Posted Sun May 11, 2008, 5:27pm Subject: PID'ing my Silvia has set me free!
Over the last few months I considered getting a new espresso machine to replace my Silvia. My rationale was the inconvenience involved in switching back and forth between pulling shots and steaming milk when serving more than one guest. Nevermind that 99% of my espresso-making is for myself, I just had an upgrade bug. The Ascaso Steel Duo review was like a siren song. Most machines up from Silvia look like gaudy motherships , but the Ascaso has the same brushed steel and simple appearance of the Silvia. And, I reasoned, the boiler/thermoblock design meant that no switching between shots and steaming would be necessary.
The subject of this post is PID, so what's that got to do with replacing my Silvia? A few weeks ago it became obvious to me that I had a steam leak. After a few posts here and some comments/advice from some very helpful members, I screwed up the nerve to open my Silvia for troubleshooting. It did not take long; there was a leak where the OPV attached to the boiler. For some reason there were no washers seated in the OPV to create a seal. They had relied on pipe dope. But, for about two years, it had worked.
I knew of PID kits, but never thought I'd do a $300 mod to a $500 machine. But now, faced with replacing the OPV - no one online sold only the washers - I found the adjustable OPV on www.espressoparts.com. Of course, without a way to measure pressure, an adjustable valve would have no benefit. I added a pf pressure gage to my cart and checked out. Now that I was spending money to fix and upgrade my Silvia, a PID no longer seemed wacky; I moused over to www.PIDKits.com and bought the Watlow SD3C w/steam control.
The pressure gage was backordered and the PID kit arrived first and a week later the OPV and gage arrived. And a few more days after that I got the time to begin my upgrades. (I had found a teflon washer at a local plumbing supply house a day or two after opening Silvia and striking out at finding the proper copper washers online that had gotten Silvia back to work.) I did the OPV swap and adjustment last Sunday. And last monday, after work, I installed the PID.
I am not without skills and tools, but I still had a certain amount of apprehension. I brought my laptop to my work area in the sunroom and popped in the CD. I pulled up the PDF for the installation and laid out all of the parts. I did a lot of reading and looking at the pictures and looking at my machine and back at the pictures. The installation went very slow, but smooth. I found it reassuring to look several steps ahead to get a sense of the bigger picture, but still focused intently on the step at hand. It took me about five hours, but when I plugged Silvia into an outlet, there was no noise or smoke. After two minutes, I switched on the power and ran the pump to fill the boiler. After a minute or two of running the pump and watching the Watlow display, it became obvious that I had done the installation correctly. It was 11PM - w-a-y too late to drink espresso - so I gathered my tools and cleaned up my work area. I also neatly routed my wiring, both inside and outside Silvia, closed her up and put her back into place on the counter. And then went to bed.
The next morning I blew off the elliptical machine and my workout and headed straight to my coffee corner. I flipped on the power switch and watched the Watlow boot up and come to life. I watched it intently as the boiler temp rose. When it got close to the 228° setpoint, the heating element light next to the power switch went out, but the boiler temp kept rising. As it closed in on 228° the temp rise slowed . . and stopped. . . briefly. At this point, the light started flashing - something it had never done before - and the temp rise continued . . slowly. After much rapid flashing of the element indicator light, the boiler temp reached 228°. The light still flashed occasionally, but it was obviously in "hold" mode. I walked away and came back fifteen minutes later. With everything now warmed up, I was anxious to try my "new" machine.
I ran hot faucet water into my cup, set up my paraphernalia and ground for four shots. At that point, it sunk in that my previous temperature surfing routine was no longer necessary. I removed the double-shot portafilter and loaded it. Freed from having to watch the heater element light and time myself accordingly, I distributed the grind and concentrated on evenly tamping it while occasionally glancing - still fascinated - at the boiler temp read out. I pulled the double, poured it into my pre-heated cup, dumped the spent grounds, ran the pump to wash any grounds sticking to the screen and reloaded the portafilter. Silvia was waiting patiently with boiler temp right at 228° and the occasional rapid flash of the element light. I pulled that double, poured it as well and again ran the pump to clean the screen. I flipped on the steam switch and watched the boiler temp rise beyond 228°.
