IF the new pro500 has a restrictor you can reduce flushing ,but to balance capability of frothing large amount of milk and having a good stable brew temperature is a an inversely proportional game. In my case my first shot requires about 15-17sec of flush and in between shots is very little flushing.

Having the grouphead thermometer is a very good idea as it puts numbers to the guessing game and you can get very close to replicating procedure over and over again. It can be removed back to stock easily, i am leaving mine in!

eric: have you looked at the service manual for the pro500 pid to see if they have a restrictor?

erics wrote:Sounds like a really good plan to me

Ordered one earlier today

I vaguely recall someone in a previous thread here in the forums having problems with a teflon-like restrictor on an ECM machine. I also remember watching a tear-down video that WLL posted around 4 or 5 years ago showing a metal flow restrictor that Rocket used in one end of the Giotto's thermosyphon tube. I wonder if Profitec has added something similar to these flow restrictors or if they've tuned the thermosyphon itself. I almost bought the original Pro 500 just before the holidays, and I'm still considering it, but I guess I'm a little concerned about long-term reliability in regards to this modification. Guess it's time to give WLL or Clive a call.

slipchuck wrote:I have watched that video and though it is very well made, the amount of flushing did turn me off to an HX in general. I hope the new 500 requires quite a bit less water.
The local cafe has a Famea machine that they don't flush ahead of time and their drinks turn out very good so maybe an HX flush is overrated?


Randy

HX flushing has never bothered me. Another benefit to flushing is that you are always drinking fresh water and not water that has been sitting in a brew boiler for many hours.

pennywise wrote:I vaguely recall someone in a previous thread here in the forums having problems with a teflon-like restrictor on an ECM machine. I also remember watching a tear-down video that WLL posted around 4 or 5 years ago showing a metal flow restrictor that Rocket used in one end of the Giotto's thermosyphon tube. I wonder if Profitec has added something similar to these flow restrictors or if they've tuned the thermosyphon itself. I almost bought the original Pro 500 just before the holidays, and I'm still considering it, but I guess I'm a little concerned about long-term reliability in regards to this modification. Guess it's time to give WLL or Clive a call.

Interesting, i would be very interested in this and would want to install the restrictor in my pro 500 - I don't think i have a restrictor in my machine.

I'm curious about the restrictor too. If that was a new addition to the PID version over the non-PID than I can see how things would be a lot more stable in the PID'd version. I probablyyyyyyy would have just gone with the PID version when I bought mine, but not sure it really makes much difference. I've been pulling shots blind just using flash boil as indication and been happy. Have Eric's therm coming too.

I saw on the YouTube link that WLL says there might be a retofit kit maybe coming. Would be really interested in seeing how the boiled can be upgraded to an internal thermometer (or whatever it uses for the PID).

I live in a semi-rural area and have well water with a high mineral content. I've been hauling bottled water home from the store for years so I'm pretty much interested in anything that can help minimize unnecessary waste.

JayBeck wrote:I need to get an Eric's Thermometer I suppose for mine to see just how stable mine is.

My arrived last night. Today I pulled some shots with it installed on my non-PID 500. Holy cow I have been totally roasting the pucks and not flushing anywhere close to enough water. I was going off the "flush till no more flash boiling" but it was still at around 210F - and then if you wait 30 seconds to prep, thinking it's stabilizing, it's really only been going up.

I need to flush significantly more water from idle (even between ashots) than I had been to bring the temp down. It took 8oz to get from idle of 205 up to 217 then down to 197, where it went back up to 200.

Waiting 5 mins it idles at 199, then start flush it goes up to 207 and i turn off at 198, it rebounds to 200. Requires 6oz.

This is way more water usage then I had anticipated...

I just ordered one as well. I suspect I'm in a similar boat. I'll let you know what I find out. You gonna go dual boilers or just deal with it?

I don't know.

See this post - 17 seconds of flushing to stabilize temp pre-shot. I was definitely not doing that when I was just going by the flash-boil method.

Profitec Pro 500 Pressure & Other Recommendations