dropping temperature light?

Post by **Mario** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 9:01 pm

OK. Is this normal? I have the temp set to 95 and the machine has been on for several hours. I run a couple of warm up shots and then quickly dry the portafilter, put in the coffee and tamp. And then make sure the boiler light is not blinking, the 95 is lit and then I put the filter into the group and press the button. I am using a bottomless filter and the pour looks pretty good. However I notice that the temperature light starts dropping over the course of the 25 seconds or so of the pull. It starts at 95 but by the end of the shot it is down to 92 or even 91. At the end of the shot it quickly goes back up to 95. But is there something wrong here? Could I be packing too much or tamping too hard? Or is there something else I'm doing wrong?

Post by **Niko** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 9:35 pm

I don't think you have anything to worry about, Mario.
The group boiler is very small so the blinking lights are telling you that the element is working to keep the water to temp.

Post by **Mario** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 10:04 pm

Ahhh. Thank you. That explains. So the LED lights are not meant to indicate what the water temp is at the group head but rather what the target is. And the fact that 95 is not lit does not necessarily mean the temp has dropped 1 or more degrees centigrade. I wondered because certainly the coffee does not seem cool in the cup. If anything it seems remarkably and consistently hot, although I have not measured it objectively.

This is a wonderful machine and I have all I can do to stop myself from drinking cup after cup of espresso. I've had to add some Decaf blends in to my coffee supply so I don't over do it on the caffeine.

Post by **Niko** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 11:08 pm

If I stick the Scace in the group and ran it for five minutes straight...the lights would blink like crazy but the temps would be to the roof. The Spaz has no problem providing hot water.