The S1 Cafe - Helping Your Espresso Dreams Become Reality

jbb

I ended up going with a 1 gallon RO tank for an accumulator. Fits well behind sink trap. https://www.maxwaterflow.com/1-Gallon-Reverse-Osmosis-Storage-Tank-TP-4_p_541.html So the setup is 5 gallon bottle => flojet => 1 gallon accumulator (air side set 7 psi) => valve to depressurize line for mainten...

jbb

I see. For the larger tanks you can mount a cross on the top inlet valve to create an inline reservoir. There are 1 gallon tanks out there-maybe that is a good way to go. Now just to see if the bladders impart taste to the water. Since the tanks are typically for RO applications I'd imagine not...bu...

jbb

So reading a bit more on this...bit more complicated than it might seem. Some of the larger tanks do not appear to be inline units, which I guess means if one went that route you'd have to fill up the tank, disconnect the pump, and then reattach the feed line. Which sounds like a pain. And for the s...

jbb

Getting a new Dream to replace my old S1V1. Have decided to switch to running off a bottle, flojet, accumulator set up rather than just the house line (hard water, frequent descale.....). At any rate, on line I've seen recommendations for either the 21 oz size accumulators and I've seen others recom...

jbb

Call me desperate, but....I took a big flat head, stuck it in the motor shaft and twisted it as hard as I could. At first no movement and then after a moment, pop, and then the shaft turned freely. Brew switch activated motor just fine and shaft turned with no apparent problem. Reassembled, plumbed ...

jbb

A few pictures after pulling to motor. The bracket is in bad shape. The screw holding one of the rubber supports on the bottom has corroded. But the inside of the motor itself looks fine, at least from what I can see on the outside. PB251398.JPG In this version of the S1, the switches connected to t...

jbb

My testing for current to the motor. Voltmeter from line terminal connection to ground post = 110 V even without activating brew switch. Voltmeter from neutral terminal connection to line terminal connection = 110 V even without activating brew switch. Voltmeter from neutral terminal connection to g...

jbb

Here is the terminal box. The blue (neutral) wire out to the motor is attached to the sixth connect from the top. The brown (line) wire out is attached to the fifth connect from the top. Green/yellow to ground post visible at bottom left in PB241395.jpg

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jbb

The lower blue/brown/ground wires are coming into the motor from the terminal box. The upper blue/brown are from the capacitor. S1V1.

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The wiring runs straight into the guts of the motor without a visible disconnect. I suppose that is what one would expect.

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jbb

So back to the dead motor issue. I'll post some pictures in case they might be of use to somebody down the line. First, here she is with the back taken off. There's something a bit indelicate about posting stripped down pictures of an older machine like this. But those with an affinity for these mac...

jbb

actually, it must be possible to disconnect the terminals without splitting the motor because in gschroeder's images in this thread the motor is clearly disconnected from the power supply before it gets cracked open. But I'm guessing the terminals are not a simple spade push/pull thing.

jbb

Depending on what's wrong with it, you might look for a local electric motor repair shop and get an estimate assuming it's otherwise in reasonable physical condition. A new one - including capacitor - runs $169 w/ free shipping from Chris Coffee. Thanks Chas. I thought I'd probably just go ahead an...

jbb

Yours is a little different than mine, but the input would be the black wire coming in lower. That wire probably splits out, with one wire going to the ground lug (the stack of nuts and green and yellow wires) in the rear right of the machine (to the left in your picture) and then there will be one...

jbb

Sorry, that's what I meant to ask, is if there is power getting to the "motor" when the brew button is pressed. That's the first thing I would check, before splitting the motor. Thanks. From pulling your motor out, do you have a feel for where to touch a voltmeter to see if there is curre...

jbb

well, the motor is not turning the pump. there is no rotation of the motor shaft at all as far as I can tell by activating the motor once the pump is removed. whether current is getting to the motor, or whether the problem is internal to the motor is I guess partly what I'm trying to figure out.

