temperature stability?

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raf
Latte
Posts: 12
Joined: Mon Dec 25, 2006 1:23 pm

temperature stability?

Post by raf »

I have started to notice that my temperature lights are acting differently than I remember. (Of course, my memory is not to be trusted, hence this post.) Here is what is happening:

Start pour:
  • 94 led (and all below): on steady
During pour (approx mid way or later):
  • 92, 93, 94 leds: off
    91: blinking
After pour (within <5 seconds):
  • 94 led (and all below): on steady
What's going on? Is this normal? Should I be concerned?

Thanks,
Martin
Niko

Post by Niko »

Martin,

My older S1 exhibits the same symptoms you're describing here, I think it is normal as the weather changes and the temperatures of the ground water shifts, so does the temperature stability of the Vivaldi. In your case, it could be something different. Sometimes mineral deposits on the heat element can build up and cause the same thing to happen and the LEDs will dance around trying to keep up, I assume you have the softener filtration system on yours so you don't have to worry about this.
As far as your VII goes, I think your incoming water temp just happens to be a little on the cold side right now. Good news is that your machine is working and the blinking lights tell you that the heat element is doing its job correctly. Did you notice your shot quality go down? I'd only worry if this starts to happen.
My VII doesn't behave exactly like what you've described but I'm sure it's because we live in different areas. I think (don't quote me on this) but my VII doesn't start blinking until after the (or very close to the end) of a shot and then it takes about 35-40 seconds to recover. If I pull a double blank shot of just water, the lights don't blink at all, in fact it takes the LEDs several seconds after the water stops pouring for the the lights to start blinking. All the lights go out 94,93,92 and the 91 remains blinking but recovers pretty quickly.

Bottom line, I think your machine is acting normal.
MainerVance

Post by MainerVance »

Martin-

We just returned from a couple weeks away, and our VII has started showing exactly the behavior you described: 92,93,94 turn off while drawing a shot. We're pretty sure that it did not behave this way two weeks ago.

I don't think that Niko's explanations apply in our case -- I doubt that any of those factors changed significantly while we were away.

I know it has been over a year since you posted this. Do you still see the same behavior? Did you ever figure out what caused it?

Thanks,

Vance
JohnB

Post by JohnB »

Is this happening after doing a couple warm up flushes, first flush or every time? . I just checked my V2 & all the lights will go out/flash but only after the shot/flush(3 oz) is finished.
Last edited by JohnB on Wed Feb 13, 2008 4:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
raf
Latte
Posts: 12
Joined: Mon Dec 25, 2006 1:23 pm

Post by raf »

MainerVance wrote:Martin-

We just returned from a couple weeks away, and our VII has started showing exactly the behavior you described: 92,93,94 turn off while drawing a shot. We're pretty sure that it did not behave this way two weeks ago.

I don't think that Niko's explanations apply in our case -- I doubt that any of those factors changed significantly while we were away.

I know it has been over a year since you posted this. Do you still see the same behavior? Did you ever figure out what caused it?

Thanks,

Vance
I think it is still behaving the same as it was. I'm just ignoring it and enjoying the delicious pours. :)

I did speak to a tech at Chris's. He said it was normal and not to worry about it.

I will verify that it still behaves in this way and will report back here.

Martin
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chas
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Post by chas »

Sounds normal to me. When you have the covers off sometime look where the boiler temperature probe is located. It's on the back end near where the cold water enters the boiler. In other words on the opposite end of the boiler from the group. This is no indication of the temperature at the group which is very stable.
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raf
Latte
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Joined: Mon Dec 25, 2006 1:23 pm

Post by raf »

chas wrote:Sounds normal to me. When you have the covers off sometime look where the boiler temperature probe is located. It's on the back end near where the cold water enters the boiler. In other words on the opposite end of the boiler from the group. This is no indication of the temperature at the group which is very stable.
This is more or less what the guy at Chris' said to me. Almost verbatim.

This of course raises the question as to why they put the probe where they did. Isn't the purpose of the gauge (LEDs) to tell us what the temperature is at the group?

Martin
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admin
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Post by admin »

The most you can say about this design is that the group temp and the LED indicators match only when the LEDs are on solid and not blinking.
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JohnB

Post by JohnB »

I set my machine to 94C & just pulled a shot after a couple of warm up flushes. The 94 light started flashing at 24 seconds just as I was cutting off the shot. The 93C light then flashed briefly & both lights were back on solid by the time I sat the cup down on the cup warmer.
coffeeowl

Re: temperature stability?

Post by coffeeowl »

raf wrote:I have started to notice that my temperature lights are acting differently than I remember. (Of course, my memory is not to be trusted, hence this post.) Here is what is happening:

Start pour:
  • 94 led (and all below): on steady
During pour (approx mid way or later):
  • 92, 93, 94 leds: off
    91: blinking
After pour (within <5 seconds):
  • 94 led (and all below): on steady
What's going on? Is this normal? Should I be concerned?

Thanks,
Martin
well... are you sure you didn't want to type in "91, 92, 93:off, 94 blinking"? This is how my machine behaves. The blinking one is always the one indicating set temperature.
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