No-Burn steam arm

[eprolix]

I've been using my VII for about 8 months (LOVE it). Was thinking about adding a no-burn steam wand. Any thoughts? Preferences? The regular wand steams great, but there is some scalded milk on it after each use. Wipes off easily enough, but could the new arm eliminate that little annoyance?

[Niko]

Yes and no.
The cleanup will definitely be easier but the performance may not be to your standards. The arm is great if they would only get a tip that performs just like the current standard on the VII.
I'd go for the S5 arm if I were you

[zoey]

I just ordered the standard (longer) arm because Chris's indicated that the 'good' steam tip would not work with the no-burn arm.

[michael]

i have the S5 arm; only way to go

[chas]

You can actually put the four hole tip on the no burn arm but then it loses its no burn characteristics. The No Burn Arm has a Teflon tube inside and then the tip has a clear silicone gasket that insulates the tip from the arm. Without that clear silicon gasket you lose the no burn. The tip has to be specially designed to accept the gasket so you can't just move it to the four hole tip.

Also, even if you could find a four hole tip with such a gasket, I don't think it would be the same. The Teflon tube inside the no burn arm is going to restrict the steam flow somewhat.

[BrewHaHa]

You can actually put the four hole tip on the no burn arm but then it loses its no burn characteristics. The No Burn Arm has a Teflon tube inside and then the tip has a clear silicone gasket that insulates the tip from the arm. Without that clear silicon gasket you lose the no burn. The tip has to be specially designed to accept the gasket so you can't just move it to the four hole tip.

Also, even if you could find a four hole tip with such a gasket, I don't think it would be the same. The Teflon tube inside the no burn arm is going to restrict the steam flow somewhat.

I've been rockin the no burn for a year now, with the .9mm 4-hole tip, and love it. This tip (and others that don't have the gasket) can be used by creating a seal with Teflon tape. There's another no-burn thread that give the details.

I love that the no-burn stays clean with just a quick, damp wipe. I also like the angle, although I guess some others don't. I wouldn't have bought it just because it's a no-burn, but as long as I wanted to get a longer arm anyway, I figured it might as well go for no-burn. (I do appreciate never having to worry about getting burned, although it's probably not that big a deal unless you're pretty absent minded, or have trained your kids as baristas!)

I've also been happy with the new 4-hole tip in conjunction with the no-burn arm. I usually steam either 4 or 8 ounces of milk, and the .9mm 4-hole gives me enough control for 4 ounces and isn't intolerably slow for 8 ounces. I haven't taken the tip off since I put it on, so I guess I can't be sure something isn't getting up past the tape seal, but if it is it's so minor that it definitely doesn't affect the no-burn characteristics.

If there's one thing about the setup I don't care for, it's that I don't feel like taking the tip off to swap with other tips, because it's fiddly to redo the tape each time. I'd kind of like to see what the larger-holed 4-hole tip would do, but never get around to messing with it because of the tape issue.

I'd be curious to see what I thought of the S5 arm, but since I'm quite content with the no-burn I'm probably not going to buy one just to try it out.

I guess I'd say that if you like the idea of the no-burn, and are content to stick mostly with one tip, you can make it work. If you like to swap around different tips, and don't care about the no-burn feature, the S5 may be a better choice.

Cheers,

John

[Niko]

I had that trick going on for a while back then (a year or so ago like you mentioned) with the .9mm tip and the No-Burn arm. I just didn't like the feel, the trick did keep the arm from burning but like Chas said it loses some umph. Some people may like this combination, it just wasn't for me. It may be worth a try for those who are curious

[JohnB]

Are you guys still happy with the .9mm tip on the S5 arm? I went back to the 1.2mm tip as I couldn't get the milk rolling like I wanted with the smaller tip when steaming for a latte. Probably has more to do with the fact that I hardly ever do milk drinks lately but I do like the power of the bigger tip.

[Niko]

I use both.
1.2 on the S1 and .9 on the VII.
I hardly do milk anymore and the 1.2 is definitely an awakening