jbb

The other thing maybe to add is that the last time I changed the pump I made sure to pack the interface between the pump and motor with silicon plumber's grease. That was several years ago at this point. When I pulled the pump off it was very clean in there. No corrosion, gunk, etc. So in addition t...

jbb

I should probably add that its not like the motor appears to be trying to turn the shaft. There's not that nasty noise. The motor does not appear to do anything-vibrate, hum. it just looks, well, dead.

jbb

Hello everybody. I'd like advice on diagnosing a pump/motor issue on an S1. The machine is from 2003-2004. I bought it used in 2012 or so and its been a workhorse. The symptoms for the problem I'm having are similar to what I've had in the past when the pump has gone out (I've changed the pump twice...

jbb

Yeah--sort of a complicated set of readings. Sorry about that. Just started trying things to see if I could find a pattern. Reminds me somewhat of the exams my electrical engineering dorm mates had in college. Anyway, here's a funny thing. I plugged the machine back into the GFCI and tried to pay cl...

jbb

Hi Chas I'm attaching the results of the tests you suggested. Please me know if the pattern indicates anything one way or another. The machine was turned on for all readings plugged into a non-GFCI outlet. For the GFCI outlet I typically use to run the machine testing between neutral to ground with ...

jbb

I feel kind of stupid asking this, but I'm taking it you mean measure any voltage between the neutral wire and the boiler lid while the wire is still attached to the heating element, right?

If that's true, I'm getting a reading of about 8 volts when the element is on and 0 when its off.

jbb

Thanks Chas. It reads both AC and DC, so I'll give it a try. No permanent connection to non-GFCI. Big orange extension cord running across the entertainment room. WAF very low in that configuration, so just for test (and to actually make coffee) purposes.

jbb

But turns out if I run it off a non-GFCI outlet both boilers cycle just fine. Go figure. From that can I conclude the electrode is actually OK and the problem lies somewhere else?

jbb

trying the attachment again.

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jbb

I tried the ohmmeter at several dial settings (since I didn't know if that mattered in this case) and the needle never flinched when I connected between either element lead and the boiler lid. If there is some sort of grounding issue, is there any way that my less than ideal soldering job seen below...

jbb

Thanks Chas. I do have an ohmmeter and I'll give it a try.

jbb

Well, I finally got around to powering up the S1 again after replacing the fried disconnects on the steam boiler. As the existing wires leading to both terminals appeared largely intact, I cut off the defective disconnects along with a short segment of the wire and replaced them with the insulated 1...

jbb

Thanks Chas. Do you have a feel for what the right gauge would be? I imagine it needs to be OK for high temp applications.

jbb

Given that this thread is being resuscitated from 2008, it would appear there was not an epidemic of fried boiler wires. But I'm afraid I've come down with a case. This is on an original S1; I'm the second owner for several years now. Other than replacing the pump and periodic descaling it's run tro...

jbb

Check out this crazy video from Luca Bezzera explaining why vibe pumps should be set to 11 bar and rotary pumps to 9 bar. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4y4-E2aL3U Is it just me, or does he make no sense what so ever? "This pump is small...so it needs 11. This is big (he points to the motor e...

jbb

ronsil wrote: I am still not completely sure why it should happen only with the bottomless.

Maybe the basket cools much more quickly on the bottomless, contracts a bit, puck sticks more. Dunno. Glad it worked for you.

jbb

AFter shots with the bottomless PF I leave in place while I steam, arrange the service, etc. Then, before knocking out the puck I run water through for a second or two. If I detach and immediately (several seconds) knock out the puck it comes out cleanly and easily. If I wait longer there is a much ...

jbb

Abnuceals wrote:
Sincerely, Vario is not a bad grinder but it is far away from perfection in my mind.

