I've been adjusting the water debit / flow rate (without a portafilter in) on my Pro 800, getting better success reducing it from the 80ml/sec I had initially, but very curious what other users have theirs set at?

Thank you!

How are you setting the flow rate ? By the PID temp. ? Or manipulation of the lever ? I run my pro 800 at. 250 on the PID and work with coffee grind and amount across the two coffees I used daily. I guess I'm not sure what you are asking .

Initial water jet is always quite violent on a lever group. Water depit with the inlet holes fully opened is high by design. Certain lever groups have inlet valves that allow for some adjustments but it's not the case with the Pro800 group.
By adjusting the PID, you're mostly playing with brew temp.
Have you toyed with a puck screen instead?

There is a screw on the neck between the group and boiler / main box, that can change the flow rate of water from the boiler to the group. My unit came with this screw nearly fully open so my flow rate was 80ml/sec. I've screwed it in further to reduce the flow rate to about 20ml/sec. Very curious on what other users have their machines.

For background on why, I believe my espresso was overly bitter so I'm reducing the flow of super hot boiler water to the group. I believe my machine runs hotter than most because of environmental factors, and I don't want to reduce my PID any further to keep up good steaming performance. My PID is set at 246 and I'm running of the water tank.

I'm also interested in discussing temperature management in more detail on this machine with any other Pro 800 users.

I've played with a puck screen, but removed it when fighting channeling issues (basket prep). Now that I've fixed the channeling, I should try the puck screen again, thanks for the idea.

I didn't know that there was an adjustment to be made. I simply do what's mentioned in the HB review - find the sweet spot on the lever travel and hold it there for a gentle wetting of the puck before lowering the handle all of the way. In the review, it was recommended to mark the lever position, but if your room is quiet enough, you can hear it.

Here is picture of the screw I'm talking about. I've almost screwed it in fully, leaving a smaller path for the water to pass through resulting in my flow rate being reduced to 20ml/sec from 80ml/sec. I'm measuring my flow rate with the level pulled down fully with no portafilter.

You're right I totally forgot about that inlet valve. It's adjustable on the Condor dipper group. Not on the same group but in a Heat Exchanger system.

Graymatters wrote:I didn't know that there was an adjustment to be made... In the review, it was recommended to mark the lever position, but if your room is quiet enough, you can hear it.

For those who are curious, this is a video showing it:
And from the same review, a diagram showing the adjustment mentioned above. From what I've been told, this design is also used to simplify maintenance for multi-group levers -- you can cut off the water path to one grouphead and change its piston gaskets, all without taking the other groups offline.

Interesting. Thank you. Does anybody know what is the drop in pressure?