be heated up in 10 minutes. which results in € 0.18 to heat it up.

So if all the assumptions are correct the Bianca will be € 0.12 more expensive to heat it up from cold (apart from depreciation etc. of course) than the HX BZ10.

Then, you should consider the Ascaso Dream PID which heats up in 1 mn. It takes another 2 mn to heat up the portafilter and get a perfect shot. If you want a latte, it takes another 1.5 mn to get unlimited steam, and you can turn it off as soon as done.

More seriously, Thermoblocks have been denied for years because the technology was associated to cheap machines. Now, you can have an excellent high end Thermoblock with incredible stability, very fast heat up time, and at the end power saving. More and more highend Espresso machines come with high quality Thermoblocks for a reason.

Hi there. I do own a 220v version of Bianca V2 and I had the same question with you. So I bought a smart plug with power meter to check. Bianca consumes about 0,35kw in order to heat up from cold and produce 2 drinks one of which requires steaming. On average I brew 4 drinks per day with two heat ups from cold and the max consumption is below 1kw around 0,70-0,80. It does not consume excessive power if you leave it open for a few hours but I usually switch it off if I do not need it or expect guests