Agreed. Vario definitely has things in its favor, but I don't want to sound like a fan boy. As evidence....when we redid the coffee bar, I made sure to leave generous clearance under the cabinetry.

jbb

http://montoit.cyberpresse.ca/201203/08/01-4503653-cafeinomanes-a-la-maison.php#Slide-4-box-0 Look at picture number 5 Very beautiful grinder. That little grinder does look cool. But could not help notice that the last picture was of a Vario, and, if my French holds up, the caption is "ground ...

jbb

Just to chime in... I also have to wait 2 min or so until the shot cools. otherwise i can't taste anything, its just hot. 3-4 stirs to disperse the crema a bit. clean up after the shot. by then generally ready to go. little sip to check it out, and, if warranted i'll drink a typical 30-40 ml pull in...

jbb

Thanks. Having never been there was curious. Perhaps it's true-"the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."

jbb

Hi Oton and LDT

The machines in those pictures are works of art-beautiful.

How did you end up feeling that your espresso at home compared to what you were served from the Ferraris?

jbb

tommytt wrote: Pour some de scaling detergent into the water revservoir and run the machine?

And keep in mind that most cleaner/detergent products like CleanCaf etc have virtually no descaling power. You'll need to use something like citric acid or vinegar.

good luck

jbb

The cups do look pretty sharp i think. i forgot to add the contact info if anyone (in the US at least, maybe Canada too) wants to get some. I went through La Spaziale USA; emailed them and got a phone reply quite quickly. My contact was Tara at 203-383-4373. The espresso cups were $6.10 and the cap ...

jbb

Endo wrote:Bushing re-alignment. Should be fun!

for this job, If they send you a diagram of the adjustment mechanism, or if you end up with some pictures down inside there, I'd appreciate it if you would share them. I've been curious as to how baratza engineered it. thanks

jbb

Also, I know that on these older models the temperature control is supposed to work backwards, ie when the LED lights move to the left over 90, 85, and 80 your temperature is going up, and when they move to the right over 105, 110, and 115 temperature is going down. However, when I tested this with...

jbb

Success at last!

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jbb

You cannot get the 2004 model brain reprogrammed for pre-infusion. If I remember correctly, I had a conversation with Jason at CC to the effect that, no, the 2004 board can't be reprogrammed, BUT, you can buy the V2 board and install it in the V1. So you get the finer temp control and programmable ...

jbb

Endo wrote: I'll try and make a similar graph with my Vario and compare it with my Mazzer SJ.

If you do I would be interested to see it. I've liked your cremina web site by the way. now that you've gone lever are you in the LMWDP club?

jbb

Question for current Vario owners. If you use the grinder for espresso only and calibrate the time for say a 15 gram dose for a given coffee type, what variation in weight can one expect as minor grind size adjustments are made for different coffee beans (all for espresso) if grind time remains con...

jbb

Another bump. I tried checking into the La Spaziale branded cups. I emailed Chris, and, bottom line, its not practical for him to import them. I sent an email to La Spaziale (through their standard web inquiry), but nothing back. so, did anybody ever find an angle on these, short of taking a trip to...

jbb

The life span of the cartridge will also be influenced to a large extent by the hardness of the water. We're at ~390 TDS in Riverside, wonder if its about the same in San Diego. Anyway, mine started dropping off around 6 months. Has anyone tried recharging the cartridge? JohnB, I thought I remember ...

jbb

It looks beautiful. The box looks like its made from some sort of hardwood; rosewood, cherry?

jbb

I also have a pretty tight under-cabinet space, and I went with the standard CC softener/charcoal cartridge system. I ended up mounting the cartridge housings on a board that I hang from the underside of the cabinet top using eye hooks. Since its up high it effectively does not take up much of the u...

jbb

While my S1 is down thought I'd photograph the back and add on to this thread. This is a circa 2004 machine. Embossed/stamped clear lettering on chrome, maybe sorta similar to the style of the front lettering on some of the units that are being shipped currently. Anybody else have a machine with bac...

jbb

..all good things come to those who wait.....

