Rocket Appartamento - steam boiler pressure and brew temperature

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Nitz369
Posts: 20
Joined: 6 years ago

#1: Post by Nitz369 »

I have been reading and trying to understand boiler pressure and how it might be affecting my temps. For starters let me say I ran with the wrong water for a solid 4 months where sometimes the boiler would blow off steam but I learned and run the correct water now.

I cannot find the info of exactly what happens when you increase or lower the boiler pressure and why you would need to change it. Also is it normal for the pressure to slowly increase over time.

when I first received the machine after warmup it would sit at just under 1 bar. Then maybe a month or two pass and I notice it's sitting around 1.1 not being used and after warm up. Now in the morning I catch it closer to 2, do my flush routine and throughout the day it sits at about 1.2-1.3 bars. Is this normal?

I ask all this to troubleshoot my temps. I used to flush to 205 and get a solid shot immediately after the flush with the thermometer reading 202-200 which is perfect. Lately, I need to flush to 208 and then do the shot immediately and then it ends around 198. It seems like the temp drops faster.

Notes: I have it on a wifi timer so it is on all day. I also switched to a bottomless portafilter a couple months ago if that matters. I generally run 22grams in and closer to 55 grams out in 35 seconds. (I drink with milk and like the longer pulls)

JRising
Team HB
Posts: 3667
Joined: 5 years ago

#2: Post by JRising »

Nitz369 wrote: when I first received the machine after warmup it would sit at just under 1 bar. Then maybe a month or two pass and I notice it's sitting around 1.1 not being used and after warm up. Now in the morning I catch it closer to 2, do my flush routine and throughout the day it sits at about 1.2-1.3 bars. Is this normal?
I ask all this to troubleshoot my temps. I used to flush to 205 and get a solid shot immediately after the flush with the thermometer reading 202-200 which is perfect. Lately, I need to flush to 208 and then do the shot immediately and then it ends around 198. It seems like the temp drops faster.
The pressures being around 1.2 to 1.3 bars at the peaks sounds very normal. It should get about that high, cycle off, drop back to about 1.0 or so, then rise again every 40-50 seconds (less frequent if Appartamentos have insulated boilers now)...
The fact that you catch it going to 2 sometimes is very strange, though. The safety valve should open sometime after the pressure exceeds 1.5 and you'd hear it screaming. It is possible that the fitting for the pipette that leads to the gauge is blocked and the gauge is giving false readings, though for it to usually be in the correct range if blocked is odd.
To check for a blocked pipette is easy. Turn the machine off and open the steam valve. When the steam stops coming out you know that the boiler is at atmospheric pressure. If the gauge reads anything other than 0 when you know the boiler isn't pressurized, then you know the gauge is incorrect.