It's what I found. But others have had different experiences. The thing to keep in mind is that the boiler pressure keeps dropping while the thermosyphon return temperature is in range. By flushing, you inject a little cold water into the return line, causing the boiler to switch on. My experience is that it will never steam like a double boiler; bit it steams as well as any small HX machine I've tried if you learn how to goose it.

Caveat: I steam small cappas. Many small HX machines can do these gracefully, but run out of steam when doing larger amounts of milk. If you are making several milk drinks, don't try to do it like a coffeeshop, with one large pitcher for several drinks. Instead, do the milk for each shot while you are pulling that shot. This is easiest on the small boiler; since it has time to recover while you prep the next shot.

another_jim wrote:It's what I found. ...you inject a little cold water into the return line, causing the boiler to switch on.
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Caveat: I steam small cappas ...do the milk for each shot while you are pulling that shot.

Great, thanks for the clarification, Jim. I also do nearly-cannonical cappas and never steam large pitchers of milk so that answers it for me.

ultrabean wrote:So if I understand this statement correctly, it seems to be saying that I would be able to get strong steam after pulling a shot 100% of the time if I follow this rule:

RULE: Before grinding my beans, I look at the boiler pressure and if it's low, simply do a quick flush, then proceed to grind my beans, tamp, and pull my shot ...and then there will always be plenty of boiler pressure for steaming milk.

Right?

that's been exactly my experience. and when i'm pulling shot after shot there's always plenty of steam - up to 14 shots in quick succession recently. love this machine.

CoffeeKai wrote:For the beginner user--someone who at this time will not be modding, and planning to use the machine as is out of box, how has the MaraX been for those who have it? Is it really a no fuss set up?

i've been using mine daily, all day, since i got it two months ago. the only 'issues' for me have been the sheer amount of water it uses (it doesn't have a return to the reservoir) and low steam pressure if the machine has been sitting idle. the latter is easily corrected by flushing a bit to kick on the heater. other than that i absolutely love it.

andrewc wrote:Just wondering if anyone is using a bottomless portafilter for their Mara x, and if yes,, which one? I've only just realised that not all e61 portafilters are the same.

don't know if this was answered, but i got a rocket bottomless for my marax, and it fits perfectly.

another_jim wrote:It's what I found. But others have had different experiences. The thing to keep in mind is that the boiler pressure keeps dropping while the thermosyphon return temperature is in range. By flushing, you inject a little cold water into the return line, causing the boiler to switch on. My experience is that it will never steam like a double boiler; bit it steams as well as any small HX machine I've tried if you learn how to goose it.

The boiler can also be "woken up" by purging the steam wand. I'm wondering whether there is any pressure sensor or how does the machine knows that it is time to heat up?

very quick and sharp drop in temperature when you open the wand.

Eres wrote:The boiler can also be "woken up" by purging the steam wand. I'm wondering whether there is any pressure sensor or how does the machine knows that it is time to heat up?

Um, I was talking about flushing water out of the group. The boiler runs on a low set point of about 0.8 bar, and a high set point of about 1.7 bar (YMMV, it's a temperature sensor, not a pressure sensor). When the group's temperature is in range, the boiler uses the lower set point, if the group needs heat, the boiler uses the higher set point. By flushing, you briefly lower the temperature at the bottom of heat exchanger, where the thermosyphon return pipe and the sensor that estimates the group's temperature is located.

DaveC wrote:very quick and sharp drop in temperature when you open the wand.

Thanks for a pertinent answer!

Wondering what people's workflows are with the MaraX, making any sort of milk based drink. Anyone still doing flushes at any point within the cycle?