gwapenut Senior Member Joined: 5 Nov 2011 Posts: 3 Location: UK Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Sat Nov 5, 2011, 2:08am Subject: Silvia warmup times and energy consumption versus Gaggia
Hi I'm looking to get a Silvia to match my Rocky but am really concerned about her warm up time. I know there are shortcuts to speed up the warmup but to be honest I'd rather just let her warm up naturally.
Usage will be just me over the course of a working day - perhaps 4 cups so several hours apart.
A couple of questions ... does anyone know the energy consumed while warming up each time, or how much energy would be consumed if switched on at 7am and off at 6pm? Obviously the boiler won't be on full rate for the whole time.
I know this sounds silly, but for the limited use over that 13 hour period I wonder whether an aluminium boiler of a gaggia rather than silvia's would be a better match for me in terms of cutting down on what could be quite significant annual runnings costs.
Whats the bare minimum warmup time I could get away with, without trying to force a faster warmup?
Concerned about going with a gaggia based on their reliability though!
jkoll42 Senior Member Joined: 2 Jan 2010 Posts: 465 Location: Pennsylvania Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: VBM DD V3, Gaggia Baby Class Grinder: Cimbali Max Hybrid, Bunn... Drip: Technivorm, Chemex Roaster: Honey Badger 1K, HG/BM
Posted Sat Nov 5, 2011, 5:30am Subject: Re: Silvia warmup times and energy consumption versus Gaggia
First, please don't consider warm up time in your decision. Any machine needs 30 minutes (or so) to fully warm up all internal components and portafilter. If you want it ready by a certain time of day just put it on a wall timer and it will be nice and hot first thing in the morning and you will not have to remember to turn it off at the end of the day.
As far as heating cost - The gaggia boiler is 3.5oz, the silvia 12 oz. There will be a very slightly higher cost associated with the Silvia. It is very small - doing some quick calc;s with current US electric prices, over the course of a year it would cost about $1 USD more to heat the water in the Silvia v. the Gaggia. Don't worry about electric costs btw these machines. Yes, aluminum is more conductive and will lose more heat but not much. The silvia boiler is larger so this likely would offset the difference in materials anyway.
The Gaggia's really are reliable machines.
I guess in summary, all the points you are concerned about when picking btw these machines..... are not points to be concerned about. You will have to make your decision some other way!
gwapenut Senior Member Joined: 5 Nov 2011 Posts: 3 Location: UK Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Sun Nov 6, 2011, 1:58am Subject: Re: Silvia warmup times and energy consumption versus Gaggia
Thanks for your insight. I've now taken the plunge and ordered ... a Gaggia Classic!
At 188GBP / $300 it seemed just too good a price to pass up for a quality brew. I figured with 3 years warranty I can cope at that price if reliability does turn out to be an issue (I know it's mass market so you hear a lot about problems but not so much about non-problems).
Decided against the Silvia because its nearly 2.5x the price over here and we drink mostly milky drinks - it seems to me that if I am to start spending more serious money, Id be better spending a little bit more on a HX model. The Silvia's a bit too close to them in price versus the Gaggia ...
JGG Senior Member Joined: 31 Mar 2006 Posts: 1,343 Location: Kentucky, US Expertise: I like coffee
Espresso: PID Silvia; PID Alexia Grinder: Mazzer Mini E (A), SJ; Rocky... Roaster: Hottop D w/PID; Thermometric...
Posted Sun Nov 6, 2011, 7:30am Subject: Re: Silvia warmup times and energy consumption versus Gaggia
Congrats on the new toy!
Just for information, once warmed up, on average a Silvia will consume around 60 watts while sitting idle. This should be comparable on 120V or 220V systems.
gwapenut Senior Member Joined: 5 Nov 2011 Posts: 3 Location: UK Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Sun Nov 6, 2011, 1:17pm Subject: Re: Silvia warmup times and energy consumption versus Gaggia
Thanks for the info Jim. After my post here I couldn't find any info on the Siliva but it did surprise me that most figures I did find were of the order ou are quoting. I even found one website with a graph show very occasional 1kW spikes here and there but for very short times, with a suprisingly low baseline consumption.
At that kind of level it really is not worth worrying about. I had fears of 400W averages which would have run my bill into the hundreds - I see now that is clearly nonsense.
Thanks guys for all your help. Am now looking forward to some decent drinks. Good old Rocky prolonged the useful life of my current machine, but I'm looking forward to a whole new era now!
takeshi Senior Member Joined: 12 Oct 2002 Posts: 731 Location: Houston Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Silvia Grinder: Super Jolly Roaster: Amaya Roasting
Posted Mon Nov 7, 2011, 8:31am Subject: Re: Silvia warmup times and energy consumption versus Gaggia
jkoll42 Said:
First, please don't consider warm up time in your decision. Any machine needs 30 minutes (or so) to fully warm up all internal components and portafilter. If you want it ready by a certain time of day just put it on a wall timer and it will be nice and hot first thing in the morning and you will not have to remember to turn it off at the end of the day.
I don't know that Silvia really needs THAT long a time. Even a Duetto reaches equilibrium in 45. And that's a LOT more metal than a Silvia. Though the offset group may take longer than one would think to get to temp.
Intrepid510 Senior Member Joined: 30 Dec 2010 Posts: 303 Location: California Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Tue Nov 8, 2011, 1:15pm Subject: Re: Silvia warmup times and energy consumption versus Gaggia
Just a note on the warm up times, I think you will find the Gaggia is full heated in 15-20 minute range as oppose to the 30 minutes most people recommened. Think about it, the Classic has a smaller boiler, larger heating element and is positioned over the group, while the Silvia has a larger boiler, smaller heating element and is positioned off the side.
I figure it's warmed up enough when I touch the portafilter and I can't keep my hand on it, normally it's around 15 minutes.
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