congrats on the new machine and welcome to the club.

jbb

In your opinion, should i upgrade my grinder ? I also have the Rocky and have been exploring upgrade options congrats on the new machine Pierre. I'd concur with Endo and Slo re comparisons between the Vario and Rocky. Endo's grind adjustment problems notwithstanding, the Vario would be an especiall...

jbb

If the problem is only there with the bottomless there might be a problem with the PF itself. Along these lines, is it possible that the triple your using is just a tad too deep for your bottomless PF, and so the seal is not quite perfect? I bumped into this thread http://www.home-barista.com/espre...

jbb

sorry if i'm taking this OT, but, given another thread on CG this is on my mind. for some coffees, like jeff pentel's redbird blend for example, i do get my best results by going up to 18 g in the triple. this is offset however, by a higher frequency of obvious channeling and sinkers. most of the ti...

jbb

Thanks. I do tend to get quite a few spritzers, but I'd put it down to my lack of pre-fusion.

jbb

i was probably unclear. I WISH I had a SJ-well, maybe a K10 doserless. But right now for espresso i just have the Vario. I was wondering how you found the two in comparison, cup wise.

jbb

How are folks liking their Varios these days? For the last 6 months I've been alternating back and forth between the Mazzer SJ and Vario. I must say it's nice a nice extravigence having 2 hoppers full of beans to choose from in the morning. I'm on my second Vario, and it seems to be holding up well...

jbb

your top cover doesn't look scratched at all. its from 2004 so there are some scratches. the bottom of the cups are rough, but think I'd have to be pretty aggressive to make them scratch. BTW....you need some super expensive caviar spoons to do the cups justice yeah, the spoon is admittedly pretty ...

jbb

Hi Endo. I'm not biased or anything, but I think your cups totally rock!

Enjoy.

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jbb

The working backward approach you suggest puts me in mind of the titan grinder project/can it bear the robur shoot out. If I recall, these tests were done blind although sample size was small. while there were some surprises (like the Rocky win at low doses) the trend seemed to be that the Robur led...

jbb

perhaps this is way pedantic, but this term does get used a lot throughout the coffee web-o-sphere. What does it really mean? Is it quantifiable in some sort of way (like as a metric for objectively comparing grinders)? for full disclosure, i did post a somewhat related question on CG about a year a...

jbb

The Vario on a scale is a something of a neat idea; wonder what the price will be. Might be useful in a shop environment. But for the home enthusiast it strikes me as having little advantage compared to just, well, having a Vario and a scale as separates. You can grind directly into the PF if you wa...

jbb

My theory goes like this: There is no vacuum breaker on the brew boiler (unlike the steam boiler), so when the water cools it shrinks and creates a vacuum where air is sucked in somewhere low... in the flow meter area I suspect. The air bubbles then rise up the vertical copper pipe causing it to em...

jbb

My Vario is currently at 11.2 sec, which gives very reproducibly gives me 15.5 g. Except for the first grind after switching settings (like from a drip setting back to espresso) in which case it tends to be on the low side.

jbb

i kind of like the industrial don't mess with me grunge/blue collar look of the synesso's i've seen. plus, for what ever reason most (but fortunately not all 8) )of the really memorable shots i've had have come off synessos. but i've never seen a Kees-designed machine in person. I wonder if any of t...

jbb

Re the idea that the whoosh sound is caused by air being evacuated from the vertical pipe between the flow meter and the boiler. just from the nature of the sound, it seems that movement of air within the pipes could potentially be involved. however, my understanding is that the plumbing between the...

jbb

The whooosh sound appears to be rather common on plumbed in versions of the Vivaldi and, while maybe kind of weird, is apparently nothing to worry about.

jbb

Yeah, go for it! If your wife lets you get away with slicing up her cutting board like you did for the DIY scace you should be able to get away with anything.

jbb

Hope Chas's suggestion on adjusting the expansion valve works. from the video i see what you mean now about whoosh followed by the screeching sound. first thing i thought was that it reminded me of a teapot.

jbb

was wondering about the sound too.

eeeeeee as in screeeeeeech would definitely sound like pump internals or the motor.

high pitched whooosh, as initially described, could be different (but not very alarm-like).

does the flow rate out the group seem normal?

jbb

Endo wrote: Personally, I'd get this 3 group Synesso for $7000. Way cooler.