After fifteen or twenty seconds, I bled off the water from the steam wand as the boiler temp kept rising. At 295°, the heating element light went off and, like before, the boiler temp kept rising and stopped at about 300°. I steamed my milk and completed my Quad Venti Cappuccino. ;-)
I'm still fascinated by and still occasionally glance at the Watlow display (and the heating element light), A drink that had previously taken me a seemingly rushed twenty minutes to make, I am now making - leisurely - in under ten minutes. I can focus on improving the distribution of the grind in the portafiler and evenly tamping same. The PID takes care of the science while I am FREE to work on the art.
RE the pic below - I had flirted with the idea of drilling into Silvia and routing the wires through the hole, but decided that it was not necessary. My machine sits next to the AC outlet and the PID wiring blends in with the two power cords. I think Silvia now has sort of an industrial Hummer-like look to her.
Tcampbells Senior Member Joined: 3 Jan 2008 Posts: 81 Location: Taiwan Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Rancilio Silvia / Stove top... Grinder: Rancilio Rocky / Solis 166 Vac Pot: Hario 3 cup Siphon Drip: Braun 4 Cup classic Roaster: My local coffee roaster
Posted Mon May 12, 2008, 9:46am Subject: Re: PID'ing my Silvia has set me free!
Congratulations on The PID and the easy of use with it. I, like you previously, have not been able to work up the courage to do a 300 mod to a 500 dollar machine, though I am still considering it. From your experience it seems worth it.
Posted Mon May 12, 2008, 10:14am Subject: Re: PID'ing my Silvia has set me free!
Tcampbells Said:
Congratulations on The PID and the easy of use with it. I, like you previously, have not been able to work up the courage to do a 300 mod to a 500 dollar machine, though I am still considering it. From your experience it seems worth it.
I think the Silvia is a solid and attractive machine in its own right. As a "platform" with a few mods - the PID and, for those with older models, the adjustable OPV - I just don't see how she can be beat for personal espresso needs.
Fishgod Senior Member Joined: 17 Dec 2006 Posts: 58 Location: Alaska Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Silvia v2 PID Grinder: Mazzer Major & Solis Mastero... Drip: French Press Roaster: Turbo Oven/New UFO
Posted Wed May 14, 2008, 11:40am Subject: Re: PID'ing my Silvia has set me free!
Tcampbells Said:
Congratulations on The PID and the easy of use with it. I, like you previously, have not been able to work up the courage to do a 300 mod to a 500 dollar machine, though I am still considering it. From your experience it seems worth it.
I went with the Auber PID for $150. Easy install and has run 24/7 for 5 months. I looked at the $300 PID's, knew they were quality but just like you had a hard time spending $300.
Tcampbells Senior Member Joined: 3 Jan 2008 Posts: 81 Location: Taiwan Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Rancilio Silvia / Stove top... Grinder: Rancilio Rocky / Solis 166 Vac Pot: Hario 3 cup Siphon Drip: Braun 4 Cup classic Roaster: My local coffee roaster
Posted Fri May 16, 2008, 8:13am Subject: Re: PID'ing my Silvia has set me free!
Fishgod Said:
I went with the Auber PID for $150. Easy install and has run 24/7 for 5 months. I looked at the $300 PID's, knew they were quality but just like you had a hard time spending $300.
I have looked at the Auber kits as well. The price just seems much better and the quality seems fine, I belive I will be ordering the deluxe version of the kit as I was informed by Suyi that is the one which will work with my model.
Fishgod - Is your's connected between the grouphead and the steam wand? are you having any problems due to heat or the steam? After leaving my Silvia running half a day I found that that bottom plate is extremely hot.
I have considered doing this like someone else and moding it that way, so it will be no where near the heat. though that would make the PID case unneccessary and it will be cheaper just to buy the PID and parts then the kit.
pepar Said:
LOL You dropped $300 on a PID to get consistency in temperature and your balking at spending $60 to get consistency in pressure? <rolls eyes> <grins>
Also, there is no question that a PID will make things better. My pressure may be fine, making this expendature a total waste of money.
Not to mention the fact that 2 months ago I set out to find a decent grinder for making my daily pot of drip coffee. That was a TV, Mini, Rocky, Silva and numerous accessories ago.
A while ago someone tried to start a sharing system for a PF with pressure gauge, but apparently it never made it past the first person. But at the end of the thread (here) someone else posted some info on how to put one together using parts from a hardware store.
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