The S1 Cafe - Helping Your Espresso Dreams Become Reality

Received my Dream T this afternoon and attempted set up. I had the following issues; on the boiler fill screen when I pressed the 2 cup button for boiler fill I had to hold the button down, I'm wondering if the boiler was already filled? When I hold the button down water was released.

Also I tried to access the menu and all I could get was a screen that said "last 5 buttons" and below that numbers 1 through 5. I ordered it with the 20amp setting and it is on my kitchen island and I wanted to change the machine to 15amp for use with the 15amp outlets on.

When I plugged it into my 20amp plug the ground fault kept tripping.

Any ideas?

thanks
Dave

,

I'm supposed to be getting mine today too; expect to see it on my doorstep when I get home. I ordered the 20 amp version as well, but I intend to plug it right into a 20 amp circuit. I'll see if I run into similar issues with the menus.

Looking at the user's manual (from Chris' Coffee) it looks like filling the coffee boiler (first time setup) is done by pressing and holding the single or double shot button (top of page 4), so I think having to hold the button down was normal.

http://www.chriscoffee.com/files/122/S1 ... TankR3.pdf

I tried that but I think the unit ships with the boiler filled.Got into the menu finally but haven't been able to find the power mode. My buddy wired my 20amp outlet maybe something is wired incorrectly. I wonder if I need a 20 amp GFI instead of 15amp?

Dave

If you have a 20 Amp circuit and are running a 20 Amp device you certainly need a 20 A GFI.

MDL wrote:If you have a 20 Amp circuit and are running a 20 Amp device you certainly need a 20 A GFI.

that may be the problem

Dave

Dave,

Well, I think my boiler was only half filled - the pump ran for about 8-10 seconds before I saw any water drip out of the group head. Didn't have any trouble at all navigating the menus, but the last menu option for me is "Factory." I can't seem to find the option (in the menu) to go to 15 AMP, so I'm not sure how I would enable/switch to that if I were to take this machine to a friend's house that only had 15A receptacles...

Got another day one issue...but I'll start a new thread.

Cheers,
Eric

Eric, I believe the 15/20 amp switch is inside the machine.

Edit: I was thinking of the older Vivaldi model.

GooseVR1 wrote:Dave,

Well, I think my boiler was only half filled - the pump ran for about 8-10 seconds before I saw any water drip out of the group head. Didn't have any trouble at all navigating the menus, but the last menu option for me is "Factory." I can't seem to find the option (in the menu) to go to 15 AMP, so I'm not sure how I would enable/switch to that if I were to take this machine to a friend's house that only had 15A receptacles...

Got another day one issue...but I'll start a new thread.

Cheers,
Eric

The 'Full Power' sub-option is under the 'Factory' option. The 'Factory' option menu is the last or second to last option as your scroll through the screens. In order to access the 'Factory' sub options you have to enter the the technician code which is listed in the user manual. Once you enter the code you will then see all the factory tech options such as calibration, offset, FULL POWER (on/off), etc. The 'Full Power' sub option is where you can turn it to 20amp or 15amp. Hope this helps.

I believe the above steps are listed in the user manual online too in case I mis-stated anything.

hi! i just set up my dream-t today as well. i am wondering if there's a way to exit the menus without turning off the machine. anyone know?

also, i'm new to pulling shots- i had a super-auto and didn't pay attention to grind and tamp, so i have a LOT of learning...

in the manual it says to wait 30 minutes for the group to come to temp, but the screen says 202 degrees so i tried a shot. there was no crema and it was indeed sour... there was no real puck, just a wet gooey mess. i have a preciso grinder and have played around some. what am i doing wrong? everything?


thanks!

chris

Chris, the day I got my Dream I actually powered it Off to get back to the Home screen a couple of times myself. However, that's not necessary. If I am remembering correctly there are three screens full of icons for individual settings. As an example, if you press and hold the Menu button you are taken to the first screen of config icons. If you really want to set up something on the next screen you have to repeatedly press the down arrow until the icon in the lower right corner of the screen is highlighted, then one more press takes you to the next screen. If you want to go back to the previous screen you reverse the process until the title of the menu screen is highlighted in reverse video at the very top of the screen and then press Menu to get back to the previous screen. If you are multiple menu screens deep you have to keep repeating this until you get back to the Home screen.

Alternately, if you just step away and don't press any buttons for about a minute, the machine will exit set up and put you back at the Home screen.

If you are at the deepest menu level and you want to get back to Home it takes a LOT of Up Arrow menu presses. I have recommended to CCS and they have passed it along to LaSpaz to mod the software to allow shortcut keys to directly go forward to the next menu screen, back to the previous menu screen, or to jump directly back to the Home screen. I am hopeful, but it might never happen. What I proposed, since they have no other function while in Menu mode, is to have the 2 cup button be a Back button, the 1 cup button be a forward button, and the Continuous button be a Home button. We'll see.

thanks so much chas! i will try your tips tonight.

one problem or at least i think it's a problem, is that it looks like my coffee boiler pressure is nil. i'll upload a photo i took and the steam looks fine. i'm getting no crema and my coffee pours immediately. my grind is good based on another espresso machine i own. i hope i'm just doing something wrong and that the machine is broken. i have followed ALL procedures to the letter...

am i wrong? any ideas are very much appreciated!

When you pull a shot the group pressure should read 9 bar. Otherwise, it probably reads 0 bar. The bottom line is that the pressure on a Tank machine is meaningless except while pulling a shot.

How many seconds is it taking to pull a shot? Are you at least at 25 seconds?

chas-

i feel like such a rookie--like a normal driver with a ferrari... Anyway, the shot starts almost immediately with no pressure buildup. the coffee group temp is at 203 and the steam is set at 252. steam is awesome btw.

i also don't hear the pump much. i've refilled the coffee boiler to make sure nothing went dry. water come out immediately...

Sounds to me like your grind is way too coarse. You're coffee could also be too old.... or both.

i use a preciso grinder. for espresso i'm using a very fine grind and tamping pretty hard... i wish CCS were open today... i hate to be a bother but i appreciate the help. i just bought sbux espresso--horrors, i know...

There is no possible flow through the group if the pump isn't running so you'll have to chalk the lack of sound up to having a very quiet pump. If you are getting ~2oz in ~25 seconds then your grind is correct. If not you have to fix that before you worry about any other parameters. The S1 is a real crema generator so if you are getting around 2oz in 25 seconds then you have very old beans.

I get a lot of wet and sloppy pucks too but the taste is great. So don't worry about that aspect if/when you get a decent tasting shot.

chas, thanks! i've got a huge learning curve ahead! i had no idea that the age of the beans make such a big difference... I'll report back after i practice tonight a bit...

Chas is right - it took me two full weeks to accept that wet pucks aren't bad, and that how it actually tastes is what matters. I also came from a super auto, and it gave me really nice dry pucks.

But I bought the dream for the coffee. Not beautiful pucks.

On the other hand I do wish they weren't quite so sloppy wet. When I do side-by-side comparisons between the Dream and the GS/3, the GS/3 also has wet pucks with my current beans, but the pucks on the Dream are downright swampy. You have to be careful to gently lower the PF straight down so as not to splash hot water and grounds all over the place.

What I did to eliminate this on my previous two S1s consisted of two things:
1) Replaced the bolt with a round headed screw that used a hex wrench to get it off. This prevents much of an impression into the puck. This is documented in older threads here on the forum.
2) Grind a little coarser and fill the basket fuller so that no headroom remains for water to remain after the shot ends.