To leave on or not to leave on

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coffeelocomotive
Posts: 12
Joined: 7 years ago

#1: Post by coffeelocomotive »

I have recently got my hands on a Laranzato single group espresso machine. I've used the machine a lot when I worked in coffee and did lots of catering events with these types of machines.

But now it's in my house and I'm wondering if I should leave it on all the time or just turn it on in the morning. From my experience it takes about 20 - 30 minutes to heat up. Would love to hear feed back and what other people do. Mostly likely I wont be making more than 1 to 2 shots a day. That's if I don't want to do brewed coffee.

My concerns leaving it on is power usage but I could also see having it heat up and cool off a lot be slowly damaging as well.

Thanks!

bmb
Posts: 343
Joined: 12 years ago

#2: Post by bmb »

I turn my Strega off after my morning coffees, and on again if I want another latter.
For my temperature setting I find it tastes better this way.

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spressomon
Posts: 1904
Joined: 12 years ago

#3: Post by spressomon »

Per Mike at Compass' lead I recently installed a TP-Link Smart Plug to switch my Slayer, Monolith and coffee bar light on/off at set times each day. And for spontaneous espresso shots the TP-Link's local wifi relay via smartphone works great without disrupting the daily schedule. And saves on mechanical switch wear on the Monolith; hasn't skipped a beat since installing it about a month ago. Only regret: I didn't do it sooner.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0178IC734/
No Espresso = Depresso

coffeenomad
Posts: 21
Joined: 7 years ago

#4: Post by coffeenomad »

Hey spressomon, was just coming on here to ask about this! Since the switches are analog on many of these machines (I have an R58 Rocket) I figured these were prime candidates for the wifi outlets! My concern was about potentially damaging electronics inside the machine. Not sure it would, but figured I would ask about it. Were you told it was actually a good idea to help protect the power switch?

Cheers!

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HB
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Joined: 19 years ago

#5: Post by HB »

coffeelocomotive wrote:My concerns leaving it on is power usage but I could also see having it heat up and cool off a lot be slowly damaging as well.
This question comes up a few times a year. From the FAQ, see Do you leave your espresso machine on all the time? and Leave it on, or turn it off? and Leaving a Prosumer HX Espresso Machine On CAN SAVE ENERGY for representative discussions.
Dan Kehn

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spressomon
Posts: 1904
Joined: 12 years ago

#6: Post by spressomon »

coffeenomad wrote:Hey spressomon, was just coming on here to ask about this! Since the switches are analog on many of these machines (I have an R58 Rocket) I figured these were prime candidates for the wifi outlets! My concern was about potentially damaging electronics inside the machine. Not sure it would, but figured I would ask about it. Were you told it was actually a good idea to help protect the power switch?

Cheers!
If you are referring to the main on/off switch on the Monolith then it is just a mechanical rocker switch; no wear or negative issue leaving it in the "on" position and using the TP-Link as the switch (or any other suitably rated timer). The rocker switch is a very simple on/off device: https://www.engineersgarage.com/insight ... rks?page=2 I don't foresee wearing it out cycling it a few times every day. But with utilizing the timer and leaving the rocker switch "stationary" in the "on" position eliminates any wear associated with cycling the rocker on/off ... as minimal as it surely is anyway.

I can't vouch for your R58 but to add: I had my former Londinium LI on an on/off timer and it worked without issue. I also use an on/off timer with my Cremina without issue. If the R58 uses a simple on/off switch I can not foresee an issue using a timer with the R58's switch in the "on" position.
No Espresso = Depresso

bwdezend
Posts: 33
Joined: 8 years ago

#7: Post by bwdezend »

I have a 2 group Astoria (CMA) Argenta. I have an SSR in-line with the heating element and pressurestat, so I have the ability to shut off power to the heating element independent of the rest of the machine. This plus a Raspberry Pi and an arduino (coupled with a waterproof case and a small python program) lets me turn it on and off from any web browser inside the house, as well as to set timers as needed. The Argenta takes about 70 minutes to come up to full operating temperature, and then shuts itself off mid-day. I keep it running at temperature for about 6 hours in total during an average day, and then let it cool off.

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number9
Posts: 272
Joined: 18 years ago

#8: Post by number9 replying to bwdezend »

I am thinking of setting up something similar with my LSM. Do you have the arduino controlling the SSR and the Pi doing the web server with the Pi controlling the arduino? If so, what made you choose that route instead of using the GPIO on the Pi for SSR control?

Care to share code? I would be interested in looking at your real world solution. Perhaps we could take this to another thread.

Thanks.

coffeenomad
Posts: 21
Joined: 7 years ago

#9: Post by coffeenomad »

spressomon wrote:If you are referring to the main on/off switch on the Monolith then it is just a mechanical rocker switch; no wear or negative issue leaving it in the "on" position and using the TP-Link as the switch (or any other suitably rated timer). The rocker switch is a very simple on/off device: https://www.engineersgarage.com/insight ... rks?page=2 I don't foresee wearing it out cycling it a few times every day. But with utilizing the timer and leaving the rocker switch "stationary" in the "on" position eliminates any wear associated with cycling the rocker on/off ... as minimal as it surely is anyway.

I can't vouch for your R58 but to add: I had my former Londinium LI on an on/off timer and it worked without issue. I also use an on/off timer with my Cremina without issue. If the R58 uses a simple on/off switch I can not foresee an issue using a timer with the R58's switch in the "on" position.
Thanks spressomon! I'm going to set this up tonight and will make morning machine heating way more convenient... As well as those evening coming home from work where you need that coffee as soon as you get in the door :lol:

bwdezend
Posts: 33
Joined: 8 years ago

#10: Post by bwdezend »

number9 wrote:I am thinking of setting up something similar with my LSM. Do you have the arduino controlling the SSR and the Pi doing the web server with the Pi controlling the arduino? If so, what made you choose that route instead of using the GPIO on the Pi for SSR control?

Care to share code? I would be interested in looking at your real world solution. Perhaps we could take this to another thread.
I'd be happy to share my code and setup. It's a work in progresss, so it's kinda ugly at the moment. When I have the initial writeup done I'll open a new thread.

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