Very cool. And compact. And cheap to run. What's not to like? Now, if could just dissect it into three one group Synesso's (Synessi?)....

Does the Speedster have an internal or external pump?

jbb

I still have 1.5lb left from the Black Cat and will try these settings. Given the subject heading of this thread, I should have made clear that the blend i mentioned wasn't black cat. i guess i kind of yanked this thread off course a bit. i haven't used black cat since they switched. just didn't ha...

jbb

Almost finished ! :smile: how did this end up working out for you? i've come to accept that these sort of temp measurements are just part of what comes around now, and, at least for the vivaldi, the over the lip method is pretty half a**sed. so if this does the trick i should just go ahead and buil...

jbb

over last weekend, checked with a calibrated thermocouple and, sure enough, consistently read a temp at the group head that is 2-3 C below the brew boiler set point. so, with the current blend i'm using, if i set the temp at 95-96 the shots seem about right. with the temp more under control, moved o...

jbb

That's because it's spelled "gicleur". If you do a search on HB, you'll get a bunch of hits. Mostly having to do with clogged gicleurs on the GS/3. Was going to post back that if I googled it with the correct spelling I just pulled back HB and CG pages with people griping about their clog...

jbb

Those stethescopes are great! Now we really have it narrowed down. This points back to what we had suspected, the flow near the gicleur. It could just be the noise through the gicleur itself OR perhaps that sharp 90 deg elbow just after the flowmeter exit. Going back to the original suggestion, I g...

jbb

Yes & they can unintentionally become "partially restricted" by scale/debris/ect. got a few minutes while shifting gears here at work. this possibility came up a bit earlier, leading me to disassemble and try and clean both the springs/screen leading in and out of the flow meter, as w...

jbb

anyway, i used the stethoscope to tilt at this particular windmill. the goal was to see if i could hear the whoosh noise emanating from a specific place in the plumbing. after the pump, i then probed the area around the backflow valve and four way junction (in blue in diagram) that seemed possibly s...

jbb

All I gotta say is, if my doctor ever comes at me with one of these I am clearing out fast. Yikes. Had never seen these before but found one on an auto store clearance shelf for about $5. They work amazingly well. the first time i tried it i made the mistake of putting it directly against the pump. ...

jbb

JohnB wrote:The Cyncra he recently bought is a prototype of a new machine coming out in April which will most likely be sold as a Hydra 1 group.

So like a one group Synesso with programmable pre-infusion? But, alas, I would guess not priced to compete with the GS3.

jbb

Endo wrote:The rich guy that JohnB bought his Speedster from is selling his almost new Robur Electronic

he's owned both a speedster AND a cyncra? wow, talk about playing the field,

jbb

Yes, there is a specific offset built into the firmware on the controller board. However, due to manufacturing differences, sensor design changes or parts vendor changes over time, and environmental factors of where the machine is set up, it's not possible for the "factory cal" to do anyt...

jbb

You can read this post here on the subject. http://www.s1cafe.com./viewtopic.php?f=57&t=1113 from this there is reference to a "hard coded" offset. does this mean that the circuit board is, even in original models without "controllable" offset, programmed to compensate for t...

jbb

Thanks Sylvain. A spouted P/F tends to reduce the resulting crema in the cup by retaining some of it in the spouts and also by breaking some of the bubbles by contact with the metal surfaces, liquid and solids that the bubbles will contact while inside the P/F. I guess I was thinking that the increa...

