Last post today, sorry!

Just wanted to say that Jim reached out to me personally about my lever "binding" (we're not exactly sure what it is) issue on my Bianca. Email and phone call yesterday, and he's got the Lelit engineers looking into it and will get back to me.

That's pretty fantastic customer support!

wesleynance wrote:I see on a lot of threads, including the new Profitec "flow control", that people are trying to modify the paddle handle to get a wider range of motion for a higher flow rate at the open setting. What's the value in that? I've had my Bianca since October, and I sort of understand what I'm doing, but I have my paddle wide open to the right exactly never. Is that this groups' experience? If I'm aiming for 9 bar at the group gauge, or instead approximately 1g/sec in the cup, I'm usually at 6 to 9 o'clock on the paddle.

Are we hoping for a higher max flow for Bianca? What's most people's stock flow wide open- mine looks to be 5.5ml/sec, so maybe I should move my paddle over one spline towards open?

Thoughts?

I have found that flow rate matters for certain techniques. Yes, for looooong low debit pre infusions of very light roasts, I rarely go wide open. But while I have my pump's bypass limited to 9.5 bar, the needle valve in my machine, (not a Bianca) is capable of 8ml/s, 12ml/s, even 18ml/s (or anything in between), and for certain more medium roasts, they actually taste better with a whambam wallop of nearly instant pressure. It seems to mash the puck into a cake filter, even at surprisingly coarse grinds. I'm guessing the high flow serves to fill the headspace quickly. If you look at the bottom of the basket, it beads almost instantly and looks like it's going to be a gusher, but then it compresses and slows right down to that thick drippy syrup you get with roasts a little darker than today, like the the third wave was a few years back.

So yes, for me at least, there _are_ times when I desire a high flow rate capability.

-Peter

wesleynance wrote:On first try in the Decent pitcher... I got excellent quality micro foam.

Quality pour. I'm happy to see these pitchers making their rounds. Just saw it used at a World Barista competition.

Hey all - I'm new to the forum. Very happy to be part of the community!

Just curious for those of you using VST baskets with the Bianca bottomless PFs - Are you using ridged or ridgeless and in what size? Help steer me in the right direction for my purchasing decisions

Thanks!

I use ridge less. Mostly 18 and 20gr.

UmamiBeat wrote:Hey all - I'm new to the forum. Very happy to be part of the community!

Just curious for those of you using VST baskets with the Bianca bottomless PFs - Are you using ridged or ridgeless and in what size? Help steer me in the right direction for my purchasing decisions

Thanks!

VST baskets "handle" differently than other high quality baskets. I keep both around for different situations.

-Peter

Have my first issue with the Bianca that I have had since January. This afternoon after making an Americano the machine seems to have had pump failure or something. I believe the steam boiler is empty and the machine is trying to fill it but it cannot. Here is a video. Notice the pump pressure goes to 0. Any help/thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

thm655321 wrote:Have my first issue with the Bianca that I have had since January. This afternoon after making an Americano the machine seems to have had pump failure or something. I believe the steam boiler is empty and the machine is trying to fill it but it cannot. Here is a video. Notice the pump pressure goes to 0. Any help/thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

<video>

First I would check the water supply connections, hoses, etc. There might be a clog somewhere. I would not run the pump too much if water is not passing.

It is plumbed in and the water supply seems to be working fine. In line regulator shows 3.5 bar. Could there be a clog inside the machine?

The pump pressure gauge went down from 2 bar to 0 when the pump engaged.

Rotary pumps do not block the plumbed line pressure when they are off. The moment the pump turned on, the entire line was blocked. I've never seen or heard of anything like that, not can I figure what would cause it. For instance, if the boiler fill solenoid is blocked, you'd still see the pressure gauge go to 9 bar. If none of the techies here knows what's going on, you might want to call the 1st Line service department.