jbb

sorry to retread over old ground, but i read through this post and want to make sure i have it straight. the original S1, like mine from 2004, has fine temp adjustment to raise/lower the brew boiler temp by 1 C increments (up to +/- 3 C for each "course" temp setting), but it does not have...

jbb

On the other hand, I've never experienced ANY difference in taste after a backflush (water or chemical) IF the screens and disc were kept clean before hand. Yeah, that's fair enough. When I reach for the detergent I guess I'm usually thinking about the screens and the block. In the wonderful grab b...

jbb

What's the rationale for why a bottomless PF should yield more crema? Never noticed this myself I guess. Maybe even the opposite. For my 2 cents, crema production means you're performing the extraction under conditions that have the potential to solubilize the volatile compounds responsible for grea...

jbb

In addition to intrinsic variation between roasts and beans, the set point of your calibration may also make it difficult to compare your grind rate directly with that of other Vario users. That said, symbology's value of 14 g in about 10 sec seems about right to me. I'm programmed for 11.2 sec. Tha...

jbb

I haven't had the S1 long enough to say I have a routine, but what I've done in the past is to detergent backflush about every two weeks, making sure to drop and scrub the dispersion block. I think if we're willing to entertain the idea that small changes in temperature, dose and grind can produce q...

jbb

Endo wrote: Keep in mind, even with the brown water colour, there's no reason this would travel upstream to the cup to change the taste.

Maybe so, but gotta say that last photo seems a powerful argument for backflushing.

jbb

Try to switch off and unplug from power, then wait a minute, plug and power on - maybe it will come back to normal. great advice as it turns out. unplugged and powered back up next AM. now boiler refill working normally, and has continued working over last 24 hrs. so maybe a one time electronic bra...

jbb

I'm having a related but perhaps not identical problem with my machine (yet another problem) that's developed over the last several days. During power up the steam boiler fills. pump activates, solenoid valve opens, fills, shuts off. All well and good. But during operation the boiler does not refill...

jbb

Hi Louis

My 2004 machine has chrome lettering stamped into the chrome back piece, so its different from the ones you've posted. I'll put up a picture when i get the chance.

jbb

Today I had a chance to disassemble the flow meter assembly with the gliceur. here's a picture of the parts and the wee little screens. the 0.57 mm hole in the gliceur is remarkably tiny. DSCF1182.copy.jpg The screens and gliceur did not look especially gunky. Gave them a brief descale, puffed the s...

jbb

I see the Mini also has a screen (but no gicleur since the flow rate is fine as is). Is this on the inlet side of the flowmeter, to prevent debris from fowling the meter? Yes, it is the inlet side. Last night I had emailed Jason at CC about the possibility that the gicleur after the flow meter migh...

jbb

Took the front panel off this AM but will need to scrounge around in lab for some better tygon tubing. general impression was that the sound was coming "low" rather than "high". Examined the parts list more closely last night, and, with the aid of google translate, here appears t...

jbb

I'll see if it is possible to pinpoint a particular source for the sound. its the most obvious sound the machine makes so i guess i'm still curious. re the flow restrictor idea-on the rotary pump models working output pressure is set using an adjustment that is directly on the pump. I don't know the...

jbb

Jason at CC service wrote back. "wish I could tell you for sure where the noise is coming from, but I don’t think it is anything to worry about. This is a common sound on all the Vivaldi machines. Personally I think it is just the sound from water passing through various sized pipes and there i...

jbb

just a thought while looking at the flow diagram. v2 people, does your in line group pressure gauge show line pressure even when not pulling a shot? I think I read somewhere where this is the case. If so, the solenoid click that you can hear when activating a brew sequence must be solenoid C opening...

jbb

I listened a few more times and I must say it sounds a LOT like flow through a grouphead gicleur (restrictor) and not pump cavitation or a flow meter turning. To me it definitely sounds like either water or air moving under pressure. I read somewhere there is a gicleur just after the flow meter on ...

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